Advantages: Pocket sized
Disadvantages: Does not contain all the art references you might need

...As an artist I recommend that this book is ideal for first year art students for quick easy research ideas for those projects and 1000 word essays you get!!! I didn't know a lot about art or artists when I became a student so this book opened my eyes and helped me learn. It gives you scope enough that you can go and research further into a single piece of work, artist or art movement. I found it particularly useful to introduce me to artists and works that I hadn't heard of so I could expand my learning further by researching. It does have a continual purpose for easy referencing and often gets taken off the book shelf several years after studying. I like the fact it is neat, compact and fits easily into a pocket or bag meaning that you can take it with you to school, library or just out and about. A great little starter book... Read review

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Advantages: Amazing vocals, stunning melodies, overall raw emotions
Disadvantages: May not be for fans of dance, too short

...Back in 1994 when Grace was originally released it was seen as a commercial failure, but a musical hit. People from Bono (u2) to Matt Bellamy (muse) to Chris Martin (Coldplay) have held it in high esteem but why? Well since Mr Buckley's death the album's sales have outsold the original figure, as musical tastes have developed to accept it more. When it was released the public were waiting for a new Nirvana to come along, Sony pushed Jeff as the guy to fill the void, the public didn't buy it. Where as Kurt Cobains singing was seen as angsty, and venomous, Buckley's was seen as angellic with a topping of purity, much like his fathers. This didn't sit well with the Grunge crowd of the time, however as musical tastes have come to accomadate bands like Muse, Coldplay, Starsailor and Radiohead, Buckley's sales have taken off... Read review

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Advantages: The funky Pull Up To The Bumper
Disadvantages: None that really springs to mind

...and holds a surprisingly strong and assertive vocal performance from Grace. Her unique version of Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing is a total contrast to the original, flowing with strange, synchronized sounds that was way ahead of its time. The New Wave sounds of Art Groupie is another interesting concoction, but the music steadily steers direction, driving into jazz on the eccentric but undeniably brilliant, I've Seen That Face Before in which Grace delivers both English and French spoken passages. The disappointment of the album comes in the lacklustre version of Feel Up - the reason being was that she did a far better version in her A One Man Show (1982). However the album soon gets back on track with the stomping rock track, Demolition Man which is ignited by tough, thrashing musical arrangements and a red blooded, ferocious performance... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent Beat Boxing, Excellent Rhyming Skills, Tight Production, Guest Appearances, Clever, Funny and Witty, Unique
Disadvantages: Not for Everybody

...My first look into the art of beatboxing came during the old days of Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick. Doug E. Fresh could not only spit pretty tight rhymes, but his beatboxing efforts began a new era of beatboxers, but it never caught on as addicting as emceeing did. Other beatboxers came out, one of which being Biz Markie. However, in my opinion, the title of the greatest beat boxer in the history of mankind would have to belong to Rahzel from the Roots. For years, the Roots have performed live and on record with the vocal talents of Rahzel, giving them background noises and vocal instrumentals. During his long years with The Roots, Rahzel kept a huge secret: He was an amazing emcee himself. It was only a matter of time before his beatboxing developed sort of a cult following, and Rahzel released his own solo debut album Make the Music... Read review

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Advantages: Hauntingly beautiful and curiously accessible traditional kto music from Japan
Disadvantages: It might make you want to buy the next two volumes!

...? Being a unique experience to most Westerners (after all how much traditional Japanese/Chinese music do you hear over the course of the average year?) I don't see this as a problem. Surely it has a certain benefit as it places the listener in a situation where they are listening to (and hopefully enjoying) almost contextual music. In other words, we have to start somewhere and because a standard is a standard does not mean that it is music that is denigrated in any way. Just think of jazz and blues, music which exists to a great extent on the idea of standards, and these standards are often explored such that two versions seem entirely different pieces from one another. I believe this is called artistry. Thus, in this case what I believe is so wonderful about the Art of Koto vol.1 is that unlike some albums there is no smudge of sound... Read review

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Advantages: Jeff Buckley's amazing voice, and talent
Disadvantages: Very few

...Jeff Buckley was a wonderful song writer and musician, with possibly the best voice that has existed in the world of music! An extremely skilled man, especially with the ability at singing in both falsetto and his normal singing range, in order to give himself a huge range of notes that he is able to use in his music! I've never heard a man with such a beautiful voice. Jeff Buckley's only full studio album made before his death, "Grace", includes songs that Buckley has covered, but also his own songs. The album demonstrates both his amazing song writing ability, and also the skill he had in order to make a song his own, and to put his own stamp on that song! Buckley covers 3 song on the album to make them sound completely different, and I feel that he does this extremely successfully. Both Buckley's songs, and the ones that he has... Read review

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Advantages: Informative, concise, neat images
Disadvantages: Small print

...Phaidon Press' compact 'The Art Book' is an easy to use and informative guide to 500 influential artists, from medieval to modern times. It is ordered alphabetically with each artist getting a single page, featuring a comment(about 170 words) and a colour image. 'The Art Book' is really handy for people with an active interest in art. It's small enough to fit in your pocket, so it's great to take to galleries. The pictures are only about 15cm tall, but they're sharp, all colour and printed on quite good paper. The comments are concise combinations of history and criticism (be warned if you need reading glasses, the print is very small). Another useful feature is that each artist's page has a footnote recommended similar artists, eg. BACON: see Bosch, Manzu, Soutine, Sutherland, Velazquez. 'The Art Book' manages to skim through... Read review

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Advantages: An unusual slice of history and biography
Disadvantages: Could be offensive, quite difficult to lug around

...America is famous for its comic book artists – Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and more recently Dave McKean and Steve Dillon. Many such artists go on to provide conceptual art for major movies, or to see their creation become a movie. Some are also novelists. But as with all forms of art, there are underground artists, mixing up the scene from inside, and even influencing people in a more personal way, the underground press allowing for far more explicit journeys into the subconscious. With that in mind, take your preconceptions off at the door and step into The R Crumb Coffee Table Art Book. Erm, not literally of course, you may well crease the pages. For people unaware of Crumb’s work, the cover may well put them off for starters. It features a heavy-set ballerina with sunglasses on in an impossible pose, spouting praise... Read review

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Advantages: Central, cheap, artistic
Disadvantages: No facilities, rubbish breakfast

...For some reason, I booked a week's holiday to Brussels. On my own. It should be stated straight away that I didn't have a great holiday, but I'll try not to let that influence my views of the hotel itself. The Comfort Hotel Art Siru (or the Siru as I'll refer to it from now on) is a strange beast. A few years ago, around 130 contemporary Belgian artists were commissioned to decorate each of the 101 rooms, to create the world's first 'Art Hotel'. Every room is decorated with unique and original paintings or sculptures, and it really is a lovely idea. The bizarre thing is that you'd expect this kind of innovation in some kind of high-end resort hotel. The sort of place that has huge suites where actors are interviewed about their latest film against the background of a new and daring work of art. The Siru, on the other hand... Read review

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Advantages: Wonderful, inspiring, a good text for making one think and see in new ways
Disadvantages: A few colour plates or images would be nice

...A friend of mine purchased this book, and I picked it up from her table to read the first page, and found that I simply could not put it down. 'The Art of Life and Vice Versa', the subtitle said - something I have long aspired to understand is the interplay of art and life in its many facets and influences. According to author Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for the New York Times and frequent author on art and cultural topics, studying art and those who devote themselves to art 'provides us with clues about how to live our own lives more fully.' Living, according to Kimmelman, can be a 'daily masterpiece' for each of us - we needed be a technical genius such as Picasso to be able to live our lives artistically. One of Kimmelman's early examples is of the dentist Hugh Francis Hicks, whose home was a makeshift lightbulb museum (with... Read review

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