Tag Archives: Guide

Jun. 13.

All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul (3rd Edition)

From Library Journal

As accurate and obsessively detailed as www.allmusic.com is, its print cousins can seem somewhat redundant. This well-established entry, now in its third edition, offers biographical and listener’s advisory information on artists and recordings that All Music Guide (AMG) editors Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine have deemed rock an all-encompassing term that includes pop, soul, R&B, rap, and easy listening. Since the last edition (1997), about 3000 album reviews and 400 artist profiles have been added. That makes for a total of 2200 alphabetically arranged artist entries and 14,000 reviews (rated on a scale of one to five stars), most of which are signed. While the contributors cover a remarkable range of new artists from Aaliyah to Weezer, they often give short shrift to those who recorded prior to the 1980s; sometimes, whole bodies of work are ignored in favor of “best of” compilations. Refreshingly, most reviews are free of ro (more…)

Nice Gerdening Decor

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Jun. 13.

All Music Guide Required Listening Series: Old School Rap (All Music Guide Required Listening Old School Rap and Hip-Hop) [Paperback]

All Music Guide Required Listening Series: Old School Rap (All Music Guide Required Listening Old School Rap and Hip-Hop)

With more than 500 reviews plus artist bios and the true tales of the birth of the art form, this is without a doubt the one book every hip-hop fan and would-be rapper needs.

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Jun. 13.

The Rough Guide to Latin Music for Children

The Rough Guide to Latin Music for Children

Chosen by children, for children, this album features a diverse offering of powerful music from across the Spanish-speaking world. World Music Network, with the help of the charity Music For Change, spoke to more than a thousand children, who selected their favourite songs from across the continent. This album is packed with the sweetest Latin rhythms including salsa, tango, merengue and samba-reggae, and presents a snapshot of the most captivating and infectious sounds from Latin America.

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Jun. 13.

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2010: The Key Classical Recordings on CD, DVD and SACD [Paperback]

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2010: The Key Classical Recordings on CD, DVD and SACD

“Indispensible, illuminating, and comprehensive.” –The Times (London) This has remained the best and most successful guide to classical music for more than forty years. Fully revised by its team of eminent authors and written with wit and passion, The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music offers reviews of all the latest releases as well as the finest established recordings.

About the Author

Ivan March is a well-known lecturer, journalist, and personality in the world of recorded music. Edward Greenfield was a music critic at The Guardian for forty years. Robert Layton is a journalist and broadcaster. Paul Czajkowski is the longtime editor of The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music.

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Jun. 13.

All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues [Paperback]

All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues

Review

“Should be on every blues lover’s list.” -Blues Access “Easily the best blues guide…a real winner.” -Real Blues

Fully updated to reflect today’s revitalized blues world, this guide is any blues fan’s lifeline to the best blues past and present. It reviews and rates 7,000 recordings in all major styles across the blues map – from Delta blues to Louisiana, Memphis, Chicago, Texas, and beyond; from classic female singers to jump blues, blues slide guitar, blues in jazz, soul blues, blues-rock, modern acoustic and electric blues, and more. This fun and easy-to-use guide provides profiles of over 1,000 blues artists. Thirty historical essays plus supplemental “music maps” chart the roots and evolution of the blues, its various styles, instruments used, key artists, and more. The essays explore the blues from the Mississippi Delta to modern electric blues and everything in between.

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Jun. 13.

The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywoods Worst [Paperback]

The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywoods Worst

Review

“(Wilson’s) writing, ribald with pithy puns, proves highly entertaining and had me smiling the whole way through.” — Bookloons”(Wilson’s) writing, ribald with pithy puns, proves highly entertaining and had me smiling the whole way through.” — Bookloons”Extremely well-written…highly entertaining…highly recommended…a tool no open-minded and well-rounded film buff should be without.” — EDGE Boston”Extremely well-written…highly entertaining…highly recommended…a tool no open-minded and well-rounded film buff should be without.” — EDGE Boston:This book compiles Wilson’s bitingly funny commentary on Razzie dis-honorees (and ) hurls hilarious barbs at ‘meteoric misfires.’ — Publisher’s WeeklyThis book compiles Wilson’s bitingly funny commentary on Razzie dis-honorees (and ) hurls hilarious barbs at ‘meteoric misfires.’ — Publisher’s WeeklyWilson provides wonderfully droll reviews and acerbic plot summaries…a surfeit of saccharine Goobers, empty calories (more…)

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Jun. 13.

The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together [Paperback]

The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together

Review

“Every parent has asked for Ty Burr’s book. Every movie-mad child will steal it from the parents. This is a guide to classic movies for kids, written with verve, humor, and pep. A winner.”—David Thomson, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film“A treasure, a delight, and quite possibly a marriage-saver as well. Ty Burr’s advice on when, how, and even why to share with our children the movies we cherish from our own youth is funny, hip, and wise. My ten-year-old stole the book right out of my hands.” —Julia Glass, National Book Award–Winning Author of Three Junes“Terrific, necessary, and carried out with integrity, intelligence, sensitivity, and totally without condescension. Ty Burr’s book can lead to a lot of pleasure–of the life-long kind.” —Peter Bogdanovich

If a child can watch Barney, can’t that same child also enjoy watching Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers? And as they get older, wouldn

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Jun. 13.

The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, Updated & Revised (Film Critics of the New York Times) [Paperback]

The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, Updated & Revised (Film Critics of the New York Times)

Amazon.com Review

Everyone knows that a good canon debate doesn’t get interesting until you reach the realm of the top 100. But by listing the top 1,000 movies, as the editors of The New York Times have done with this fat, readable collection of reviews, you get to skip all that huffing and puffing about quality and head straight for the fun. With a little elbow room, there’s space for ineffable stuff like Mr. Hulot’s Holiday and The Match Factory Girl. Room, too, for the nuance-free Mrs. Doubtfire and the free-falling Die Hard (which makes it, yep, right next to Diner). Pillow Talk squeezes in just one down from The Piano. What’s really new about this book, though, is that the reviews have been culled from the Times’s archive–reaching back to 1931. So you can read Vincent Canby reacting to Taxi Driver in 1976, just days after first seeing it: “The steam billowing up around the manhole cover in the street is a dead giveaway. Manhattan is a thin cement li (more…)

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Jun. 13.

The Ultimate Fan’s Guide to Avatar, James Cameron’s epic movie (Unauthorized) [Kindle Edition]

The Ultimate Fan's Guide to Avatar, James Cameron's epic movie (Unauthorized)

At over 45,000 words, this is the most comprehensive analysis of Avatar yet produced.Avatar is the most successful movie of all time, surpassing the record held by James Cameron’s previous monster hit, Titanic. It is also the most expensive movie ever. With its adoption of modern 3D techniques, Avatar is arguably the most spectacular film of all time. Kevin Patrick Mahoney explores how Avatar has reached this pinnacle of success. The film has not been universally praised; some critics have pointed to an overly simple plot and dialogue. However, Kevin reveals that there are many complex themes that lie behind such apparent simplicity. This book begins with a thorough review of events as they happen on screen, including the many scenes deleted from the film, and then proceeds to explore some of the most interesting themes in more depth. Kevin examines how James Cameron has adapted Joseph Campbell’s theory of the Hero’s Journey in Avatar. The Na’vi’s pla (more…)

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