Synopsis:
Containing over 15,000 entries in its six volumes, this is a comprehensive encyclopaedia of popular music, with a history of each topic, birthdates and locations of individuals, a discography, a videography, and selected readings. Following the original publication in 1992, this second edition has been extensively revised and updated to cover the development of new and existing genres and the introduction of new artists and groups.
From Library Journal:
Anyone who has used the 1992 first edition of this work, an LJ "Best Reference Book of 1992," will cheer the appearance of this updated set. Larkin and his team of editors, including many of the world's authorities on popular music, have amassed the largest and most comprehensive guide to "nonclassical" Western music: rock, pop, country, reggae, vaudeville, movie and theater music, blues, jazz, and other forms, from 1900 to today. Each of the 15,000 unsigned entries, ranging from 150 to 3000 words, focuses on either an individual (primarily performers, but also producers, impresarios, and others behind the scenes), recording label, or movie/stage show. Over 70 percent of the 1992 articles have been enlarged, and nearly all have been updated or emended. The show listings are completely new to this edition and add an exciting dimension. The central attraction of this work, however, lies in its massive, up-to-date performer coverage?nearly 50,000 named individuals. The average listing includes birth/death dates, career highlights and lowlights, a brief list of recordings (more entries now have label information), book-length biographies, and trivia. One-third are fully profiled (and Larkin is already at work on a third edition). The range of performers is incredible, from one-hit wonders like UK's Nick Berry to Aretha Franklin and The Doors. It's also hard to beat this work for currency; what other reference book profiles Hootie and the Blowfish? This encyclopedia is also one of the few sources to feature late-night TV gold-record sellers such as Richard Clayderman and Slim Whitman. Finally, readers put off by the first edition's British slant will be pleased to find more balance here. More than just a sourcebook, this highly attractive set is also highly readable and a browser's paradise. Beautifully bound and with improved typeface over 1992, it stands as the popular music equivalent to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Macmillan, 1980) and as such has no equal, in or out of print.?Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M Univ. Lib., Tex.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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