I really enjoyed this book.
I especially enjoyed the links to youtube to hear the songs and other information about the music (live performances, parodies, interviews etc.) It was fun to revisit the time when these songs were hot and fresh.
I am a music collector and DJ and did not find myself bored or seeking more information about the songs from the book. As another reviewer wrote that he found the information somewhat simplistic and lacking; I found it to be just the opposite. Instead of viewing the book as an encyclopedic view of the music, I viewed it as an opportunity to do more research on the songs I wanted to. It was enough just to give me a touchstone remembrance and a beginning point.
There were some things I knew and some things I didn't. I'm really looking forward to the next volume (now numbering 6 in total) for more fun and further trips down musical memory lane. ( )

This book gave me a good trip down memory lane. It's a very quick read. Many songs that I had completely forgotten about. My wife and I shared the reading, quizzing each other on the different songs by using the clues provided by the author. We had some very good laughs!
This book will help you for that upcoming bar trivia contest, or on your next internet battle on Song Pop.
I just wish that it was longer. The brevity of the book is the reason that I am not rating it higher. ( )

Lost or Forgotten Oldies Volume 1 from Rembert N Parker really failed to deliver very much at all for me. As much as I hate giving poor reviews, this one gets a slight bump simply because there isn't anything to dislike about it, just nothing particular to like. And it is about music.

As far as the songs included, it was an okay list. Not very many I wasn't familiar with but quite a few that probably don't get in rotation on any oldies stations, at least not broadcast stations. But that is why we have other types of stations as well as streaming options. If you want to find songs that take you back to a period in your life, there are plenty of lists of the charts from every year, do so. And just to be clear, not every song that charted was necessarily one that a lot of people want to remember. Many charted because the artist's previous single did very well and there was a residual effect on the follow up single, which may well have been mediocre at best. Tommy Roe following up Dizzy with Heather Honey comes to mind. And he had previous hits as well, so his follow up was even more skewed than many others.

As for the information on each song, there wasn't much that wouldn't be readily available from Wikipedia or a general pop music site. You could look up online, read online what is included in this book, and then find the next song you wanted to hear in the time the song you were reading about played. I expect a book to offer some cohesion and some gems of information not readily available with a 30 second search. this book doesn't deliver.

If you only ever listened to top 40 and never really got into music beyond background to your life, you might enjoy this. If you bought records growing up and read liner notes and music magazines, you will likely be disappointed with this. I wouldn't even recommend this as an introduction for a younger person because these are not the strongest songs for that purpose, even avoiding the #1's. These are apparently Parker's favorite non-number 1 songs, which makes you question whether you really want his input on what you listen to.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )