Book Description
This comprehensive guide is a must-have for the legions of fans of the beloved and perennially popular music known as soul and rhythm and blues. The latest in the definitive All Music Guide series, the All Music Guide to Soul offers nearly 8,500 entertaining and informative reviews that lead readers to the best recordings by more than 1,500 artists and help them find new music to explore. Informative biographies, essays and "music maps" trace RandB's growth from its roots in blues and gospel through its flowering in Memphis and Motown, to its many branches today. Complete discographies note bootlegs, important out-of-print albums, and import-only releases. "Extremely valuable and exhaustive." - The Christian Science Monitor
Customer Reviews:
All The Soul Info You'll Need From Brother Ray To Beyonce'.......2006-11-10
Only one thing needs to be said here-there have been some tremendous innovations in R&B since this book was written (John Legend for example arrived just a year too late for a mention in this book)but it is wonderful to see R&B get the press that All Music Guide as given to classical,rock,blues and jazz music over the years.This covers everything from the early jump blues R&B of the late 1940's all the way up to the first CD's by Alicia Keyes,Jill Scott and Justin Timberlate-treating all genres with a great degree of respect.Even disco-albums by the genre's greatest innovators Chic,Giorgio Moroder,Donna Summer and Sylvester all get glowing,respectful reviews that showcase their gigantic musical influence.By explainging contemporary R&B in context with more classic material this volume has actually helped me great to flush out my collection of newer music such as the final album by Aaliyah.There are a few flaws in this volume-the print is small yes but forgivable.But as with all All Music Guide volumes,to save space some albums are listed but considered too insignificant to merrit a review so are presented only as an item in an artists discography.The other flaw is the critics-Stephan Thomas Erlwhine seems to have more rock expertise and refers to P-Funk,the most anti disco of the classic funk bands as,you got it:a disco funk group.Ron Wynn obviously has far more knowledge and experience with R&B,soul,funk and other styles.Those little foibles aside the All Music Guide to R&B presents a genuinely non biased primer to those who want to start collecting or expand there R&B collection.It should also be noted that some older albums in here,even if they got excellent reviews and come highly recommended are out of print will take some time to locate in used record stores (some of Heatwave's and Motown's late 70's material for example)but this book often points that out and trust me:in all these cases it's well worth the search.
Tons of useful information but print way too small.......2004-04-04
I had never owned an All Music Guide and I have been told by fellow music collectors that they are really terrific. Seeing that All Music had just recently published their new guide to R & B and Soul I decided to give it a try. I must say I was impressed by the extensive detail given to each entry in this book. You would not only learn the history of an artist or group, but in many cases you got an update as to what the artist was doing nowadays. This was impressive and distinguishes this book from others I have seen on the market. The book covers a wide array of genres including rhythm and blues, soul, funk, disco and one of my personal favorites doo wop. There is one major problem however. The print is so small that I got a headache trying to read it. Try as a might I just could not get past this major flaw. I wound up sending it back. Too bad. I suspect anyone over the age of 40 will encounter the same problem. It seems to me that it would have been much wiser to divide this into 2 volumes with print that you could actually read. I would have gladly paid the difference.
Book Description
Easy to use and fun to explore, this 1,400-page tome is the most complete guide ever published on the artists and recordings that really rock. Compiled by dozens of music critics, it reviews and rates more than 14,000 great albums by over 2,200 artists and groups in more than 400 styles - both mainstream and alternative - including bootlegs, import-only releases, important out-of-print recordings, and lesser-known cult artists. A brief profile details each performer's career, while insightful reviews of top recordings help define the musician's artistic development and impact on rock. Expanded biographies spotlight major figures, along with complete album discographies. Also features educational essays and "music maps" that chart the evolution of rock's diverse subgenres at a glance.
Customer Reviews:
More punk & less r&b next time...PLEASE!.......2007-03-09
First off this is supposed to be a guide to ROCK. With that in mind the following artists are missing:
Fear, Robin Trower, Accept, Raven, Giant Sand, Saxon, Yngwie Malmsteen(in fact there are no shred guitarists from the 80's included), New Model Army, Monkeywrench, Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, The Pandoras, Warrior Soul & Deadbolt.
The next list is all of the artists that are in this ROCK guide:
Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, D'Angelo, TLC, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Mariah Carey, Biz Markie, Coolio, Das EFX, Dr. Dre, Raekwon, Puff Daddy, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Rakim, Busta Rhymes, Vanilla Ice, Jay-Z, Jodeci, K-Ci & Jojo and last but not least the rockinest act ever Kid & Play.
Another beef that I have is that quite often a greatest hits type of record will be the only album reviewed by what I consider to be important bands. One that comes to mind is Rainbow. They had many albums with many different lineups so reviewing a greatest hits album will just not suffice. With all this negativity I still admit to reading this thing to death and it does come in quite handy for mostly classic rock purchases.
Next time leave the radio r&b for the r&b guide and include more complete discographies, metal, indie & punk or press up some separate guides for those genres.
5 stars, PLEASE!!.......2006-10-13
Desiding that I needed a new record guide book as my Rolling Stone Record Guide, copyright 1979 was out dated, I bought the All Music recorg Guide, 3rd edition. They hand out 5 stars like candy. I think that as I have aged( I'm 55.) that the critical faculty of reviewers, be that music, books or movies has deminished. A 5 star record should be a combination of extrodinary talent, musically and lyrically and be somewhat groundbreaking. Not to mention that EVERY song on it had better be good! You would have a hard time housing all the 5 star recordings in the tome.
Let's reserve the 5 stars for the truely GREAT!!! Recordings that will stand the test of time. So I would say take quite a bit of salt with this guide.
Excellent bathroom reading.......2006-08-22
Has some errors and odd omissions, but I still learn something every time I pick it up. The online version is far more complete ... but I don't have a computer in my bathroom, yet.
A heavy and bulky book because it contains a lot.......2006-01-29
When a guide becomes "selective" that means they're leaving out artists that interest you and that you like. This guide tries to include all the major and a great deal of the minor artists of rock. You'll disagree with some of the reviews but having an informed opinion is a good thing. A great reference book as well as good reading on your favorites.
Rolling Stone's Righteous Twin........2006-01-15
The Website Allmusic.com is easily the biggest resouce for music information on the internet. Reviews on nearly every album ever made as well as helpful and educational essays can be found there. The rock version of that site has been put in a book and released in 2002.
For the most part you will no longer have to use the site if you just want to look up rock and soul albums. In fact only the most obscured artists and albums are left out. Not every rock essay is included in the book so you'll be returning to the site if you want to see all of those. A black dot next to a review indicates a good first purchase for that artist. A star indicates an essential purchase bu that artist. A black star indicates both a good first purchase and an essential purchase.
A helpful system that Rolling Stone's album guide didn't care about or try to emulate.
One may argue that the book is too generous. 95% of the artists get at least one five star review. The artist or album only gets blasted when it truly deserves it ( such as Milli Vanilli or Vanilla Ice ). For the most part the book treats everyone with kid gloves ( would you rather they be mean and hateful like Rolling Stone? ).
I don't agree with all the reviews such as Peter Gabriel's hit album, "So", which only get four out of five stars. They still gave a believable reason as to why the album deserved that rating instead of just saying that the album quote 'sucks' like the so called literates at Rolling Stone would have said.
To sum it up this is a very good book. It's still a good idea not to completely ignore the site because the whole site is not in the book. I cannot count how many artists this book has led me to recognize and maybe it will be helpful for you too.
Book Description
From folk to avant-garde to world music, this fun-to-browse book easily guides readers to more than 20,000 great recordings by over 4,000 artists through thorough reviews and ratings. Arranged by genre (the book covers 16 styles in all), each section provides informed essays on how the music evolved and its various styles, intriguing artist biographies, and insightful reviews and ratings of the top recordings. The lives and work of major artists are described in depth. Easy-to-read "music maps" chart the development of each genre, its key players, and their influences. Now in its fourth edition, this authoritative reference highlights "essential collection" albums as well as "first purchase" recordings to help listeners buy CDs. Nearly 1,500 info-packed pages! "Makes you delirious with knowledge." - Entertainment Weekly "The most useful single volume your money can buy." - Mojo
Customer Reviews:
Lock, Stock and Barrelý.......2003-07-15
All Music Guide eliminates the guesswork out of pop music research, period. After using an earlier AMG rock guidebook, I'm truly convinced that there exists no more comprehensive music manual-Rolling Stone step aside. Use it in conjunction with AMG's website, www.allmusic.com, as a handy, tagalong supplement.
Very good stuff.......2003-07-14
This guide constitutes an excellent effort in describing major artists in different music genres.
But I found certain omissions, for example in Dave Brubeck an album is mentioned Time Changes but there is no review of it at all.
In Easy Listening I didn't found Roger Whittaker who has been praised with a special edition of Billboard magazine several years ago.Another one is Claudine Longet which had several records of her own.
Anyway this guide is a must for any music fan.
Great purchasing guide.......2003-03-07
For anyone who wants to build a collection of the best popular music on CD this is a really useful guide. The Editorial Review (above) gives you a good guide to the structure of the book, so I won't repeat that.
The digital revolution, with a great deal of music now readily available in a lightweight compact format has created a new dilemma--what to buy.
An artist you like, say Diana Ross or Miles Davis, might have sixty or a hundred albums listed in a catalog or on a Web site. If you wanted to build a music collection that contained just one example of their best work, which of these would you buy?
This book will help you make that decision and, most importantly, help you avoid buying duds that you will later regret.
The question has been raised as to whether this book is necessary, as the Web site version is fuller, not to mention free. I guess that answer to that is that it depends on what you want it for. The book is a handy reference that you can read in bed, in the bathroom, take with you to the music store, read on the beach etc. So you don't have to buy it, but if do want a print version, here it is. It would also be (or is) a valuable reference work for any library, radio station, print publication, or as a starting point for anyone doing any kind of research into poular music. I imagine that it would also be indispensable for anyone who purchases music for any kind of musical library or collection.
It probably isn't so great if you want information on recently released music. After all, it takes a while for an initial critical evaluation to take root. Just consider how many Grammy winning or best selling albums start to look quite shabby once the initial acclaim wears off. Where is M.T. Hammer now? But for a survey of the whole library of recorded popular music, you can't beat it.
Disappointing.......2002-02-11
I was looking for a guide to recent rock recordings. This was not it. Most of the groups I looked up weren't listed (P.O.D., Incubus, et. al.). You'd be better off just going to their website or reading reviews on amazon.
Average customer rating:
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Science and Dissent in Post-Mao China: The Politics of Knowledge
H. Lyman Miller
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
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ASIN: 0295975326 |
Amazon.com
In the late 1980s, Fang Lizhi, a physicist and university vice president from central China, emerged as one of that country's leading dissidents after writing an open letter to Deng Xiaoping calling for greater freedom. "One of the great ironies of the Deng era has been that scientific dissidence arose in political opposition to a regime that from the beginning attached a high priority to science and technology," writes H. Lyman Miller. A professor at Johns Hopkins University, Miller has crafted a careful and rich book that looks at the role of scientists in late 20th-century China. Here, he demonstrates that the research the Chinese government paid for often led scientists to question the tenants of Marxism-Lenism and instead, to sometimes openly support democracy.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Contemporary Asia, published by Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers on August 1, 1998. The length of the article is 608 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Science and Dissent in Post-Mao China: The Politics of Knowledge. (book reviews)
Author: Ellen R. Judd
Publication:
Journal of Contemporary Asia (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 1998
Publisher: Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers
Volume: v28
Issue: n3
Page: p401(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Featuring fabulous Southern Italian recipes, photos, and lore from the hit show, this book will have millions of fans eating like their favourite family. Featuring mouthwatering recipes and family food stories straight from the kitchens of The Sopranos and their friends, The Sopranos Family Cookbook is sure to satisfy readers' hunger and craving for more of The Sopranos. Including the histoory of Neapolitan cuisine and 100 recipes created with the characters in mind, plus luscious pictures of the savory dishes, readers will be baking ziti as good as Carmela's in no time. These are the dishes that the first generation Sopranos brought over from Naples and Avellino and the fourth generation still enjoys. In addition, the book has colour photos of Tony, his family, and his 'family' eating and cooking beautiful Italian meals. Whether it's creating sumptuous Italian pastries or traditional Neapolitan feasts, The Sopranos Family Cookbook lets fans enjoy their favourite show at the table. Allen Rucker has written numerous award-winning television specials and documentaries, including Family Values: The Mob and the Movies. Michele Scicolone has written six Italian cookbooks, some of which have been nominated for Julia Child and James Beard Foundation Awards, and has appeared on Emeril Live and Good Morning America.
Customer Reviews:
Great traditional and easy.......2007-08-24
I was unsure about buying this, but it became one of the best cookbooks I own. Everything is very clear, and so far nothing has come out bad. Many of the recipes are ones I remember my greatgrandmother cooking!!
you'll love this book.......2007-08-13
This has to be one of my favorite cookbooks-and I have MANY--but this one is special, not only does it have pretty pictures of the actors, but the recipes are delicious! And so funny-the interview with Furio had me laughing out loud-you'll be cooking and laughing at the same time-not a bad way to spend the day.
A little of this and a little of that.......2007-08-12
I purchased the Sopranos Family Cookbook as a gift for three different friends. All of them have raved about the variety of recipes and the story lines from the TV hit show. Lucky for me, I get to eat what they cook from the book!
ITALIAN - HOME STYLE.......2007-08-03
I'LL TAKE THE RECIPES FROM THIS BOOK ANYTIME OVER FOOD FROM THE OLIVE GARDEN!! OR MOST OTHER RESTAURANTS FOR THAT MATTER.
A FORMER BRONXITE
A Must Have for Die-hard Sopranos Fans.......2007-07-09
I ordered this cookbook so that I could use authentic "Sopranos" recipes for a dinner I made for my husband and myself to enjoy while watching the final episode of "The Sopranos". This is a fun cookbook in that it is written by "Artie" and contains stories contributed by other characters in the series. I enjoyed reading about "Janice's" memories of Sunday dinner growing up in the Soprano household; "Bobby Baccalieri's" love affair with food and the many other stories included in the book.
I have only tried two recipes so far - the baked Ziti and the Tiramisu. The Ziti was delicious but a bit time consuming to put together. Next time I decide to make it I think I will put it all together the day before so I only have to deal with baking it the next day. Tiramisu is probably my most favorite dessert. This was a simple recipe and it went together in no time. Next time I make it I plan to use cocoa powder instead of the chopped up chocolate and I also will line the dish with plastic wrap to ease the removal of the dessert from the pan. Also, I couldn't find any ladyfingers in my area so I used a sponge cake. It worked OK but after a day or so became very soggy. I wouldn't recommend using it as a replacement for the ladyfingers.
Book Description
Degunking Your Mac, Tiger Edition, covers the latest operating system (OS X Tiger). Tiger has been greatly expanded, and the new features of this powerful operating system can help Mac users get better organized and reduce clutter. This Tiger edition of the bestselling Degunking Your Mac takes readers inside Tiger and shows them step-by-step how to run Tiger at peak performance. This book is a huge time-saver because it's organized according to the proven twelve-step degunking process that made the Degunking Series popular around the world. After degunking their Macs, users can then focus on doing more creative things, such as making movies, recording music, using the Mac with the iPod, creating websites, and designing documents.
All of the crucial degunking tips and tricks and customization techniques are in this book, including how to better manage hard drives that get gunked up with media files, how to properly optimize the desktop, how to make programs run their best, how to keep fonts under control, how to get rid of the extra stuff that Tiger installs, how to best use the new security features, how to streamline repetitive tasks with Automator, and much more. Special degunking tips are also provided to help users upgrading from earlier versions of OS X to Tiger. The book provides proven degunking maintenance tasks that users should perform on a regular basis to keep their Macs running at optimum levels. Mac users will love this book because it will help them get organized (and stay organized), optimize their workspace, solve clutter problems, and keep their Macs running fast and smoothly.
Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Beginner's Book.......2006-10-10
"Degunking Your Mac" is an excellent book for beginning to intermediate users who want to tune-up and clean up their Macintosh. The book is well organized, but not dense. Miss Ballew takes time to discuss topics in clear and non-technical language with a dash of wit. The result is a computer book that novices should find interesting and fun, instead of scary, jargony, and off-putting.
My two favorite chapters in "Degunking Your Mac" are chapters 9 (Fonts) and 19 (Automator). Anyone who has used a Mac has encountered issues with fonts, and chapter 9 had excellent solutions for these common headaches. Chapter 19 is the best beginner's introduction to Automator I've read in a book so far. It is a brief chapter, but introduces Apple's new automation utility in clear English.
"Degunking Your Mac" is a clear and solid manual for beginning and intermediate users. My only quibble with the book is that it may have little new information to an Advanced Macintosh user.
Trash Removal.......2005-09-11
OS 10.4 seeks to be all things to all men, thus it contains many MB of no possible use to most users. It needs to include a purging program to remove trash. Fonts in foreign languages, translations (how many people in the US want to convert classical Chinese to simplified Chinesw), printer drivers for printers that the user doesn't have consume a great deal of space. This book needs to be far more aggressive.
So much to degunk, so little time!.......2005-09-09
My new iBook G4 is already gunked up, so I am finding the book a treasure trove of help! The book's beginning pages I found long and redundant; I just wanted to get on with the degunking. The most important message for me at the start was to degunk in the order the book outlines. It has taught me much about what unnecessary items (for me) come loaded onto the Mac at purchase, i.e., foreign languages & fonts I can't use. As a long-time Mac user, I feel qualified to highly recommend the book for its orderly presentation, user friendliness and practical matters. In fact, I'll try to go through it again over time to see what else might have sneaked into my Mac.
M. Thoelecke
THE DEGUNKERS.......2005-09-03
The source of "gunk" is the way users use their Mac--not the machinery itself. But, a lot of Mac users don't think their machines have gunk. Author Joli Ballew has done an outstanding job of putting together a book that shows you how to keep your Mac running at tip-top speed as long as possible and to make you more productive along the way.
Ballew begins by helping you to determine whether your Mac is really gunked up. Next, the author introduces a proven 12-step program to degunking success--a program that can really and truly get your Mac performing like new again. Then, she explains how to get rid of- or degunking files that shouldn't be in your Mac. The author continues by showing you how to locate and get rid of unwanted applications, including beta applications, unnecessary programs and unnecessary Mac OS X applications. In addition, the author next covers Tiger's new Spotlight feature, including how you can use it to organize data and create Smart folders. She also focuses on getting you working more efficiently by personalizing what you access every day. The author next shows you how to degunk the Dashboard. Next, the author shows you how to degunk new features, so that they don't drive you crazy. Then, she shows you how to manage or eliminate your font gunk. Ballew continues with a discussion of how to degunk your iPod. Next, the author shows you how to prevent spam first, keep what you do get under control, and formulate a plan for reducing or eliminating spam altogether. Then, she covers e-mail housecleaning in more detail, and how to clean up and organize your legitimate mail with spam that gets through your defenses. In addition, Ballew continues by discussing how you can degunk the startup process and optimize the hard drive, so that your Mac runs as efficiently as possible. Next, she explores Software Update; as well as, available software upgrades. Then, she introduces you to the different types of hardware you can acquire to beef up your system. The author then shows you what tools are available to help you maintain your Mac and what tools can be used to search for, find, and fix errors with hard disks, permissions, and similar issues. She then shows you how important it is to secure your Mac and what built-in and third-party utilities and software are available to you. Next, she covers how to back up data, with emphasis on creating a backup strategy and sticking to it. Finally, she shows you how to get started with Automator.
With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of showing you how to follow the basic steps outlined in this book on a regular basis, with the results of giving yourself an insurance policy and saving yourself from encountering aggravation down the road. So, the belief here is that degunking your Mac will make your time on your computer more efficient, more productive, and maybe even more enjoyable.
Much more material in this edition.......2005-08-27
I liked the first edition and there is a lot more to find in this book. In fact I would say that this book has easily doubled in size. New topics include Dashboard and Spotlight. But the original material about killing spam, optimizing your applications, getting the garbage off your drive and many others remain. There is even material about cleaning up your iPod.
An excellent resource for any full-time Macintosh user.
Books:
- And It Don't Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years
- Arlen Roth's Masters of the Telecaster
- Arranging for Large Jazz Ensemble
- Barbra: The Way She Is
- Beatlesongs
- BOB DYLAN: THE ESSENTIAL INTERVIEWS
- CAN'T BY SATISFIED the Life and Times of Muddy Waters
- Classical Music: Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion
- Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana
- Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century
Books Index
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All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music (All Music Guides)
