REVOLUTIONS IN SOUND: WARNER BROS. RECORDS THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS
By Warren Zanes
(Chronicle Books)
A lavish cornucopia of facts, photographs, album covers, and fascinating anecdotes that will make a dream present for anyone who loves music. From the days of Frank Sinatra, through Prince and Madonna, and up to Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance, Warner Bros. has been, as Zanes points out, an almost ideal melding of art and commerce, where “a modest staff inadvertently arrived at a philosophy that for decades propelled the company: If we make this about the music, we’ll be okay.” They did, and they were. This book is the visible proof—and if you splurge on the deluxe edition, which comes with a USB drive containing hundreds of Warner songs, you’ll be okay, too.
-By Peter Bloch
