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The New Trouser Press Record Guide
Provides brief reviews of hundreds of albums by new wave bands from Adam Ant to the Zantees
- GenresMusicReferenceNonfiction
671 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 7, 2018
ORIGINAL REVIEW - Read it cover to cover - provided the road-map to tour me into my various musical interests and steer me away from wastes of time. Wonderful!
NEW REVIEW - I just spent the last year with this (as well as a compare/contrast with the Fourth Edition) as my bathroom reading, slowly working my way through it just as I had back in the mid-late 80's. Still a wonderful resource (The Fourth Edition suffers a little in comparison but I'll save those comments for that review) with so much interesting critical thought, information (who produced what albums, etc.), and general accrued musical knowledge helping to inform the opinions. I'll skip the obligatory "dancing about architecture" line and instead comment that I realize that this book gave my young self a very solid handle on how to approach, view and *think* about music - even the genres and artists I could care less about - and thus helped me in being able to sort out my thoughts and feeling about the popular music of my times, without feeling the need to dump on or lionize the past to any great degree. From here, my next education in musical critical writing/thinking was probably THE WIRE, a British music mag still a decade in my future.
The reviews are generally solid, even when you don't agree with them. 20/20 hindsight comes into play in some of the reviewer's inability to grasp an approach to synth-pop, general electronic music, and rap - but Robbins seems to have been very knowledgeable about assigning reviewers to works they had a background in or sensibility for (if that was, in fact, the case). Even the writing about genres I don't care about (like, for example, punk and hardcore) proves interesting and thoughtful. And what a treasure trove of obscurity can be found here, with reviews for oddball new-wave and synth-pop flash-in-the-pans/coulda-beens who have long since faded away. All in all, a great resource with adult, critical approaches written *at the moment*, which often makes all the difference . The occasional scathing reviews or snide put-downs are usually laugh out loud funny. Supposedly, this is all available online nowadays, thank goodness for that. (Allmusic has nothing on these guys).
NEW REVIEW - I just spent the last year with this (as well as a compare/contrast with the Fourth Edition) as my bathroom reading, slowly working my way through it just as I had back in the mid-late 80's. Still a wonderful resource (The Fourth Edition suffers a little in comparison but I'll save those comments for that review) with so much interesting critical thought, information (who produced what albums, etc.), and general accrued musical knowledge helping to inform the opinions. I'll skip the obligatory "dancing about architecture" line and instead comment that I realize that this book gave my young self a very solid handle on how to approach, view and *think* about music - even the genres and artists I could care less about - and thus helped me in being able to sort out my thoughts and feeling about the popular music of my times, without feeling the need to dump on or lionize the past to any great degree. From here, my next education in musical critical writing/thinking was probably THE WIRE, a British music mag still a decade in my future.
The reviews are generally solid, even when you don't agree with them. 20/20 hindsight comes into play in some of the reviewer's inability to grasp an approach to synth-pop, general electronic music, and rap - but Robbins seems to have been very knowledgeable about assigning reviewers to works they had a background in or sensibility for (if that was, in fact, the case). Even the writing about genres I don't care about (like, for example, punk and hardcore) proves interesting and thoughtful. And what a treasure trove of obscurity can be found here, with reviews for oddball new-wave and synth-pop flash-in-the-pans/coulda-beens who have long since faded away. All in all, a great resource with adult, critical approaches written *at the moment*, which often makes all the difference . The occasional scathing reviews or snide put-downs are usually laugh out loud funny. Supposedly, this is all available online nowadays, thank goodness for that. (Allmusic has nothing on these guys).
October 19, 2008
I was talking to a young whippersnapper music fan the other day and I mentioned that when I was in college I read the Trouser Press Record Guide cover-to-cover. "Trouser Press?" he asked. Naturally, he had no idea what I was talking about. This guide (this one is basically a third revision) was a spin-off of a defunct "New Wave" magazine, and is pretty much the definitive review guide. They have a website with their reviews, too, but for obsessives it's nice to have it on paper. There is actually a fourth edition that contains a little more than this one. Then they did a "Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock" which had a totally new set of reviews an covered that decade. Anyway, it's been great having trivia from reading their guides in my head so I can bluff my way out of many a musical conversation, and often spot interesting items in record stores.
May 23, 2023
Theoretically useful as a guide to offbeat music (at least within the rock idiom), but its coverage is so idiosyncratic as to be bizarre, and to severely hamper its usefulness.
The preface claims that "Bands and artists that favor experimentation, innovation and self-expression- those who embrace music as something beyond its potential financial or ego-massaging rewards- are, for the most part, the ones who are included." In reality, the criteria for inclusion seems to be based entirely on the personal tastes of the writers and editors, and to reflect now-forgotten squabbles and feuds of the 1980s independent music press which must have been unimaginably petty. Included are such shamelessly commercial self-promoters as David Bowie and Madonna (and I do not mean this as a slight on their music- I just mean that they were obviously, consciously acting to benefit financially from their art). Also included are consciously-un-innovative bands like Cheap Trick or Dr. Feelgood. Excluded are major acts noted for their offbeat experimentation and innovation, such as Frank Zappa, Parliament/Funkadelic, or Cardiacs, and artists noted for their stylistic restlessness and consistent sincerity, such as Neil Young, Peter Hammill, or Todd Rundgren. Progressive rock and anything associated with it are ignored if not execrated, the treatment of Black American music is scanty, and the treatment of rap music in particular is sadly patronizing. (In an unbelievably embarrassing aside, the author of the entry on Peter Gabriel feels the need to guard against even the perception of a shade of liking prog rock by hedging brief, passing praise of early Genesis- a foundational, archetypal prog rock band- by describing them as "mildly-progressive art rock.")
The resulting book is more useful as primary-source evidence of the intense myopia and pettiness of its authors than as a guide to interesting or offbeat music. It's a guide to music that white American hipsters of the late 80s thought signified the correct cultural values, not to music that's interesting or worth hearing.
The preface claims that "Bands and artists that favor experimentation, innovation and self-expression- those who embrace music as something beyond its potential financial or ego-massaging rewards- are, for the most part, the ones who are included." In reality, the criteria for inclusion seems to be based entirely on the personal tastes of the writers and editors, and to reflect now-forgotten squabbles and feuds of the 1980s independent music press which must have been unimaginably petty. Included are such shamelessly commercial self-promoters as David Bowie and Madonna (and I do not mean this as a slight on their music- I just mean that they were obviously, consciously acting to benefit financially from their art). Also included are consciously-un-innovative bands like Cheap Trick or Dr. Feelgood. Excluded are major acts noted for their offbeat experimentation and innovation, such as Frank Zappa, Parliament/Funkadelic, or Cardiacs, and artists noted for their stylistic restlessness and consistent sincerity, such as Neil Young, Peter Hammill, or Todd Rundgren. Progressive rock and anything associated with it are ignored if not execrated, the treatment of Black American music is scanty, and the treatment of rap music in particular is sadly patronizing. (In an unbelievably embarrassing aside, the author of the entry on Peter Gabriel feels the need to guard against even the perception of a shade of liking prog rock by hedging brief, passing praise of early Genesis- a foundational, archetypal prog rock band- by describing them as "mildly-progressive art rock.")
The resulting book is more useful as primary-source evidence of the intense myopia and pettiness of its authors than as a guide to interesting or offbeat music. It's a guide to music that white American hipsters of the late 80s thought signified the correct cultural values, not to music that's interesting or worth hearing.
April 27, 2021
I was and avid reader of Ira Robbins' magazine, "Trouser Press," from 1980 to the publication's demise in 1984. I absolutely loved the intelligent approach to discussing current music and the sense of aesthetics that skewed towards Punk and New Wave. "Trouser Press" exposed me to much Rock music outside of the American Top 40 and hipped me to at least three favorite bands: The Fleshtones, R.E.M., and The Blasters.
After "Trouser Press" went out of business, Ira Robbins compiled and edited many of the magazine's album reviews into a series of reference books. The first, "The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records," came out in 1983. This was the second or third in the series, originally published in 1985 or 1989, depending upon the edition.
Liberal perusing of this volume certainly inspired and informed my own music journalism style, which came to light through my work for a number of Central Ohio publications, including Sam Ettaro's "Columbus Musician Monthly," Tony Barnett's "Moo," and Neil Shumate's "Out of the Blue."
After "Trouser Press" went out of business, Ira Robbins compiled and edited many of the magazine's album reviews into a series of reference books. The first, "The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records," came out in 1983. This was the second or third in the series, originally published in 1985 or 1989, depending upon the edition.
Liberal perusing of this volume certainly inspired and informed my own music journalism style, which came to light through my work for a number of Central Ohio publications, including Sam Ettaro's "Columbus Musician Monthly," Tony Barnett's "Moo," and Neil Shumate's "Out of the Blue."
May 28, 2019
I'm glad I didn't have this thing as a lodestar as a music-obsessed teen in 1989. 'Beloved by teenage girls' is about the worst thing this guy can say about a band, which is regressive and lame. However, as a self-confident middle aged lady who is extremely sure about my own taste, I can enjoy the hilarous haterade dispensed by this book without taking it too seriously. Maybe I'll add some quotes later -- this guy defecates all over The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus etc.
March 12, 2021
This book was my music Bible during the 80s and 90s, and I learned more about alternative rock from this volume than I ever could have possibly imagined. Absolutely invaluable. Later editions of this book have more dreck and are not as good.
Available at Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16027...
Available at Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16027...
October 22, 2010
This is technically a 2nd edition (the 1st was crude) but still a fantastic introduction of non-mainstream music. Still useful as later editions don't cover many of the earlier artists for the sake of modernity
May 4, 2014
I found this book on a bargain shelf. Sure, it's outdated, but it's a great source for discovering good music I missed when it was published in the 80s. Back in those days, if it wasn't on MTV or the local radio, it was really easy to miss a lot.
September 15, 2012
My bible for several years, introduced me to great music, key information on thousands of acts, and concise music writing. Many of the entries written by editor Ira Robbins.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews