Top reviews from the United States

• 

  graysonG

  5 out of 5 stars

  Excellent reference material

  Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2013

  Format: Paperback

  Verified Purchase

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  Perused this volume years ago at a library and searched the internet to find a copy for myself. Very pleased.

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• 

  Isaac D.

  4 out of 5 stars

  Four Stars

  Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2018

  Format: Paperback

  Verified Purchase

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  there is no better compilation detailing releases of 90/00's electronic music. A singular resource of its kind

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• 

  DJ Joe Sixpack

  4 out of 5 stars

  Could you be any cooler??

  Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2001

  Format: Paperback

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  AMG's voluminous electronic music directory is cogent and exhaustive, sure to be a delight for the style's fans and non-fans alike. Fans will love this book for its thoroughness, its uber-cool, authoritative air and for its immense lack of humor, all of which seem reflective of the scene(s) it seeks to document. Non-fans will be delighted by the intensive devotion to ephemera and the belligerently academic tone which seeks to browbeat outsiders into accepting the worldview of a musical movement that hails each club opening as the birth of a new subgenre. Hundreds of artists and dozens of styles are outlined and their histories detailed with absolute, messianic precision. While AMG's level of writing is superior to most of its contemporaries, the tone is no less smug or evangelical; the sense of being intellectually bludgeoned will seem familiar to those of us who have watched the rise of electronica with wry but aggrieved detatchment. (Yes, I'm sure you love the stuff, but do you have to devote so much energy to coercing the rest of us into adopting your point of view?) All kidding aside, this book will be a definitive resource for years to come. Anyone interested in understanding the growth and self-perceptions of the electronic music cult will find this book invaluable.

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• 

  Robert S Michaels

  4 out of 5 stars

  Good now, getting less good every day

  Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2002

  Format: Paperback

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  But that, of course, isn't really this particular book's fault, but rather the reality for any printed survey of a topic that's constantly evolving. Like previous reviewers have said, you might want to just checkout the allmusic web site, unless you're a freakishly obsessed collector or are using a gift certificate and feeling a little more free than usual with what you buy (like me).

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  5 people found this helpful

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• 

  "thegrey1947"

  1 out of 5 stars

  Definitive Guide?!? Nah!!!

  Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2003

  Format: Paperback

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  I picked up that book a while ago, thinking I had found some sort of Holy Grail. Reality check! This so-called definitive guide is so full of errors, omissions and such that even the most braindead raver could have made a better job! Not to mention that most of the bands/artists discography is incomplete.

  Being a life-long fan of electronic music (especially of Industrial & EBM) I couldn't help but noticed some insanities. Here a few.

  1) Straight in the beginning of the book ("Brief Style Description" > Industrial Dance"). The authors are mentioning Front 242 (cool!)... but guess what? There is no entry for Front 242 in the "Definitive Guide"!!! Yeah, who cares about those belgians innovators who coined the style known as EBM (Electronic Body Music)? Laughable.

  2) Now go to the Skinny Puppy entry. What's wrong with it? Read the first paragraph carefully. cEvin Key is listed as "the former singer of Images In Vogue". What??? That's new to me... I thought I heard Mr. Crompton himself said he only been the drummer (to pay the rent). Thanks guys to enlighten me. cEvin, you lied to us all Puppy fans!

  3) Anyone remember the late Frank Tovey? You know, that guy from UK who made quite a sensation in the 80s on the electro scene? No? Fad Gadget was the name of his band... on Mute Records. Yep, sharing the slot with Depeche Mode... Remember now? Ok, another hint, his live performances were totally wild and his music minimalist? Well... don't worry if you don't remember, the authors didn't do any good either.

  4) A tricky one now. Who inspired Wumpscut, Allied Vision, Leather Strip, Hocico and another handful of dark electro-industrial bands? They were german. No, not Kraftwerk. Another try? yelworC!!! But they doesn't count since they only released a handful of tapes, singles, and a full lenght album & an anthology before one of the former member left to create amGod. But I bet you never heard of them either. Nevermind, neither the authors of The Definitive Guide.

  5) Talking about obscure bands, the authors did a remarkable job at ignoring Klinik, whom dark icy minimalist electro-industrial muzak didn't make much of a difference on the scene in the 80s.

  and the list drags on forever on multiple levels.

  The only point worth mentioning about this joke book is the efort the authors deployed to describe styles of electronic music, put them in categories and draw tables showing off ramifications. That alone prevail me from throwing the book away.

  Let's all consume large amount of MDMA and let's read the electronic bible while reading entries about obscure DJs that shaped the present music (and the one to come)!

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• 

  Shotptrdj

  2 out of 5 stars

  Lots of info, but lots of junk, and lots missing....

  Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2001

  Format: Paperback

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  Well let's start off with the obvious good things about the book: It has hundreds of listings of artists and groups, and... um, hmmm... Now the bad things: Yes, although it does have loads of references and can be handy at the desk, this book is not quite the type of book that a true "Electronica" fan would appreciate. First of all: if you have a regular & reliable connection to the internet, then don't bother with this book, because all AMG did was cut & paste all the Biographical info from their website's (Allmusic.com) Electronica genre, and throw it into a book, except the book actually has less Discographical information than the website, and Discographies are what collectors are truely interested in. The website has much more info on releases from artists and groups. Secondly: I would say that a full 1/3rd of the book is full of total no-name junk, or groups & artists that do not belong in the Electronica genre. Yes a full 1/3rd I would say is junk, like loads of listing for groups in genres like "indie-pop", "Avant-Hard", and "Synth-pop" . Those aren't really Techno type styles. Speaking of wasted paper, AMG devoted nearly 2 and a half pages to a guy named "Amon Duul" Amon Duul??? Who the hell? Yet, they gave "The Prodigy" just over 1 page, yes the most famous Techno act of all time got one page, and Amon Duul got 2 1/2. Third: Let's not even get started on the dozens of Industrial and Drum N' Bass artists & groups that were left out of the book, however not to say that AMG might be doing a full book on those genres, because they include some Industrial and Drum N' Bass groups in this book. Fourth: For some inexsplicable reason AMG decided to leave out the following Techno artists, dj's and groups: Mauro Picotto, Giggi D'agostino, Mario Piu, N-Joi, AK1200, Blank&Jones, Seb Fontaine, Trip Theory, Messiah, Antiloop, Dj Venom, X-Dream, Armin van Buuren, Freaky Flow, Agnelli&Nelson, etc.. Fifth: I guess AMG forgot about most of the important Females of the Electronica genre, because these women were not in the book: Dj Irene, Sonique, Lisa Lashes, Anne Savage, etc.. And to think, I was almost employed with this firm... In conclusion, this book basically has an inkling of Biographical info on lots of Electronica artists, but it also wastes alot of paper with no-namers, and leaves out several important figures in the Techno scene. I recommend cutting out the middle man (this book) and sticking with the Allmusic.com website for quality info.

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• 

  Kevin

  3 out of 5 stars

  A useful resource, but why buy the book?

  Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2002

  Format: Paperback

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  This book is the best (and, admittedly, the only) guide to electronic music I have ever seen in book form. However, all the information in this book is also available for free at allmusic.com. Since the website is updated and hypertextually cross-referenced, the book is actually a somewhat less useful format, albeit more convenient in some ways. Of course, buying it does give money to the people who thought to create such an exceptionally useful resource.

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• 

  war walker

  2 out of 5 stars

  As a Collector, Take my word for it....

  Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2001

  Format: Paperback

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  As a collector of many forms of Electronica new & old, I'm going to have to side with Matthew Collins on this one. The book is truely volumunous in it's bulk of basic biographical info on lots of dj's and groups, but it lacks the Discography information collectors crave. It's true that this book is great for a beginner I guess, but most of the people who would be willing to buy this are probably really into Techno & Electronica, and I would think would expect a little more than what seems to be a bunch of info from the Allmusic website on Biographies. It is worth it's price if you have cash to spare, and a spot on your shelf, but really, if you have the internet then just go to the website Allmusic.com for more info than there is in the book. And I have to say I agree with Mr Collins on "who the heck is Amon Duul" Maybe the group was an important figure in obscure indie-electro or something, but they're not a part of the Techno music that I love & know. And Prodigy is an awesome group, they just get bashed cause they got too popular, and I guess you can't be popular and be part of Electronica.

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