Music Reviews & Criticism

A lively, engaging guide to music around the world, from prehistory to the present   Human beings have always made music. Music can move us and tel...

In this funny and poignant memoir and cultural history, the television personality, columnist, and author of Drag pays homage to Lou Reeds groundbr...

An essential exploration of Nordic composers and musicians, and the distinctive culture that continues to shape them   Once considered a musical ba...

In this behind-the-scenes look at the making of Fleetwood Mac s epic, platinum-selling double album, Tusk, producers and engineers Ken Caillat and ...

The year 1979 was a seminal watershed moment in rock music. The year saw the release of Pink Floyd's The Wall, David Bowie's Lodger, Led Zeppelin's...

Dangerous Melodies vividly evokes a time when classical music stood at the center of twentieth-century American life, occupying a prominent place i...

In an extraordinary story unfolding across two hundred years, Kristina Gaddy uncovers the banjos key role in Black spirituality, ritual and rebelli...

There have been many books written about Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, but only by people who werent there. Walter Lure wasfrom the band's...

A fascinating history of the piano explored through 100 pieces chosen by one of the UKs most renowned concert pianists  Tomes . . . casts her net w...

Although Theodor W. Adorno is best known for his association with the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, he began his career as a composer and su...

Ed Ward covers the first half of the social history of rock & roll in this definitive book. Beginning in the 1920s when blues, country, and bla...

In the last few years, the podcast industry has really boomed. Every journalist and celebrity worth their salt now has their own. But what makes Li...

In this magisterial volume, Harvey Sachs, author of the highly acclaimed biography Toscanini, takes readers into the heart of ten great works of cl...

Sonic Rebellion: Music as Resistance is inspired by the vital history of music in Detroit and the legacy of the 1967 Detroit Rebellion. It connects...

A riveting look at the transformative year in the lives and careers of the legendary group whose groundbreaking legacy would forever change music ...

5/5 - CLASSIC POP5/5 - RECORD COLLECTOR4/5 - THE TELEGRAPH4/5 - MOJOEveryone has their favourite era of the Bee Gees' career, but so much is still ...

The latest volume of writing by influential New Yorkbased critic and curator Bob Nickas collects his 201214 column for Vice magazines Komp-laint De...

Cool. It was a new word and a new way to be, and in a single generation, it became the supreme compliment of American culture. The Origins of Cool ...

What does it mean to have an emotional response to poetry and music? And, just as important but considered less often, what does it mean not to hav...

Warren Zevon songs are like chapters in a great American novel. Its story lies in the heart of his and our psyche. The lines are blurred. We never ...

In the early years of the Cold War, Western nations increasingly adopted strategies of public diplomacy involving popular music. While the diplomat...

Los Angeles in the 1960s gave the world some of the greatest music in rock n roll history: California Dreamin by the Mamas and the Papas, Mr. Tambo...