This volume acts as a reference to the 1000 top albums of all time. All the key information is provided, including track listings and a brief judgement on each album. The appendices in this new edition have been expanded and enlarged to include the top 1000 albums across a range of genres, from blues to rap, reggae to indie and jazz to dance. More specialist areas, such as Latin, have been included and the number of jazz albums have been increased.

What's the greatest album of all time? There are as many opinions as there are people, but this book gets as close as possible to an answer. This is the chart of charts, the poll of polls: two years' worth of accumulated votes collected from all over the world by post, telephone, fax and over the Internet. With more than 200,000 votes it represents a vast range of views and opinions, from critics, journalists and the people who really count: the fans.

THE TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA BOOK OF THE YEARROUGH TRADE, THE TIMES, ROLLING STONE, CLASH, MOJO, UNCUTThe memoir of international music icon Richard Thompson, co-founder of the legendary folk rock group Fairport Convention.'I encourage everyone to read this wonderful book.'ELVIS COSTELLO'Thompson could be said to be an English Dylan - only in some ways he's even better than that.'GUARDIAN Richard Thompson came of age during an extraordinary moment in 1960s Britain - as music began to reflect a great cultural awakening, the guitarist and songwriter co-founded Fairport Convention, ushering in the era of folk rock. An intimate memoir of personal discovery and creative intensity, Beeswing vividly captures the life of an international music icon in a world on the cusp of change'Gripping . . . A quiet joy of a memoir.'GUARDIAN'Thompson writes exceptionally well . . . If you love music in all its myriad forms, you'll love this book.'NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS'An intimate, revealing tome, Beeswing is the voice of a figure at the heart of the British counter-culture.'CLASH'Perceptive, lyrical, amiable and seemingly effortless . . . required reading.'CAUGHT BY THE RIVER

A guide to music provides recommendations on one thousand recordings that represent the best in such genres as classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, and opera, with listening notes, commentary, and anecdotes about performers.

With the resurgence of vinyl going from strength to strength, album cover art is as important as it's ever been. This sumptuous book brings together 250 of the greatest album covers of all time and is arranged chronologically, beginning in 1956. Our judging panel, drawn from the great and the good of the music industry, has selected the final 275 entries, giving their reasons for selection to accompany the illustrations. From rock ‘n’ roll to pop, R&B to jazz, blues and even folk, some of the album covers included are obvious classics, while others will surprise readers and jog memories. The chosen entries might not necessarily be of a best-selling release, but they are important artistically, stylistically or culturally. This fascinating book forms a wonderful visual record of this popular art form, and is an essential read for music fans the world over.