I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, I'm afraid. I'm not the target audience, since I'm already a musicologist and familiar with the composers addressed. I've found that quite a few works intended to introduce classical music to a young audience go out of their way to use hip, cool language, flashy colors, and a "no, for real, these guys were the original rock stars" earnestness in an attempt to be convincing. I usually end up feeling a little uncomfortable when reading such works, and my guess is that the actual target audience might be more prone to rolling their eyes than to being enthusiastically convinced due only to the prose. Though it is of a higher level of writing than my kids' ages (2 and 4) would suggest, I plan to read some to them. My expectation is that if they are fascinated by it, I will be more enthusiastic than I am just by reading it on my own :)

An oversized, colorful, beautifully designed book written for kids to get them interested in classical music. The book focuses on seven of the greatest composers in history and also includes information on the make up of the orchestra, a timeline of classical music, and information on how to appreciate classical music.

I learned quite a bit from this book and really dug the design and illustrations. I highly recommend this book for children and their parents. You don't even need to make a mixtape of the music, as the author has done that for you and put it on his website. ( )

My thirteen year old music nerd kid loves this book. The cover and graphic design throughout the book drew him in, the Spotify playlist gives him the aural stimulation, and the introduction to these artists is written in an accessible and enlightening way. I'm sure it will be shared with his siblings as they get older.

Playlist: The Rebels and Revolutionaries of Sound by James Rhodes is an introduction to classical music appropriate for those of middle school and high school age. As one who could be a grandmother to such readers, and not a music aficianado, I'm not the intended audience for this book - yet I learned a lot from it. I am approaching this review from the point of view of a librarian tasked with providing books for K-12 students or music teachers.

The book itself is eye-catching. It is approximately the size and shape of old 33 rpm vinyl records, with a rather plain black cover (further evoking that comparison), but a psychedelic dust jacket by Martin O'Neill, furthering the revolutionaries/rebels/rock stars theme. O'Neill's illustrations throughout the book use collage with ephemera and mixed media, photographs, silk screen, and digital media.

Inside, after an introduction and a page about the playlist (more on that in a bit), Rhodes, a professional pianist, has selected seven composers to write about, as well as two compositions by each. Each composer has eight pages alloted to him - a double-page illustrated spread with the composer's surname and a nickname Rhodes gives him (I especially liked Ravel: Shock and Awe), followed by biographical information on the next spread, including some contemporary artists and soundtracks that have used his work (I do agree with other reviewers that some of these could become dated with time).

This is followed by double-page spreads on each of the compositions, including notes on what to listen for (although sometimes the times given are a bit off) and Rhodes' interpretations of the music. Interspersed between the composers are spreads on the orchestra and a timeline of Western classical music, and the book ends with a glossary of musical terms used within the book (the terms were printed in boldface in the text) and an index. I would have liked to see at least a short bibliography as well, to know the sources of some of Rhodes' information.

Not being a musical expert, I won't quibble with the selections by Rhodes, which naturally favor piano. Of course he includes the big three of classical music, Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. I agree with another reviewer that an aria from one of Mozart's operas (since he is famous for those) would have been a better choice than an overture, and I would have liked to see a harpsichord piece for Bach (I am a fan of those).

Now, for the playlist:  it's available on Spotify. As another reviewer noted, this makes it unavailable to readers under age 13 (seventh grade for most students), without either an illegal registration, or the aid of an adult. I don't have a Spotify account, and don't want to register for yet another site I won't use, so (again, like another reviewer - thanks for the suggestion!) I found eleven of the selections specified by Rhodes on YouTube, and one on Earsense (the Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major by Schubert). I also couldn't find the specific version of Rachmaninoff's Prelude No. 5 in the playlist, but substituted another on YouTube that Rhodes suggested watching (not just listening to) in his text.

For the one piece I couldn't find in either place (Chopin's Étude Op. 10, No. 1 in C Major performed by Zlata Chochieva), I ended up chosing the performance by Valentina Lisitsa, who did the other Chopin piece selected by Rhodes. This turned out to be a good choice, because the video was of Lisitsa actually playing the piece, and I could see the pianist's hands - something Rhodes spoke about in extensively in his text.

I would like to see the playlist offered in other formats besides Spotify. I suspect some music teachers out there still use CDs, which are easy enough to include in a printed book. Videos (such as on YouTube or a similar free site) that show the actual performance are also an advantage to visual learners (like me), who learn better when they can see as well as hear.

I will be recommending this book for my university library's curriculum collection, used by future teachers. ( )

James Rhodes’s glitzy and colorful Playlist: The Rebels and Revolutionaries of Sound, intended primarily for young readers, is a noble effort to trumpet the joys and wonders of classical music to those who might automatically dismiss it as dull and unexciting. Rhodes provides brief yet snappy biographies of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel; and with the clever use of a Spotify playlist, points the reader to a selection of fourteen pieces worthy of a listen or three to unlock the magic. The text seems to try a bit too hard to be cool, but maybe that concerted effort is what it takes to break through to younger generations whose first impulse would be to dismiss the subject altogether. This is a nicely conceived and executed book, well deserving of the audience it seeks. ( )