Funk: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion (Third Ear: the Essential Listening Companion Series)
Adult/High School-This is an informative and entertaining source  for good biographical sketches of funk musicians and singers.  Thompson defines funk in a poetic, nontechnical way, and  provides a general history of the music. Discographies and  extensive lists of hip-hop and rhythm-and-blues songs follow  each individual or group entry. Certain major figures, such as  James Brown, the Isley Brothers, George Clinton, and Prince, are  allotted more space than others. An essay about the role the  music played in promoting blaxploitation movies includes brief  synopses and critiques of 12 such films. The chapter entitled  "Disco and the Death of Funk" describes disco as superficial and  lacking in soul, but discusses how it nonetheless became quite  popular for a while. Toward the end of the book, there are  essays on go-go and rap, two musical forms that rebelled against  the blandness and predictability of disco. The index is  detailed, and black-and-white photographs are included.Joyce  Fay Fletcher, Rippon Middle School, Prince William County, VACopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.