Rating: 
Summary: Reviews from the media
Review: "The stuff of which critics dreams are made: plenty of fluid, informed writing, middleweight discographies and compact ... music-crit shorthand ... combining savvy music criticism with solid chronologies, a number of terrific indices in the back and unsurpassed browseability." -- Colorado Daily"An eruditely comprehensive reference book on this uniquely American music form ... stretches the traditional boundaries of what's considered blues." -- Boulder Weekly "A mammoth entity compiling the work of 50 writers from across the globe." -- Boulder Planet "One of the most satisfying of books of its type ...discussions supply valuable insights. A very enjoyable and useful guide that hits the spot." -- Cadence (The Review of Jazz & Blues) "Should give the All-Music volumes a run for its money ... the writing, editing and organization of the MusicHound series are much better." -- All About Jazz (online magazine) &q! uot;A valuable and sure to be valued addition to any blues lover's library." -- BluEnoise (www.enoise.com) "An incredible piece of work -- an invaluable source of information." -- The British Institute of Jazz Studies "Consumer friendly ... straightforward and very helpful in putting together a great CD collection ... striking photos." -- Cover magazine "The most comprehensive blues album guides I've ever seen ... impressive depth of artists ... should find its way to every serious blues fan's bookshelf." -- BluesBytes (www.blueknight.com) "The superior standards present in (the other MusicHound) publications are just as evident here ... very impressive." --Blues Beat Magazine "Differs from other music guides in several ways, most helpfully in its unique record rating format." -- Blues Revue "Essential indeed. This album guide virtually ensures a stress-free selection process...the bios are often compelling i! n themselves... dogged determination to properly guide the bl! ues enthusiast." -- Relix "Easy-to-read, well-researched. You will undoubtedly come across some opinions you don't agree with, but that's part of the fun. Highly recommended. -- North Shore News (N. Vancouver, B.C.)
Rating: 
Summary: You can buy this book, but be careful how they rate CDs
Review: An interesting compilation of opinions, but with quite a few controversial ratings. Let's get real -- blues or any other music is a question of taste, and such a guide can only at best help you avoid "clinkers" and at worst make you buy CDs that you'll listen to once and then forget about... Not all the "five bone" (highest rating possible for an album) albums are really good; I would highly recommend that you listen to a "five or four bone" CD before buying it. All in all, it is a fine effort, that does help you avoid pitfalls, but is not guaranteed to help you buy a good CD each time. Cheers
Rating: 
Summary: There ain't no way to rate this book 0-star else I would've.
Review: Every review of the artists in here seems to have been written by someone who likes that artist's music. Every hint of idiosyncracy and personal taste has been carefully expuragated. It seems to have been put together by a consortium of music publishers whose sole aim is to get you to go out and buy a so-called blues album. Any album. If you want a set of reviews (I use the term lightly) entirely devoid of any value judgements, or are looking for some positive affirmation of your taste (or lack thereof) this book is for you. Otherwise, save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: What's not to like?
Review: Great info. Great photos. Great appendixes. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Has its ups and downs...
Review: Heavy on the beer-ad blues side of things, with sidebars that talk about "monster solos," and a CD sampler that comes for the House of Blues. You see where this is leading, right? Nonetheless, this also includes admirable entries on artists such as Sammy Price, Victoria Spivey and Buddy Johnson, who might otherwise languish outside of the canon. Appendices include listings of blues festivals, labels and artist web sites, which may be useful to the up-an-coming blues hound.
Rating: 
Summary: strange
Review: Hell of a lot of entries means too many contributers. This means that in this book you will find good and clever along with poor and strange reviews. Look! This book says that Gary Moore influenced Stevie Ray Vaughan. Unfortunately for GM lovers he released his first blues record (Still Got The Blues) in 1990. That year SRV tragicaly died. He already was a blues star and hardly ever thought about GM as a blues musician. In many cases the book gives advise to avoid records that were nominated for Grammy (in blues categories) and were awarded W.C.Handy. I think a book like this should feature full list of records awarded with W.C.Handy. And so on. All in all - I was dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: Best blues book I've seen in a long time.
Review: Nice overall package. Good biographies, interesting reviews, and splendid photos; you can almost hear the music. I'll save a lot of money on CD purchases using this book.
Rating:
Summary: Essential.
Review: One of the best gifts I have ever received. A great reference source on virtually every blues oriented artist - from Robert Johnson to Beck. I buy a lot of CDs and for the last 7 months hardly a day goes by that I don't consult it.
Rating:
Summary: Simply superb.
Review: Perfect for anyone starting or adding to a blues collection. Blues is our oyster; this is the book that opens it.
Rating:
Summary: dont by this book
Review: Poor quality. They include the artist Beck, but forgot to include Howlin Wolf. Poor design for poor people
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