Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, from Hendrix to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna to Prince

As someone whose musical tastes were primarily influenced by the Warner/Reprise series of Loss Leader promotional LPs of the 1970s, this book was educational nirvana. It clearly demonstrates how an innovative management style at the Warner/Reprise labels ("stop tying to make hits") led to the most successful record label of the last third of the 20th century. A fun and fascinating read. My highest recommendation.

Dropping 30 bucks for a 250 page book - would hope the publisher would give back a few pennies in profit margin to the reader and make for a less flimsy page-turning experience. Read the book in an afternoon - wish there was more. Incredibly enjoyable book otherwise - thank you Peter Ames Carlin.

Being well read in the classics, and for awhile now, award-winning science fiction, I first approached this book with a good bit of charity towards expected writing quality. I’m a weekend warrior in a classic rock cover band, now 61, who’s been enthralled with music since I learned to play guitar at age seven; getting in deep, dropping the needle over and over to learn every nuance if possible. I have very eclectic tastes and generally prefer to let the music do the talking. From the very first sentence, this book jumps off the page telling an absolutely mesmerizing and wonderful true story. It flows like the best page-turner fiction. My friends call me a walking music encyclopedia, but this masterpiece just added a whole new Britannica set in the most enjoyable way. It’s just flat-out superb writing and should garner an award or two. It’s spectacular from start to finish.

Fast paced telling of how Warner Bros. Records became the driving force of the music industry. Fascinating telling of the rise of Mo Ostin and his vision of what a record company could be.Everyone owes a debt of gratitude to the team who literally created the sound tracks to all of our lives.Great read!

A compact book that chronicles the rise of Warner Bros. as rock and roll transitioned from singles to the album format. Through hard work, flexibility and empathy, Warner became the label of choice for many ground-breaking bands.

Great experience! Thank you!

Very disappointing book. It is basically a light history of the record executives who built Warner Bros. Music. The problem is that you never get more than a simple snapshot of each person so we don’t have any understanding of who they were or why they were successful. There is almost no content on the artists that built the company either.

An interesting book about the history of some of the most famous and successful labels in the record industry. That would be Warner Brothers Records and its various subsidiaries. The book starts early on in its inception and proceeds to detail the history from there. Included are the professional histories of some of the executives and musicians who became legends in their own rights.Though I found this book interesting in many aspects, there's lots of whitewashing that I can't get into here. I only know this from having connections on the inside. A lot of dirt was swept away and other details were glorified. With that said, it's still an important company that put out a vast amounts of music that was, and always will be a deep rooted part of our lives. That alone makes this worth reading.

Fantastic book detailing the history of Warners/Reprise and WEA records. Told as a rip-roaring tale, the narrative movesat a blistering pace and is full of fascinating and hilarious anecdotes. Not cheap due to it's American origin but worth it for the quality and zip of the writing.

Good book

I really enjoyed reading this story of Warner Bros Records and Mo Austin. It was recommended to me in my Music Business class by the Professor, and I decided to pick it up because I had an upcoming job interview at Warner (sadly didn't get the job!).The author brilliantly writes this tale of one of the most admired record labels of the 60s/70s/80s. Mo Austin is an unsung hero in the business. I didn't know about him before I read this. Warner just had the ultimate formula for combining art+commerce in the record business and giving artists time and space to make the music how they wanted. The book makes me wish I worked there during that time.My only complaint is that the book wrapped up a little too quickly in the last chapter and felt a bit rushed at the end. Perhaps there wasn't too much to tell during the last 20+ years but that's just how it felt to me.I'd recommend this to any music fan, and certainly anyone in the music business.