Non-fiction "also-rans" (Part 4)

I'm sure you'd all like me 2 get back 2 reviewing off-the-wall music or forgotten singles, & I'd like 2 as well, but I gotta get this stuff outta my system 1st....
4 this last time around, here's a batch of music histories & encyclos + some SF-criticism that maybe don't deserve the description "great" 4 whatever reason but R still worth having around. Some of you might like 'em a whole lot....
+ THE ROLLING STONE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL -- Close but no banana. There's some really superb writing by Greil Marcus on The Beatles & Van Morrison; + Xcellent work by Lester Bangs & Dave Marsh on Punk Rock, Elvis & various Motor City acts. But the same old bias against Art Rock is still present. & there R other biases. No can do....
+ THE ROLLING STONE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ROCK AND ROLL -- I recently picked up a used copy of this "updated for the new millennium" version of the encyclo from my favorite local used bookstore (BOOK 'EM in Port Orchard, Wash. -- free plug!) & was suprised 2 find that it's MUCH BETTER than the thin, bland & frustrating original version published back in the mid-'80s. This 1 attempts 2 make some critical judgements, which livens things up. But I'm bummed about all the people who've bn dropped from the book over the years....
+ ROCK MOVERS AND SHAKERS, edited by Barry Lazell -- Follows in detail the careers of 100's of rock & rollers, tracking their activities, releases, tax problems & jail terms in page after page of teeny tiny type. If you're a fan of obscure chart info (The Left Banke's gorgeous & cluttered "Desiree" single peaked at #98; Ike & Tina Turner's cluttered & gorgeous "River Deep, Mountain High" peaked at #88), this is the book 4 you.... This is where I learned the Four Tops once recorded a version of the Moody Blues' "Simple Game" -- I'd still like 2 hear that... Warning: This book is tougher on the eyes than THE ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK....
+ THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ, Richard Cook & Brian Morton -- There's some wonderful writing here about albums by jazz greats Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Billy Holliday, Lester Young, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, etc. & the book is HUGE, & hugely detailed. But man, do they hate most jazz-rock.... & New Age? Don't get them started....
+ ANATOMY OF WONDER, edited by Neil Barron -- Reviews 100's of science-fiction novels & short-story collections, in alphabetical order by author. I read an earlier version of this while in Turkey around 1990 & thot it was the best collection of SF reviews ever. But the version I have is the later 5th edition (2004), which has some reviews dropped from earlier versions. There's still some good stuff in it, tho I'm suspicious of their recommendations about newer SF -- I picked up a couple fairly recent novels they RAVED about & was disappointed both times. Editor Barron sez in his intro that this will be the last edition of the book he'll edit; weirdly, he was found dead in Las Vegas a year or so ago....
+ THE SCIENCE FICTION SOURCE BOOK, David Wingrove -- Some good VERY brief reviews & overviews of 100's of writers works. Some good insights about authors' strengths & weaknesses. But there's also an absurdly overcomplicated rating system. & Wingrove jumps on the bad stuff real hard....
+ MODERN FANTASY: THE 100 BEST NOVELS, David Pringle -- Not quite enuf detail on 100 highly-rated fantasy novels published since WW2. I've read about a dozen of them. Does include a laudatory review of Stephen R. Donaldson's CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, & I was suprised 2 find Michael Moorcock's THE WAR HOUND AND THE WORLD'S PAIN here -- didn't realize while I was reading it that it had such depths. Gene Wolfe's BOOK OF THE NEW SUN is also here -- maybe if you can get all the way thru it it's worth such high praise. Overall, Pringle just skims the surface of many of these books. This book coulda bn 2wice as long....
- THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ROCK, POP AND SOUL, Irwin Stambler -- Oh no. Possibly the worst ever. I've never seen so many errors & cliches piled-up in 1 professionally published book before. & it's gone thru numerous re-printings. Don't believe a word....

COMING NEXT: More music. I promise....