AUDIO

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire

Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever. 11 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 13 hrs. Blackstone Audio. 2012. ISBN 9781455156252. $32.95; 1 MP3-CD library ed.; 11 CDs. retail ed.; Playaway digital. MUSIC
COPY ISBN
OrangeReviewStarRolling Stone critic and National Public Radio contributor Hermes presents a chronological history of New York City's music scenes during the fertile period from 1973 to 1977. He covers the emergence of punk, hip-hop, disco, salsa, loft jazz, and the Minimalist composers. Music geeks will be well pleased, as no detail is left out of this meticulous day-by-day rendering. Fans of these particular genres may be better served by less chronologically and geographically bounded histories.
VERDICT Seasoned narrator Adam Verner's enthusiastic baritone jibes with the encyclopedic sweep of the text, but the lack of accompanying music is a missed opportunity. Recommended to readers in New York City and music fans generally. ["Hermes writes with scene-setting observational detail and provides contextual background to events and social movements taking place throughout New York," read the review of the Faber & Faber hc, LJ 9/15/11.—Ed.]
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