360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story

Actually, I bought this book for my wife, after reading a review in a magazine in my Doctor's office. I ripped the article out and brought it home, not just because it had more than I already knew, but because Columbia was founded by her great-grandfather. My wife's maiden name was Easton. We already knew that he bought the patents from Edison and started out making Dictaphones, but there were a lot more details. The author did a marvelous job of research, included very good photographs, and he wrote it very well.It's not surprising to us, in a way, because the family was very wealthy in England, and when they decided to come here, in 1640, they brought their walth with them; they weren't poor immigrants. One of the Eastons was a founder of Hartford, Conn., others founded major banks, built major railroads, etc. They owned thousands of acres of land in New Jersey. They owned one of three equally-sized farms that comprised the Arcola district, now several entire towns. There's an Atlas from the 1800s that shows the farms, and a large hard-cover book exists that documents the family's history. The only one I've seen is owned by my wife's brother. The documentation shows an excellent possibility that one of the Easton (spelled differently then) females married into the family of William the Conquorer.In America, the men were all officers in the British army, fighting Indians and French, but in the Revolutionary War, they fought on the side of the Colonists. They fought on the Union side in the Civil War. I suppose figuring out the right side to fight on helped preserve their fortunes. I wish I could get hold of a copy of the Family history and Atlas; my wife's mother gave the Atlas to the Historical Society before she died, and Mitchell Easton has the Family History.So Edward Dennison Easton was one of many intrepid well-known Eastons who books have been written about, but the only one I know who did something as different as founding a record company.

I guess as a general survey of the label, Wilentz covered most of the best selling artists and stuff, but there's also plenty of stuff missing. Where the correct vintage OKeh labels? The only one I see is the 1940's purple label and the cut-off "Crazy Blues" label on the top of the cover. There should have been a page showing the primary main label designs in proper order. Any mention of the Harmony, Velvet Tone, Diva or Clarion labels? Nope. Any mention of the attempts Columbia made with longer playing records in 1931-32? Nope. A number of photographs show great, important artists who hardly recorded for Columbia at all. Crosby did but for only a very few Columbia records, as well as being a member of Paul Whiteman's band. When he became a star, he did it on Brunswick and Decca, not Columbia. Same goes with The Boswell Sisters. After a couple of records on OKeh, they too recorded solely for Brunswick and ending up on Decca. The only Columbia records issued by them were reissues of selected Brunswick titles.There's much more to Columbia's story hardly covered here. A whole chapter could've been devoted to Epic, Columbia's major sub label. (Where's a big picture of Dave Clark Five? The Yardbirds?)I'm happy to have the book, but it's not at all complete.

Five stars. Why? Because this book contains the right amount of history needed to get an understand of the importance of Columbia Records. This book is big and full of pictures sure to dazzle a musician or fan of any age. It's got a good weight to it which makes leaving it at the coffee table both preferable and desired among house guests. I have no reason to rate this book any lower than I have. Did I mention it's Less than $40?

I have been a Columbia Records fanatic all of my life. Sure, it's nice to see new and sometimes wonderful photos of all the stars that graced the label, but I expected to see hundreds and hundreds of my favorite album covers and album backs, rare covers and unissued albums. There is a breakout section that shows the transformation of the actual record label through the years that is surprisingly so incomplete as to be laughable. This may be a very handsome table/picture book, but as for being the history of the 'label' it is surprisingly lacking.

The Columbia Records Story is more than a history of one record company. This is a very detailed history of recording from the time of Edison, Bell and the like which morphs into a history of music. It is very thorough and is not quick read. This is a big fat book and a lot of fun to read through. This is highly recommended for any true music lover.

With the long history of Columbia Records, this book couldn't contain everything or focus on the artists that each of us might want to hear more about. However, it does give an idea of how Columbia was built and what it provided to the world. The pictures are fantastic and the text very well done. If you love recorded sound, then this book is well worth the money.

I haven't begun to get through all this book, but the first quarter meets my expectation and more. I really like the history behind the company as I never knew they struggled for a number of years and were bought a couple times over. This truly is a coffee table book for me-one that I will be picking up and looking at for quite a while.

History of the music industry and many great stories about specific performers and producers. If you want to be educated about the music industry this is a very interesting book. The book itself - attractive hard cover, great photography, excellent for either reading in detail or scanning between sections if you are in between projects.

Hervorragendes Buch, sehr ausführlich und absolut zu empfehlen für jeden der sich für Musik und Musikgeschichte interessiert.

Lovely book, the sort of book to dip into forever - the soundtrack to my life! A present for a musical friend.

My brother tried to buy this book in UK - Waterstones would not even order it. I ordered it through Amazon - it arrived on time from the USA, in good order. My brother is so pleased with this book.