Albums : The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings

By Various

Albums is compiled by specialist U.S.- and U.K.-based authors who have published respected books on music and musicians and who write for leading music magazines such as Q Magazine, Blender, Mojo,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592232957
• ISBN13: 9781592232956
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Readerlink Distribution Services, LLC
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 10.2" x 13.1"

Customer Reviews

Great Musical Trivia on the Influential Albums

This collection of stories behind the recordings of great albums between 1955 and 2005 makes for an impressive coffee table book. The emphasis is on rock and roll, but there are a few easy listening, jazz, and country albums covered as well. Surprisingly, the book begins with Frank Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours", which is reputed to be the first concept album. The book contains a fairly shallow treatment of most albums, with a paragraph or two, but does include some detailed treatments for Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys), Sergeant Pepper's (The Beatles), and Forever Changes (Love). What made the book interesting for me is the information on what makes a great sound in the studio, with descriptions of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", and the use of one of the first echo chambers used by Gold Star Recording Studio in Hollywood. To the contributors' credit, many of the albums featured were ones that were commercial failures, but critical successes - the music that influenced countless musicians who heard it, such as the first Velvet Underground album, Captain Beefheart, and Miles Davis. The book contains a few mistakes that should have been caught by a real music fan. For example, the year of The Beach Boys album "All Summer Long" is listed as 1961, when it is actually 1964. The bassist for Nirvana is identified as Chris, when he preferred to go by Krist, and astonishingly, the lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Please Mrs Henry" are attributed to the wrong song, listed as "This Wheel's on Fire" (anybody who's ever heard both songs could not have made this mistake). The funniest "mistake" is actually a bit on an inside joke, with the face of Nancy Reagan imposed over the face of a nameless young lady on the cover of "Woodstock". It is truly bizarre to see the former first lady at Woodstock. If you are music fan of classic rock, this book is highly recommended.

Great fun for true rock fans

I really am enjoying browsing this book, taking in the great photos and reading the stories. Strikes a good balance of popular vs lesser-known but influential works. How much do American Brit Invasion fans know about Tommy Steele or Billy Fury, for example? The West Side Story soundtrack, Martin Denny, the Phil Spector Christmas Album...they all played a part in popular music history forgotten today. The text points out differences in US vs UK releases, and includes great tidbits of info not found in many standard bios of the big groups and artists. Great sidebars too, about studios, labels, recording technology and producers.

Beautifully compiled

If you are a music lover and researcher like I am, you will enjoy this book. It is beautifully compiled with great art direction, photos, and well written text. It is well researched and the choices cover both the expected (Nirvana's "Nevermind", The Beatles "Revolver") to the unexpected (Johnny Mathis "Greatest Hits"). Definitely recommended for both the serious and casual music fan.

Great Book for Music Lovers!

This book is truly beautiful to look at, and is great to browse through while you're listening to a new album. I like the colorful and important treatment it gives to classics and unsung masterworks from many different eras.