On Record - Vol. 1: 1978

I hate it when publishers give a fraction of a book for us reviewers on netgalley - ESPECIALLY WITHOUT ANNOUNCING IT BEFOREHAND. But I admire publishers who know their stock well enough to give us a sliver of their product and show exactly what it does. So kudos where it's due.

This bodes well for a series of books that will be ideal for toilet-browsing, and almost good enough to be built into one huge archive. This volume, at least, starts with a formula of one quick snapshot essay and one large press-release-of-the-time photo per band, before devolving into three acts per spread, and an associated lack of detail. Not that you get much detail, mind – some quotes from a then-contemporary interview add to the base info from the author, and you could fit the lot on the back of a postcard. The trick with the style is to not ever divulge what came next – the entry on Cheap Trick refuses to nudge us to "The Flame", Generation X shows no signs of Billy Idol's success, or, er, Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Thus the series will build to a shelf full of archived snapshots of what was at one time successful or memorable (or seldom, both) in the Billboard charts. If that's what you seek, then start here – there is a refreshing lack of subjectivity on offer to make this a definitive archive, and the full series output could only be an education.

On Record 1978: Images, Interviews, and Insights from the Year in Music by G. Brown is a fun and fairly extensive look at 1978.

First, my little caveat. The review copy I had was just an excerpt. It included only 16 of the 229 (if I counted correctly) entries. I often refrain from offering too much commentary on such excerpts. This book is basically a page with an album cover and a short commentary on the artist and album, with a publicity shot on the facing page. Because the format is standard throughout I feel like I can offer a valid recommendation. The one thing I am unable to address is whether his commentary is equally interesting for non-rock/pop artists since all of the entries in the sample were rock. The book blurb also mentions rock artists even though there are R&B and country artists included in the book.

This book is not designed to be deep, this isn't an analysis of 1978 in music. This is a snapshot of albums released that year and that Brown had the opportunity to meet (though maybe not everyone during 1978). I bought my first album in 1966 and from 1975 through about 1987 I bought a lot of albums. Unfortunately I lost about 2500 albums in Katrina in 2005 so this book (or the part I've seen) is like revisiting my collection. The commentary is an interesting look at the artist and album, maybe with a new tidbit of information, maybe just something you already knew but had forgotten. The publicity shots are great! I had forgotten how some of these people looked back then. And I never realized just how short Steve Perry is in relation to the rest of the band, and I saw them numerous times.

I definitely think anyone who was collecting records in 1978 will love this book. If you're hoping to have any analysis, well, not so much. As you read the entries for each artist you'll gain some insight into what was happening that year, but this is mostly about remembering the artists and albums of 1978. If anyone is wondering what to get me for my birthday, or any day, I will happily accept a copy of this book.

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

I received an excerpt from this coffee table book from NetGalley to review..
I did not realize either, that it was a coffee table book or an excerpt, when I requested the opportunity to review this book. I am an informal student of rock music history, so the subject matter is right up my alley.
The excerpts I read were well done: treatments of 1978 releases by Meat Loaf, Springsteen, Devo, The Clash and Tom Petty, among others. Good photos. A brief Wikipedia-length synopsis of the record and a few quotes from the artists.
Hard to fully appreciate this work on a Kindle, but what I saw looks interesting and inviting.

What I thought was an entire book was really a preview. The book had maybe sixteen albums and went into some detail about toughs. The photos were of good quality and the information was good as well. Growing during this time I still have some of the albums and though the book turned out not to be what I was expecting if this is what the finished product will be then it should be an excellent one. Now I will have to go search for the finished book.

From the excerpt I had access to, I thought this was a great book. It would have been better to be able to read the whole thing. Good pictures and interview comments. Thank you to the G. Brown, Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure about this book and I only had an opportunity to review parts of it and what I read and saw was very interesting as I'm a major music fan . I am not so much into desk top books but a number of both the interviews and reviews were spot on. If you collect large books of this nature and like music you will enjoy this one. A lot of time and effort went into putting this together.
Colorado Music Experience founding director and author G. Brown covered popular music at the Denver Post for 26 years, interviewing well over 3,200 musicians, including Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, and Kurt Cobain, all of whom recounted their escapades and reminisced about what their time on the charts meant to them personally and musically. Over the decades, G. also amassed an archive of close to 15,000 rare promotional photos.