Listen to This If You Love Great Music

I enjoyed the structure and information in this quick read. While I don’t especially agree with the music and album selection, I liked reading about details I didn’t know previously.

Robin Murray has put together an excellent list of 100 essential albums under different headings such as debut albums, political albums etc.
The list is compiled from the 1980’s so no place for Marquee Moon, Ziggy Stardust, What’s Going On or London Calling.
I’ve always found music at its best when you listen to an album. There is a certain something about listening to the album in full in the track order intended by the artist and sometimes the tracks hold a larger meaning when listened to collectively rather than they do individually. The excellent album ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ by Kate Tempest is a left field choice in the list that’s definitely best listened to in full.
These days, with music streaming, there’s so much music instantly available it’s tempting to shuffle music rather than listen to an album.
The albums are listed with notes about the album, further viewing/reading and some recommended tracks to get you started. If you like the album it recommends some further artists/albums that you might like.
The debut album list kicks off with the brilliant Stone Roses but, if that’s not to your taste, this is a list that covers many genres of music - world, rock, rap, R&B etc.
Whenever a music list appears it always leads to conversations on what should or shouldn’t be in the list - where are the Arctic Monkeys with their brilliant debut album? However, this is Robin Murray’s personal list and there’s no point in reading a book that lists a hundred albums that I’m already familiar with. It’s an interesting list which has guided me to some new material to listen to and reminded me of some of the albums I’ve enjoyed in the past that I ought to return to. It’s always good to discover a new album so thoroughly enjoyed making my way through Robin Murray’s list and highly recommend this book to any music lover out there.

I'm always open to this kind of "100 albums to listen to while you still can" book. Starting after punk, it's cleverly structured into 10 albums in each of 10 sections which range from right first time (debut albums) and one-off wonders to music to fall asleep to (ambientish, rather than dull) and going out with a bang. You can take issue with some of the choices of course (Oasis) and the 1980s seem under-represented (The Fall?) but there are plenty of good calls, links and suggestions. There's the odd mistake (The Model was a hit in 1982) and some repetitious use of hyperbole (Debbie Harry "had already lived a hundred lives or more" on p 53; Sharon Jones "had lived a thousand lives" on p. 58) and it can be a bit hipper than thou, but on balance there's a lot to enjoy here.

Robin Murray is the editor of clashmusic.com, and in this book he shares his opinions about the best 100 albums from the last four decades. This is a very UK heavy list, but there are some entries from the US and a few from other countries. The majority of the albums listed are not that well-known, so there were quite a few that were from artists that I have never heard of. But of course that’s the point of this book, to get you to expand your music library. I will admit to having a few objections to some of the entries, most notably the strong implication that The Stone Roses were the band that put Manchester on the map (I think Joy Division, New Order, the Smiths, Factory Records, and The Hacienda might have something to say about that). But again this is one man’s opinion, so you have to take all this with a grain of salt. And I did get a few ideas for new bands to check out. Overall this was an entertaining read, and I’d recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Ivy Press for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thanks for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for honest feedback.

Like most people, I love music. And like most people, I have opinions on music. It seems like music is one of those things that invites strong opinions, especially when it involves “top artists” or “top bands of the ____” lists. I know I’ve personally scoffed at a list or two, or the inclusion of one artist over my preferred choice. It’s the nature of lists, the nature of opinions.

So of course I wanted to see what this book had to say. The title itself tempted me; of course I love great music. So what should I be listening to?

This collection showcases the author’s selections from a post-punk era, with most the late 80s/90s into modern day. Separated into themes, you get the selected artist along with suggested top 3 songs and extra listening/watching/reading if you’re interested after reading the blurb. Each page looks like one of those “top x” lists which features a full color picture, the artist, and a short quip about them.

Some of the artists I was like “really?” But most of them (like, 9:10) made sense. There was a variety of genres included, but most are UK/US based artists. The added context provided by the blurb helps anyone who hasn’t heard of the artist understand why they’re included in the thematic chapters.

Closing thoughts: I think this book would be a cool gift for someone who is a total music geek. They probably wouldve heard of everyone in this book, but the layout and the style of the book characterizes this collection as something you could display as a coffee table style read or a convo (or debate) starter. Cool idea.

This is a great collection of albums, crossing musical genres. The format is accessible and attractive, and there’s plenty of extra info including similar sounds, representative tracks, and videos to watch. I recommend to anyone interested in widening their music base.

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.