1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List »

Award-winning music journalist Tom Moon is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered as well as Rolling Stone, Blender and other publications. During his twenty-year tenure as a music critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer, his writings appeared in hundreds of daily newspapers and magazines. A saxophonist, Moon began his career as a professional musician, working in assorted rock bands, cruise ship orchestras, and Maynard Ferguson's big band. He lives with his wife, daughter, two dogs and thousands of CDs in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz—author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die—does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music.

This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners’ horizons— it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band Bad Brains. Farther down the list: The Band, Samuel Barber, Cecelia Bartoli, Count Basie, and Afropop star Waldemer Bastos.

Each entry is passionately written, with expert listening notes, fascinating anecdotes, and the occasional perfect quote—"Your collection could be filled with nothing but music from Ray Charles," said Tom Waits, "and you'd have a completely balanced diet." Every entry identifies key tracks, additional works by the artist, and where to go next. And in the back, indexes and playlists for different moods and occasions.

Sarah Sutton - Library Journal

Music critic, performer, and devotee Moon's reference work contains his own personal list of favorite recordings-albeit a very well-informed one. His passion for music of all kinds is evident in enthusiastic (and sometimes glib) entries and a passionate introduction as well as in the care he has taken to make the list accessible. The book contains four different indexes (genres, classical and opera composers, classical and opera performers, and a general index), along with playlists for special occasions that have enticing titles such as "Cocktail Hour," "Roadtrip Soundtracks," and "Lazy Sunday Morning." With a few exceptions, the entries describe an album or a recording and consist of two or three paragraphs spanning a page or so, as well as a genre categorization and the release date. Most also identify additional worthwhile works by the same performer or composer, recordings directly related to the entry, and/or recordings that are of interest but less related. In scope, this work covers 21st-century recordings and those made during the last half of the 20th century in a very broad array of genres. Artists, composers, and performances one would expect make the cut, such as the Beatles, Richard Wagner, Miles Davis, and Andrew Lloyd Weber, plus more unexpected names like Goro Yamaguchi, Huun-Huur-Tu, 2Pac, and Tangerine Dream.

A ABBA to Albert Ayler B Baby Huey and the Babysitters to David Byrne and Brian Eno C Café Tacuba to Cypress Hill D I.K. Dairo and His Blue Spots to Bob Dylan E The Eagles to Cesaria Evora F John Fahey to Funkadelic G Peter Gabriel to Buddy Guy H Charlie Haden to Huun-Huur-Tu I, J Abdullah Ibrahim Trio to Joy Division K Henry Kaiser and David Lindley with Musicians from Madagascar to Fela Kuti and the Afrika 70
L Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron to Lynyrd Skynyrd M Baaba Maal with Mansour Seck to My Morning Jacket N, O Nas to Buck Owens P Augustus Pablo to Tito Puente and His Orchestra Q, R Queen to Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels S Kaija Saariaho to System of a Down T Taj Mahal to McCoy Tyner U, V Francisco Ulloa to Kevin Volans W Richard Wagner to Tammy Wynette X, Y, Z X to ZZ Top