Great Rock Discography

Covers over 1000 important figures in the history of rock, including complete discographies of all featured artists, chart positions for every album and single, and biographies, style analysis, and recommended albums of all artists listed

The second edition of this discography (which for most American libraries will be the first, since the 1994 edition wasn't distributed in the U.S.) covers more than 1,000 performers. Because of the detail in the discographies, it is by its nature a very selective list, but rock, reggae, rap, blues, jazz, and pop performers all find space. The volume is arranged by name, which appears in a black box. If the name in the box is in white type, the performer is considered to be a rock artist. Gray type indicates a pop artist; these tend not to be viewed in as glowing a light in the narrative. The pop demarcation also seems somewhat arbitrary--Elton John is pop and the Moody Blues are rock. Hank Williams is categorized as rock as well. Gray boxes show name changes, solo efforts, etc.

Each entry opens with a narrative about the group and its history; however, history is also imbedded in the chronologically arranged discography. Sammy Haggars' joining Van Halen doesn't appear until the second column of the discography. For most users, this information would be better separated into narrative and discography. The chronological discographies include both LPs/CDs and singles and note the formats available at release. For albums, the track listings are given. They are in order according to the British release and occasionally, as with Queen's Greatest Hits II (U.K.) and Classic Queen (U.S.), there seem to be unacknowledged differences in the tracks released. Indicators are given for U.S. and British charting. Some entries also have lists for special releases and compilations. The discographies are current through 1994. See references are provided for names used in the gray-box subheadings. The text is dotted with pen-and-ink caricatures.

With its wide array of performers--Miles Davis; Muddy Waters; Whitesnake; Sugarcubes; Wet, Wet, Wet; Sly & Robby; k.d. lang; Don McLean--and the track listings, this is an interesting tool. At this low price it should be considered by music libraries and those with strong popular-music collections.