Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1109994 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Not exactly progressive rock but album reviews are excellent
This book is essentially a compilation of album reviews with a very personal approach by the author.

Most of the book is dedicated to avant-garde, ambient music, electronic music, modern classical works, jazz-fusion and lengthy instrumental and experimental music in general that is closely related to prog-rock but it is definitely not progressive rock and sometimes not even rock music.

However many progressive rock albums are also included. Some of them real classics, others over-rated due to the author preferences and of course many important classic works and artist are missing.

On the other side, the album reviews are excellent.

The reviews usually open with an excellent and brief overview of the band, followed by a little more extensive album overview and a song by song analysis.

The articles are very smart, nice to read, full of valuable information and his analysis reflect solid knowledge of music and a clear understanding of its meaning on every context.

Even when Bradley writes with love about a music I hate, it is a pleasure for me to read his article and his arguments sustain equally his love and my hate.

I would say that this book becomes a "must" for a prog-rock fan when we consider that most of prog album reviews sources like GEPR, AMG and even some other books and web site are very poor and amateurish.

This book offers excellent comments on the albums you already know. It will introduce you to many other less known and excellent bands and it eventually would open a door to other music styles closely related with the progressive rock.

But definitely not for novices who should look for an approach closer to the progressive rock classics.

Good overview, but his selections of key recordings was lame
Book review:

The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music Bradley Smith ((Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York) Progressive music is both misunderstood, and often critically overlooked or maligned. Smith's book covers the gambit of progressive music, including the typical prog-rock/art-rock crowd (Floyd, Yes, Crimson, H Cow, etc), as well as krautrock, modern progressive bands, stuff that veers towards new age, and even industrial-pioneer Throbbing Gristle and no-wave early Lydia Lunch group Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. The 20 page overview that covers the history of the genre is insightful and well written, but unfortunately the main portion of the book, "Key Recordings" is rather lame. Bradley's limits this section to 330 recordings (a few video, the rest cd) by 147 different artists, and some of his choices (inclusions as well as exclusions) are laughable. He throws in too many wimpy new age records for one thing. The inclusion of T! hrobbing Gristle, a band not normally associated with prog, is commendable, especially since Smith lets on at the beginning that he is one of those expensive hi-fi nuts, and the Gristle are about as lo-fi as one can get. Why are there several albums by Gristle spin-off Chris and Cosey, and not Psychic TV's "Force Thee Hand Ov Chance" or any number of Coil albums that are equally progressive? (I suppose the nudie photos of Cosey on her "Time To Tell" CD decided that one.) Instead of six Throbbing Gristle albums, why not anything by the far more dada-esque Nurse With Wound? Or Current 93? (Both of which are included in the web-based Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock) On the krautrock side the omissions are equally as glaring: no mention of Faust, Neu, Can, Holger Czukay, Embryo, Mythos (I could go on and on) in favor of a dozen records by Tangerine Dream and five from Deuter, including many later albums when both these artists were well past th! eir prime. Nothing on Hawkwind! The reviews themselves, a! bout half a page per album, are not much better. Bradley feels compelled to tell you how long each song is and goes into the sound quality from the point of view of a stereo-phile, this one has slight audible hiss, that one has none. He also describes the cover art of almost every release, which might make (a little more) sense if these were on vinyl, and not on CD where the cover art is shrunk down to insignificance. Also it is unadvisable to comment on the cover art when one's photo on the back cover of the book shows a dazed, pauchy man with a smug smirk and bad complexion wearing what looks like a polyester coat.

Incomplete, Weak Writing
Leaving out Van Der Graaf Generator, Hammill, Gentle Giant, IQ, PFM, Le Orme, Ange and dismissing Marillion as he does is a crime!!

Also difficult is the very weak writing. The most overused word in this book is "atypical" - I am sure I can count this word being used at least 500 times, however in every case he misuses the word: it means "unusual, NOT typical" - he uses it always to describe when one recording is similar to another. Kinda brings the writer's intelligence into question!!

So why two stars? Well, actually of those albums he recommends for those artists he cares to review, are pretty darn good albums.