annieb123's Review of Listen to This If You Love Great Music

by Robin Murray

Listen To This If You Love Great Music is a must read for anyone with even a passing interest in music. Featuring 100 of the best albums from the last four decades, clashmusic.com editor Robin Murray shares his passion for exceptional music and offers insightful takes on what elevates these records above the competition.

Robin steers clear of the usual classics – The Beatles and The Clash, for example – and instead goes deep into his record collection to pull out the albums he considers the greatest ever. For each, a solid case is made for why it represents a watershed moment in music history, outlining the story behind the record and critiquing what constitutes a classic. Uniquely curated to offer a fresh perspective on the last 40-plus years of music, find politically charged rock brushing shoulders with dub-infused electronica, progressive pop and dreamy shoegaze shaken awake by ear-drum rattling grime and house music.

Whether it’s bass-heavy hip-hop from Nas that inspired a thousand MCs to pick up a mic or experimental indie dance from LCD Soundsystem that blurred genres and tempted musicians to trade in their guitars for synthesizers, this is an essential rundown of the albums that really matter. You need to play them loud.

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Listen to This If You Love Great Music is an interesting and accessible examination of 100 iconic albums presented and curated by Robin Murray. Due out 6th April 2021 from Quarto on their Ivy Press imprint, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

I've reviewed a couple other books with the same format from this publisher (great art and great photography). This one does follow the same general layout: artists, album name, the date, and a description and commentary. Additionally, each of the entries contains further resources for a deeper look at allied artists' works, and further links to explore for similar relevant photographs or videos.

I'm not sure if music is just -so- much more polarizing or if I have weird taste in music (or both, probably both), but very very few of these really added anything to the conversation for me personally. I think for many readers who are more enamored of the new/alternative/post-punk landscape, this book will have a lot more relevance.

It's well written, thoughtful, and well defended by the author, who is quite clearly expert in his field. Three stars for me (who, when the phrase "great music" is uttered assumes the discussion will cover music written by composers dead for a few centuries), likely four+ for the intended audience.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Listen to This If You Love Great Music

by Robin Murray

Reviewed by annieb123 on Mar 20, 2021

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