The Great Rock Discography

I'm always on the lookout for music reference books and while at Chapters today I picked up a good one called "The Great Rock Discography". At an affordable $24.99 CDN it's a good deal. It's a pretty hefty sized book and it contains comprehensive discographies of over 1200 artists. It also contains band histories, lineup changes, US and UK chart positions, and album ratings. There's a great cross-section of artists included, everyone from indie, alternative, hip hop, classic rock, heavy metal, punk and so on. If you're interested in completing your collection of Fall, Stereolab, or Sonic Youth releases, you couldn't go wrong by starting with this book. Of course, there are some glaring omissions. No Guided by Voices entry, for example. Well, I didn't say it was perfect. There's a foreword by John Peel who acknowledges the monstrosity of the work and that alot of the info will be useless, although he does infer there's alot of interesting info to be read. He does suggest that however we approach the book, we use it for something. As Mr. Peel expresses "If nothing else, you'll know the answer the next time someone stops you on the street and asks, 'Whatever happened to Fred Neil?'". Just what I need, a resource to add more to my level of music geekdom. ;-)

Trashcan Sinatras have a new set of North American tour dates for April/May including a Toronto date at Lee's Palace on April 28th. I attended their Toronto show at Lee's Palace this past September 2004[read my review] which had been their first show in Toronto since 1993. It was a wonderful show. And now the guys'll be back in April. Who said lightning never strikes twice? In related news, the band will release a 21 track acoustic cd "Fez". It is now available for pre-order through the Trashcan Sinatras' website and it will start shipping no later than March 22nd. For now, the band plan to make the CD available at upcoming concerts.

First Lady of rock n' roll, Wanda Jackson, will be at Cadillac Lounge in Toronto on May 27th. A Flash intro at Ms. Jackson's website has an endorsement from Neko Case declaring Wanda Jackson to be "the coolest". Anyone know where I can get a poster of this photo of her? She was one hot lady.

Here's a torrent of a Neko Case show from yesterday(February 26, 2005) at Starr Hill Music Hall in Charlottesville, VA. Wow, someone didn't waste any time posting this show. [link from Largehearted Boy]

Death From Above 1979 will perform on Late Night With Conan O'Brien on March 11th.

Iron and Wine will perform on Last Call With Carson Daly tomorrow.