Listen to This If You Love Great Music by Robin Murray is largely what you expect in a book of this sort. You probably already know whether you'll enjoy it or not by how much you enjoy other such books (or articles, or blog posts, etc). I will say that this is a nice selection from the past 40 years or so.

Are these the 100 albums I would have chosen? No, not by a long stretch. Which is part of why I enjoyed this book. The albums don't have to be new to me, I think only two were, but I like to read about why someone believes a particular album is essential or important. If you only want a list you agree with then you don't want to learn anything, you want validation for your tastes. Too bad, so sad.

I found some of the additional suggestions more interesting than the ones highlighted, which again makes the book worthwhile. Everyone seems to want to tout their age or "obsessive" nature, so what the heck. I am a bit older than the likely target reader (62 y/o), I have been collecting albums since 1963 even though I didn't use my own allowance to buy my first album until 1965. Even losing over 1500 albums in Katrina I still have over 4000 albums, about 100 78s, and about 2000 45s. I don't think that is obsessive, I just love music, but some people apparently need to give themselves some kind of title. Oh well, whatever makes them feel better about themselves.

I would recommend this to people who love music, or people who love to whine because a list isn't what they would have made (or they just like to sound oh so smart). Like any list it can serve to introduce new music and/or new perspectives on known music. It is also ideal for bringing out when you're with your other music-loving friends, or if you're unfortunate to know a "music obsessive" I guess them too, though they sound like real, well, never mind.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

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