I'm sure there's gotta be some book lovers on here that can make some good relevant recommendations here.
I'll go first with mine, but please add on. Let's build people!
(Note: Don't worry if you don't have a long multi-book breakdown but if you can drop a pic or two and a few words on each book it would make your recommendation have more teeth) 
CLICK ON ANY PIC BELOW TO ZOOM IN AND READ.
Some of my favorite Books about Records and Music Stacked up on my Speaker Stand
^I'm In the midst of building a new bookshelf so the timing was right to sort through these and spell out a few good ones to my fellow record collecting peers in Internetland.
Funk 45’s – Deep Funk 7inch Disk Guide (K&B Publishers)
^This is a fantastic little guide in a state by state breakdown of Funk 45s. It’s all in Japanese with the most basic information in English. It’s Days like this I wish I spoke more than one language because this looks thoroughly written and well versed.
Funk 45’s – Deep Funk 7inch Disk Guide
^Close up of the first page in the Louisiana section...
Funk 45’s – Deep Funk 7inch Disk Guide
^A few of the funk 45s focused on...
Funk 45’s – Deep Funk 7inch Disk Guide
^At the end of the book there are all kinds of funk references, including interviews from DJ Shadow, Muro, Keb Darge and others. It also includes a list of other funk books, compilations worth checking, a section on Jazz 45s, a breakdown of the funk sub genres.
Even without the ability to read most of this I find it a handy reference to the vast field of funk 45s.
The Funky and Groovy Music Records Lexicon by Peter Wermelinger and
Sampling-Love Sampling Source Dictionary (Unauthorized)
^LEFT: My funk bible. This is such a fantastic guide. More complete and informative than I could have imagined, and I refer to it often. It’s broken down into multiple sections for 45s, LPs, etc., along with all kinds of bonus information. I think this overall is my all-time favorite and most used record book I ever purchased.
The Funky and Groovy Music Records Lexicon by Peter Wermelinger
^Spot on funk breakdown.
The Funky and Groovy Music Records Lexicon by Peter Wermelinger
^Each section first has the written record information alphabetically listed, and then at the end of each section is photos of each record in black and white.
The Funky and Groovy Music Records Lexicon by Peter Wermelinger
^A smattering of funky 45s shown...
Sampling-Love Sampling Source Dictionary (Unauthorized)
^Shown in the picture is a typical breakdown by artist first. Respect to the Jungle Brothers!
This book is a straight up A-Z listing of the artist and song and the artist(s) they sampled for that song. I bought this before I had a smart phone and thought it might come in handy. Now it’s just out of date.
I heard somewhere they stole this list verbatim from an online collaborative effort and never gave them credit. I guess they “sampled” the data without paying royalties, imagine that. I also heard there was a reverse look up version of this book where it had the sampled artist first and then the sampling song and artist second, but I missed out on that and now it no longer exists anywhere online that I can even find anything about.
Their website is
www.sampling-love.com and you can find the look-up and the reverse look-up in a much more updated list. Frankly there are even better resources out there like
whosampled.com but they didn’t write (err, sample) this book.
Vinyl by Guy Schraenen and Rockin’ Records Buyers – Sellers Reference Book and Price Guide 2003 Edition (Osbourne Enterprises)
^"Vinyl" (on the left) was one of the more expensive coffee table books I’ve bought over the years. It’s really just an interesting celebration of cover art. It includes some one of a kind CDs and cassettes that never got the vinyl treatment as well that apparently deserve mention for their cover art.
So many records are in here I’ve never heard of or seen before and much of it is private pressings and uber-obscurities. But there are enough obvious selections to make this book well rounded enough for everyone.
Vinyl by Guy Schraenen (Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen Museu D’Art Contemporani De Barcelona)
^The preface describes the book better than I could so here it is.
Vinyl by Guy Schraenen (Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen Museu D’Art Contemporani De Barcelona)
^A typical page in the book "Vinyl".
Rockin’ Records Buyers – Sellers Reference Book and Price Guide 2003 Edition (Osbourne Enterprises)
^Shown here is the grading guide in the beginning of Rockin' Records. I think some might find this fairly educational albeit overkill.
Once upon a time before Discogs, before the Internet had anything other than Ebay and Gemm, and Music-Stack, we had these things called price guides. They were fat like a phonebook, heavy, boring to read and often out of date before they were published. It has an interesting pre-section about how to sell and buy, pricing expectations and grading descriptions, and then it gets right into the huge listings.
I rarely pick this book up any more. Once in a blue moon I’ll look for something in here first if I don’t see it on Discogs, but that is becoming less and less of a problem. In a way this is basically the equivalent of a huge archaic pile of once expensive encyclopedias to record buyers, and now that the Internet has Wikipedia, collectors have Discogs.
Still, it’s kinda fun to have around to laugh at how things used to be priced back in the good old days before horseless carriages.
All Music Guide to Hip Hop (Backbeat Books) 2003 and All Music Guide to Electronica (Backbeat Books) 2001
^I bought both of these books when they came out. I think maybe Discogs was in its infancy, but back then “All Music” was an underdeveloped Discogs in a sense. The difference, of course, was Discogs is user generated data and All Music is built upon professional information gatherers and music critics.
All music is still out there BTW,
www.allmusic.com but don’t know how they can make any money doing that in 2015. Maybe I’m wrong and this place is still making big money moves but I never go there and I use
Discogs every day.
All Music Guide to Hip Hop (Backbeat Books) 2003
^Still, you don’t get these kind of reviews from Discogs and that isn’t anything to sneeze at.
Both “Encyclopedias” were basically already out of date by the time they were printed. But both are pretty damn good overall.
I’m not a big fan of the catch all term “Electronica” but we know what that word means, Electronic Music, and that’s all that matters. I rarely read these any more but when I got them I read them for days on end, front to back. I think very little of it stuck, but I tried to absorb as much as possible.
All Music Guide to Electronica (Backbeat Books) 2001
^Must give props to Einstürzende!
Freddy Fresh Presents Rap Records First and Second Editions (Nerby Publishing) 1st Edition 2004 and second Edition 2008
^For those who don’t know Freddy Fresh is an artist in his own right and a massive fan and collector of Hip Hop records. Back long before 2000 he set upon the impossible journey of cataloging every single rap record ever made in a book. Keep in mind how hard that would be to do for one guy.
But he did it, and did it again in an even more complete version a few years later. He did it by gathering information about records from all kinds of sources including online forums. The second edition is where it’s at, not perfect, there are some missing records even though he stopped basically at 1994.
So you won’t find many newer than 1994 records in here but you’re likely to find everything prior to that. It’s all arranged alphabetically by record label first then release number second so you can literally page through the entire Def Jam releases one by one up to 1994.
Regarding pricing, it’s vague for the most part, but it does highlight some rarities known to fetch big bucks with a dollar code by the ones to look out for. If you are a rap collector this should be your bible. It’s focused on 1994 and earlier and it’s almost complete so in a way it’s much better than Discogs if you are out in the field for quickly IDing records.
Freddy Fresh Presents Rap Records Second Edition (Nerby Publishing) 2008
I bought my copy direct from the man himself many moons ago on the oldschoolhiphopforum. I had him sign it, but apparently he forgot how to spell Joseph half way through writing it.
The Book of Hip Hop Cover Art by Andrew Emery (Michell Beazley Imprint) 2004 and Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists
^Anyone buying Hip Hop records from all time spans will notice how far cover art has come from the plain red Enjoy Records labels of the old school classics to the full color iconic album covers of today.
This book is a retrospective celebration in order of that slow and ever changing style. Strictly eye candy, and I think I pulled this out of a 4 dollar bin at Borders before they went under for being the most overpriced bookstore on the planet.
The Book of Hip Hop Cover Art by Andrew Emery (Michell Beazley Imprint) 2004
^Seems like a good page to stop on for a photo...
Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists by Sacha Jenkins, Elliot Wilson, Chairman Mao, Gabriel Alvarez & Brent Rollins (St Martin’s Griffin) 1999
^Ego Trip is the world’s biggest Hip Hop fan. (nowadays it’s a group of hardcore fans). This guy does top ten lists on all things Hip Hop, some for mere entertainment other lists are a genuine reference. Either way, this should be required reading for all Hip Hop fans, because I guarantee this guy will teach you plenty you didn’t know and plenty of it you’ll wish you didn’t know.
Keep in mind, this is more than just a hip hop music reference, it’s a tribute to the entire Hip Hop culture
6 books shown... (See Description)
CLOCKWISE:
Young Gifted and Black – The Story of Trojan Records by Michael de Koningh & Laurence Cane Honeysett (Sanctuary Books)
The A-Z of Record Labels Second Edition by Brian Southall (Sanctuary Books) 2003
Burn, Baby, Burn! Recording Audio CDs From Any Source, LPs, to mp3s by McDaniel Starrett (Peachpit Press) 2004
Vinyl Junkies – Adventures in Record Collecting by Brett Milano (St. Martin’s Griffin) 2003
The Wisdom of Sun Ra: Sun Ra’s Polemical Broadsheets and Streetcorner Leaflets compiled by John Corbett (Whitewalls) 2006
And It Don’t Stop! – The Best American Hip Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years edited by Raquel Cepeda (Faber and Faber, Inc) 2004
Young Gifted and Black – The Story of Trojan Records by Michael de Koningh & Laurence Cane Honeysett (Sanctuary Books)
^How cool would it be to have every single Trojan Record ever made in release number order compiled for you? Along comes this book and it’s done for you.
It includes numerous sections on basic info, a nice color photo section and a CD of rare Trojan records tracks unavailable elsewhere. Top Ranking right here folks.
Young Gifted and Black – The Story of Trojan Records by Michael de Koningh & Laurence Cane Honeysett (Sanctuary Books)
^The picture section of the book has some one of a kind photos of many big names in the reggae world.
The A-Z of Record Labels Second Edition by Brian Southall (Sanctuary Books) 2003
^Another great reference. And obviously not complete, but like the All Music Guides you get professional researched perspective of the major labels and their sub labels in a A-Z format.
Burn, Baby, Burn! Recording Audio CDs From Any Source, LPs, to mp3s by McDaniel Starrett (Peachpit Press) 2004
^
A snippet of the book explaining cassette digitization techniques...
Since I had my first cassette deck I’ve been making mixtapes. I never stopped, I still do all these years later and besides simply listening to music I love doing it more than anything else. But like many who make tapes, eventually we all moved away from tapes for the most part. (spoken with respect to the diehard tape heads still making real tapes)
When I bought this back in 2004 I wanted to have thee best CD-Rs for this, I want to make mixtape CDs and I didn’t want them to sound like crap because of bad media or bad burning techniques. Well back then, this book was the source. It still is in a lot of ways, although the software recommendation section is 11 years old, it is still relevant to burning a CD-R on a brand new PC.
CD-R’s WILL degrade in time (disc rot) this gets into that, so if you have precious music on old CD-Rs you might want to think about backing up your CD-Rs to anything you can besides another CD-R. Who would have thought that some of my old cassette mixtapes might actually outlast my CD-Rs?
Besides that, it gets into all kinds of technical subjects that would bore the crap out of anyone, but I force fed it to myself like trying to read a stereo manual, I got thru it and now I know just a few more things about making a good CD mixtape.
The Wisdom of Sun Ra: Sun Ra’s Polemical Broadsheets and Streetcorner Leaflets compiled by John Corbett (Whitewalls) 2006
^Filled with actual hand written and typed commentary from the sonic angel of Jupiter himself. He was as mad as he was genius and here is an intimate look inside his thought processes. I try to buy his music as often as I can. I have about 40 of his albums. I study that guy, he has become a myth.
If you can read this all the way through you are a special breed because the rantings and ravings are so non-linear and confusing. Reading turns into real time deciphering and that is a mind marathon for any length of time.
And It Don’t Stop! – The Best American Hip Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years edited by Raquel Cepeda (Faber and Faber, Inc) 2004
^The title says it all, this is the BEST journalism ever written about Hip Hop starting from the 1979 Bronx Kool Herc block party days to the graffiti culture to the B-boy culture to Biggie and Pac, and way more than I could fit into this one long run-on sentence.
To all the hip hop heads in the place, this is the best book about Hip Hop I’ve probably ever read. Seriously enthralling shit. I give it 5 mics.
Vinyl Junkies – Adventures in Record Collecting by Brett Milano (St. Martin’s Griffin) 2003
^If you’ve seen Fuse’s crate diggers series this book is kind of like that in a way. It’s a one on one with some incredible collectors including the incomparable Robert Crumb discussing his priceless blues 78s. It’s got interviews and road trip adventures with Peter Buck of REM, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and some otherwise no-namer people like the rest of us only way, WAY sicker in the head with vinyl addiction than we’ll ever be.
The first chapter deals with a loveable guy who calls himself Monoman and his 10,000 dollar piece of hickory shaped like a beehive hanging from the center of his listening room that kills rouge treble at a certain frequency. He calls it expensive, but a “very good piece of wood”. This book you will pick up and you will read all the way through so definitely don’t do it on a toilet or your butt will fall asleep.
Extended Play by John Corbett (Duke University Press) 1994
^The guy who became curator of Sun Ra’s personal poems and papers wrote the deepest most complex mind twister of a book about music I’ve ever attempted to read.
I say attempted because it is so deep that I often find my eyes moving for a few pages but the words really aren’t sinking into my brain at all. This is very philosophical and technical writings from some of the most interesting producers of our time, including Sun Ra, Lee Scratch Perry, Phillip Glass, George Clinton, and way too many names to mention.
I paid a hefty sum for this now out of print book and I pick it up from time to time when I want to get really deep into the minds of some musicians who are on 5 levels above what I can comprehend.
Extended Play by John Corbett (Duke University Press) 1994
^I learned some things about mister Perry that blew my mind. He apparently burned down thousands of his own irreplaceable recordings in a fit of rage one day.
Turntable Technique by Steven Webber (Berklee Press Books) and
Electric Frankenstein – High-Energy Punk Rock and Roll Poster Art
Turntable Technique by Steven Webber (Berklee Press Books)
^I Highlighted something I once thought was common sense but turns out... it's not.
Many years ago when I started to get into mixing and scratching I assumed I needed this book. It’s not bad, and It taught me a few of the basics. It has a few tips, a lot of common knowledge stuff and it even came with a record to practice scratching on, but that record is pretty pointless overall.
This is definitely a beginner’s book but if scratching and mixing on 2 turntables is in your future you’ll learn about a few things in here that make it worth the purchase.
Electric Frankenstein – High-Energy Punk Rock and Roll Poster Art by Sal Canzonieri (Dark Horse Books)
^Strictly an eye candy\coffee table style book filled with some of the coolest punk rock poster art ever. A brief history of EF is in the forward and then it gets right to the meat and potatoes, all that glorious angst imagery.
I bought this to get ideas for my series of punk mixes and I quickly learned that I’ll never even touch the artistic skills of the guys and gals featured in this book.
4 books shown... (See Descriptions Below)
33 1/3 Series of Books
Paul’s Boutique by Dan LeRoy (TOP LEFT)
This delves into the creative process behind making what would be an impossible album to produce in modern times due to the huge plethora of sampled artists and royalties that went unpaid.
This was grandfathered in by laws that didn’t exist when it was created and this is a fascinating behind the scenes look into the mindset of the Beasties, Dust Brothers and Matt Dike, the otherwise unheralded man who held the reigns and glued the pieces together to form this one-of-a-kind rap album.
Entroducing by Eliot Wilder (TOP RIGHT)
Strictly an Interview of Josh Davis. Very long and in depth. Well-written but more about Josh and less about the creative process involved in making this iconic album.
The Rebel Radio Diary by Rupert Mould of Up, Bustle and Out. (Ninja Tune Press) (LOWER RIGHT)
The slept on geniuses of Ninja Tunes roster Up, Bustle and Out don’t do anything half ass. When they drop an album “Rebel Radio Master Sessions 1” they drop a “diary/social-historical political-intrigue, poetic travelogue set in Cuba.”
The albums (part one and part 2) are beautiful Latin pieces blending traditional Cuban sounds with modern downtempo beats. The book is a fascinating companion that puts a very surreal perspective on the music.
The Rock Snob’s Dictionary by David Kamp and Seven Daly (Sanctuary Publishing)
^I'm a big Brian Eno fan, so here's a portion of the "E" page in the Rock Snob's Dictionary.
...The cover defines a rock snob as such:
Rock Snob n: reference term for the sort of pop connoisseur for whom the actual enjoyment of music is but a side dish to the accumulation of arcane knowledge about it.
This is by far the most humorous book about music and record snobbery I own. They basically (jokingly) insult you as you read to put you in your place. They explain the difference between between Soft Machine and the Soft Boys. They define must use words like "Seminal". I found myself laughing through this book on every page.
An Exerpt from the Rock Snob's Dictionary
^Just in case you want to relate to other rock snobs these are some things you might want to know first.
So what are you reading?
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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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