Essentially the eighth edition of The Great Rock Discography, Strong continues to dismantle and rebuild in order to find the greatest, most relevant discog of them all. Don’t let the title fool you, though; Grandmaster Flash, Jimmy Cliff, Underworld: there’s plenty of scope and you can revel in the UK and US 7”s, 12”s, cassettes, CDs and LPs detailed.
With a simple name change, though, Great becomes Essential, and a whole new problem arises. Astonishingly, Miles Davis has been removed entirely, suggesting that The Dead 60s’ 7/10-rated debut album is now more essential then Kind Of Blue, In A Silent Way or Bitches Brew. It’s nice to have more pictures this time round, but when it’s at the expense of something like that it seems like small reward. There have been plenty of updates (though Gorillaz are still under Blur, despite their massive achievements since the previous edition), it’s just a shame that publishing deadlines mean they end around June 2006, so there’s no Dylan Modern Times, Iron Maiden A Matter Of Life & Death, etc.
Covering most RC bands, this remains a peerless work and perfect for partnership with the likes of Colin Larkin’s Encyclopedia Of Popular Music and our own Rare Record Price Guide.
