Into the Groove

February 1, 2023

Music writer Scott (The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of NASA's Interstellar Mixtape) explores the process of committing sound to permanence in this combination history/science book. All of the major innovations are here: phonographs, cylinders, magnetic recording, and discs. Inventor Thomas Edison appears, disappears, then reappears; but this story doesn't have a singular star (or villain), as both vinyl records and radio served as catalysts for change within the industry--beloved, forgotten, and then re-remembered as technology and tastes changed. Scott excels in explaining the connections between innovators and their various epiphanies and lawsuits without ever losing focus of recordings' end users: the listener. For each innovation, there's detail on how the sounds actually come across to the listener--and Scott's ability to portray this with literary onomatopoeia is impressive. There is also a strong glossary, called "a miscellany" in this volume, that helps clarify concepts. Some chapters include links to relevant online resources, which are worth exploring. VERDICT A perfect fit for music lovers who've always wondered how a recorded performance reaches their ears.--Tina Panik

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 6, 2023
This enjoyable if somewhat arcane chronicle by music journalist Scott (The Vinyl Frontier) examines the history of recorded sound. He traces the development of recordings from the first tin-foil cylindrical records of the late 19th century through the vinyl, cassette, CD, and streaming eras, starting with Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph and Alexander Graham Bell’s perfection of the technology. Digging into the scientific and engineering advances that changed the way people listen to music, he describes how the shellac discs of the early 20th century were made from the secretions of the lac insect and how a turntable’s stylus generates vibrations that create an electrical current, which gets “amplified and converted into sound.” Scott has an eye for detail, telling, for instance, how vinyl “scratching” was born in 1977 when 12-year-old DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore’s mother demanded he turn the music down, causing him to stop the record with his hand and creating the scratching effect. The history mostly entertains, but technical descriptions of how sound is recorded and overviews of equalization curves, groove widths, and CD bit rates will challenge all but the most devoted audiophiles. Still, music lovers will want to take this one for a spin.

Starred review from January 15, 2023
Chronicling sound recording from its 19th-century origins to the present day. An audio geek's delight, this engrossing history of music and voice recording is as wide-ranging and thorough as one could want. Though the sheer, exhaustive detail involving design, method, style, format, and contributions of the legions of those involved in research and development and invention can be daunting, it's necessary to be complete. Scott, a respected music writer whose previous book was The Vinyl Frontier, builds on (and credits) the work of others--not least such books as Oliver Read and Walter L. Welch's From Tin Foil to Stereo--but he has his own knack for doggedly unearthing crucial information and etching it into a vibrant, mostly linear narrative. Scott stresses the point that invention has as many versions as fathers, and he offers suggestions for late-19th- and early-20th-century recordings readers can find online. Although the author claims that his book is not "a comprehensive directory, dictionary, [and] glossary of the early recording industry," which could fill several volumes, one suspects it will be more than enough for all but the most ardent high-fidelity aficionado. Scott concludes with an expansive, 40-page section, "Miscellany of the Groove," that should satisfy die-hard crate diggers and audiophiles. The author, who has been collecting records since he was 7, concurs with the conviction of all those who grew up with vinyl LPs that analog sound remains warmer, richer, and more soul-stirring than any digital marvel, for all their convenience, could ever be. Vinyl, he insists, is the format for engaging with music in a deeper way, for immersion, for listening and doing nothing else. He notes the irony that, "in a sense...digital technology [is] trying ever harder to recreate analog sound," but he concludes that, ultimately, format doesn't matter. Only the music does. Scott spins a history told with near-perfect pitch.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.