The Essential Rock Discography

The most compulsively readable rock 'n' roll reference book ever published, The Great Rock Discography offers:

  Complete discographies listing every track by more than 1,000 groups

  Comprehensive band histories, lineup changes, career milestones

  Catalog numbers for ordering recordings and evaluating your collection

  Top U.S. and U.K. chart positions

  Recommendations of must-have recordings and essential listening

  Biographies and band histories

Detailed artist profiles

  Name changes, breakups, solo albums

For less than the price of three CDs, fans can own a fabulous reference tool and a great read.  Everyone from casual rock scholars to the most zealous gatherers of music trivia will crave this essential volume, now in its fourth revised and updated edition.

It took Strong 10 years to compile this discography, and the rock music world is in his debt. More accurate and comprehensive than other books attempting to accomplish the same ends, more readable and better organized, The Great Rock Discography title may toot its own horn, while Strong calls his opus "the ultimate rock book of all time," but it's entirely merited.

It starts at A with ABBA and spends over a page on them (and these are rather large pages, with very small print), describing the history of the band and their albums, then compulsively listing their every recorded musical output from October '73 until October '96, including a jungle of code notations (you can refer back to the formats-and-abbreviations page whenever needed) with catalog number and recording label, whether the A- or B-sides differ in their U.K. and U.S. versions, which are essential to your collection, and whether the vinyl was a long player, a double-long player, a colored long player, or a mini-long player. Covering Adam & the Ants, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Tom Petty, Linda Rondstadt, and Muddy Waters on up through the Zombies and ZZ Top, Strong lists every track by more than 1,000 groups. --Stephanie Gold