DISC

I thought that Mick Jagger's review was the best because he showed me that doing what u love to do as a hobbie (or job) is as good as life can get.

This fact-filled guide designed for independent musicians takes you inside the world of CD replication. To my knowledge, it is the only book which is dedicated solely to this process. Although the subject is hardly worthy of entire texts, the author does a fine job of creating a short and simple guide to a VERY important subject. Musicians should know just as much about the design/printing process as they do about the recording process. After all, the package is almost as important as the music itself (even though we don't always like to admit it!). With this in mind, 'Compact Disc Replication' teaches the reader, in easy to understand language, all about the design, printing, and CD duplication process. After reading this book, you will be much more comfortable choosing a disc duplication service, and being involved in the process from beginning to end. The result...a final package that is in keeping with your original ideas, vision, and style. This is a very quick and easy read, and is well worth the time. My only complaint is that the price is approximately double what it should be. For that, I might have given it 4 stars. But, because it is the only book of its kind, and it is well done at that, I have to give it our top rating, along with a note of thanks to the author for recognizing the importance of this often overlooked topic.

The author starts this book out by saying that it is for people who don't want to "study" Spanish, but who want to learn to speak the language in a casual, non-threatening manner. I would say it's for either and both. I am in the beginning stages of learning Spanish, and this has been a great follow-up to the 6 week intro Spanish course I recently completed. I definitely intend to go on with serious studying of Spanish that will allow me to be fluent.
The CD's are a great addition to the book because they allow for independent reinforcement of what the book teaches. I have found that it's best to look over a section in the book before I listen to that section on the CD, but the opposite may be true for a more auditory learner. The best aspect of the CD's is that you can quickly rewind or fast forward to the lesson that you want to review as many times as you want to. My minor complaint about the CD's is that they don't give alot of experience with listening comprehension, but that's probably not what's important at this stage of learning the language.
I am definitely learning the basics of the language, including how to put together survival sentences and responses. I'm looking forward to moving on to more advanced level material after I complete this one.

Only a handful of books exist that provide collectors of popmusic withinformation on whether a certain song that hit the charts is available on compact disc or not. This is the best of them. Not only does it take the approach of listing every CD that a song may have appeared on, it also, as much as possible, provides important info on whether a song was a single or lp version, its time, stereo/mono, etc. Downey links all songs to its highest chart position and year of release using rankings in record industry mag, Cashbox, possible its only drawback considering that Billboard is the leading indicator. Nonetheless a fine book providing collectors with a much needed resource!

I have found this packet is tremendously great. It differs greatly from all the other resources through the choosing of the practical dictation instead of the mathematical one. Another great feature, I have found, is that the software is dedicated for Windows environment. Finally I would like to thank every one how try to discuss Wavelet in practical aspect rather than collecting Mathematical Paper from the journals. I think this will help us to practically apply wavelet instead of only understand its mathematics.

This CD includes recordings of 100 species commonly heard in the north, including mostly birds, but also mammals, amphibians, and even an insect! Each selection is reasonably long and includes a variety of vocalizations, and the accompanying booklet is wonderful, clearly but simply explaining the contexts in which each sound is made. Lang Elliott scores another home run.

I was the technical editor for Curt on this book and have had the opportunity to work with him on other books. His writing style is excellent and he never spends more time than necessary on any one topic.

For those wishing to learn more about the hardware requirements for Win2000, this is the book. You won't find vague chapters covering numerous other Win2000 topics lightly-- that's for other books. This one focuses on what it takes to manage the physical server that is running Win2000.

If you like this one, I can tell you that Curt has other books on other Win2000 subjects that I've read. His stuff is easy to read and won't bog you down.

Featuring exclusive interviews with DJ superstars such as Grand Wizzard Theodore, DJ QBert, Rob Swift, and others, The World Of DJs And The Turntable Culture by Todd Souvignier is both a solid introduction to the culture, history, and unique aspects of popular dance music, hip-hop, and turntable tunes, as well as a detailed look at the tools, methodologies, technologies, and more used by modern DJs. The World Of DJs And The Turntable Culture is an accessible and in-depth resource which is most especially recommended for anyone considering a career as a DJ, as well as ideal for casual browsers who are curious about what makes these unforgettable presenters of music tick.

These days there are a number of good guides to classical music, but this one still holds its own. The writing is clear (sometimes even amusing), and the choices are usually thoughtful. At its best, this guide succeeds in comparing two, three or even a dozen different versions of a given work, rather than merely citing the "best" one - which may be unavailable for any number of reasons. For anyone trying to make sense of the classical music marketplace - especially beginners dazed by hordes of Beethoven Fifth's - you could do much worse than investigate these editors' recommendations.

Some caveats: yes, there are some composers who aren't even represented by a single recording. This is somewhat shameful, given that (just to pick one) there is more Xenakis available to listen to than this book would have you believe. And if the writers have an overall bias, it appears to be toward British composers, conductors and orchestras. This is not, in my opinion, a major minus since the country has such a rich musical culture, and the Guide's editors are all British. Just note it, accept it - and move on. Get what you can from their experience, and then explore some other publications, either printed or increasingly online. There are plenty of other sources of musical criticism and insight available, and frankly, for a balanced view of recordings, any skeptical consumer would want to investigate other opinions anyway.

I've been using the Penguin for years and have rarely been steered totally wrong. Sometimes I don't quite agree with the top choices, but this shows how many great recordings we have (for some works) from which to choose - not to mention how two people can hear the same recording and come to a different conclusion.

For both beginners and veteran listeners, this book can be safely recommended as an important volume in a well-rounded reference collection.

If sometimes you have been encountered by the dilema of chosing between several interpretations of a certain work and finally take the risk of spend your money in one... that did not suit your tastes; then, you will find this book very useful to get more certainity at those moments.

First of all, it is virtually impossible to have the same tastes of the editors of this book, but this is not its objective neither.

It presents perpectives of the sound, interpretation and general quality of the recordings and the people who wrote this has listened to a HUGE amount of selections, between versions of a work and other ones. So you can rely on them as they actually can be consider as experts in the matter.

They have a special qualification for the recordings and gives you a reference based on their personal tastes. The rosette is the highest ranking of a recording and then you have three to one "*s" which means that more is better.

You can actually buy your recordings based on their references and get at least 95% of probability for high satisfaction.

It is a nice way to get you informed before running to the CD store...!

I've heard quite often that American readers have great difficulty finding the recordings that are recommended in the Gramophone and Penguin CD guides--primarily because these guides work from the catalog of CDs that are in print in the UK, but also because they recommend many CDs that must be imported into both the UK and US from Germany.

Here's one trick to finding many, many imported CDs in the Amazon database--the only way I know of, in fact. Specially imported classical CDs retain their original label: Philips, Decca, Deutsche (from Deutsche Grammophon), Classics for... (from Classics for Pleasure), Archiv, Eloquence, Teldec, Virgin, etc. By contrast, CDs released domestically on these labels show up as Polygram, Universal, Elektra, etc. (these labels' "parent" companies).

So--if you go to the classical search page and type "Deutsche" in the label field and nothing else, you get about 400 or 500 results that are specially imported Deutsche Grammophon CDs. Likewise, if you search only for "Philips" or "Decca," you will be astounded by the results--hundreds of imported CDs on these labels that I don't think can be found any other way because most imports don't carry catalog numbers. For example, dozens of DG Galleria discs can be found only by searching with "Archiv" in the label box.

The peculiarity is that often these imported discs apparently have links and info for the performers, but if you search for this performer from the classical search page, these imported CDs still don't show up! Very strange... For example, searching for "Dumay" on the classical search page brings about 15-20 results, but clicking the "Dumay" link on an imported CD page brings about twice as many results! So--the other trick to searching is to click on links for a performer, and don't rely only on searching for a performer. You almost always get significantly more results by clicking a link than by searching.

You can, of course, also find many--but not all!--of these CDs on the Amazon.co.uk site, which is just as easy as using Amazon.com, but often the price advantage is in Amazon.com's favor, so it can really pay off to sift through the extensive import search results. And in the case of imports from Germany, the Amazon database often still carries imports that are no longer available through the UK outlet.

Examples of CDs I've found by doing label searches are Andras Schiff's box sets of Schubert piano sonatas and Mozart piano concertos, the Bruggen box set of Haydn's Sturm/Paris/London symphonies, all of the Dumay/Pires chamber music recordings on DG, Brendel's 4-disc set of the Haydn piano sonatas, recently released Double Deccas of Bizet, Hindemith, Stravinsky, and Vivaldi, Dvorak piano quintets by Richter and the Borodin Quartet, the Bohm set of the Mozart symphonies, the Alban Berg set of the late Mozart string quartets--all these recordings are very highly rated by either the Gramophone or Penguin guides, and I found all of them by sifting through the hard-to-find imports.

Finally, what I've sometimes done, and what other classical music-lovers can do is, after I've found one of these highly rated recordings, I use Amazon.com's recommendation feature to create links to this hard-to-find disc from other recordings of the piece. For example, from Kemff's Schubert box set I created a link to the imported Schiff Schubert box. It was through one of these links that I found the Chung / Zimerman Gramophone Award-winning recording of the Strauss / Respighi violin sonatas on DG Galleria-thanks to whoever did that!

Happy searching--and listening!!

If you haven't bought one of these books, buy this one. If you own the 5th edition, however, save your money.

You have three primary choices for these "jazz guides": All Music Guide, MusicHound, and Penguin. AMG includes reviews of out-of-print CDs, and older LPs, which can be frustrating because you'll read glowing reviews of albums you won't be able to find. MusicHound is a compilation of reviews by different authors, so you can forget about any kind of consistency. Penguin is informative, contemporary, and consistent. It's your best choice.

This book features 1601 pages of CD reviews and artist biographies, not including the introduction and index. Whatever your level of knowledge, however long you've spent listening to jazz, you're sure to discover something new in this book. And that's a tremendous reward for Amazon's price.

On the other hand, as an update, this edition doesn't impress me. Significant artists like Mel Lewis and Carl Fontana still lack entries. Mick Goodrick, Christian McBride, and others have actually been removed. The artists suggest, in their introduction, that those noting omissions should get a life. Of course, no one's perfect. There are, however, both minor omissions and glaring omissions, and this edition still includes too many of the latter.

Jim McNeely, for example, is listed on page 1005, along with four of his CDs -- the most recent, from 1992. The authors ignore "The Power and the Glory" [Storyville, 2001] and "Play Bill Evans" [Stunt Records, 2002], which are forgivable omissions. I believe "In This Moment" [Stunt Records, 2003] was released too late to be included.

But also missing are McNeely's "Lickety Split" [New World Records, 1997], which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998; "Nice Work" [Dacapo Records, 2000], which was nominated for two Grammies in 2001; and "Group Therapy" [OmniTone, 2001], which was nominated for a Grammy in 2002. You'd think an artist nominated for four Grammies would receive a more complete listing in a book like this.

These are limited examples of a larger trend: this edition doesn't show enough improvement over its previous edition to be worth updating. If you don't own the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD yet, then my criticisms are nitpicks. It's a great investment for a reasonable price, and you should buy it. If you already own an older edition, however, I can't recommend you buy this. Spend your money buying a new CD, instead. Let's hope that 2005 will bring a 7th edition that will amaze us all, anew.

It's hard to believe that these two guys have listened to this much music and lived to write about it. A lot of other reviewers are comparing this book to the freely available online All Music Guide. What sets this tome apart from AMG is the higher expectations that Cook and Morton have for a jazz recording. On AMG, you see many four and five star reviews. Here an artist has to scratch and claw to get a four star review and a five star review is only rarely given for a truly seminal work. On the downside, the Penguin Guide only includes recordings in print and available in England. AMG has a much more complete discography for each artist and includes track listings of most recordings. Also given the size of this book, a lot of an artist's recordings are lumped together into one review which can sometimes be frustrating. Still, the Penguin Guide is invaluable in providing a more even balance of European artists that don't get as much attention on AMG. Both guides are essential.

Having browsed the fifth edition of this large book at the library for a couple of days, I put it on my Christmas wish list. And I got it, and even the new sixth edition! I started skimming the pages, seeing the beautiful layout of the text and headings, and I was again hooked. It may be difficult to choose from all the jazz encyclopedias on the market, but if you ever have come across this book there'll be little reason to dwelve into other volumes.

This massive reference has all a jazz fan would ever need: small biographical notes, comprehensive discography including ratings of each album, list of musicians for each album, and critical and witty comments by the two authors, Richard Cook and Brian Morton. Besides the reference itself, there's an introduction and a complete and extensive index. The most acclaimed jazzmen of all time, Miles Davis, John Coltrane etc. takes up a lot of space naturally (up to 14 pages), but otherwise entries normally doesn't span more than a page or two. Cook and Morton knows exactly the scope of each musician, and therefore each musician is giving the correct amount of text.

One complaint has to be noted. It's impossible to remember it all! That's no not so much a problem with the book, but a problem with the reader. Though they are stereotypical, the comments on the first page sums it up really nice: "This masterpiece of compilation ... provides the newcomer with an easy to use and accessible introduction .. for the regular jazz collector it is the first truly comprehensive and critical reference source (of its kind)." And: "It must be one of the most elegantly written and useful books ever to have appeared about jazz." Truly a gem, not just for hardcore jazz fans, but also for casual listeners, newcomers, or even listeners not accustomed to jazz.