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The Grand Poobah of Rock Criticism and longtime Village Voice contributor rates 3,000 releases in this dandy book, which belongs on the night table of every self-respecting music fan. Robert Christgau's tastes are admirably catholic: refusing to limit himself to solid rock, he takes on rap, hardcore, country, blues, reggae, worldbeat, and everything in between. His vest-pocket pronunciamentos are always fun to read--even when they seem perversely wrongheaded--and who else would zoom in on Ruben Blades's "ability to skip along the shores of schlock without ruining his best pair of shoes," or refer to "Amazing Grace" as "the 'Send in the Clowns' of roots music"? Who else, for that matter, could almost persuade you to run out and pick up The Very Best of Deep Purple? [via]