Best of '05 in Hip Hop and Music Books

Soundcheck | May 3, 2010
Critic and composer Greg Sandow runs through his favorite music books published this year: from a few Bob Dylan histories to a massive 6-volume ambitious History of Western Music. And, for issues and releases in hip-hop and R&B, we turn to novelist and the former editor-in-chief of Vibe magazine, Danyel Smith, a frequent guest on Soundcheck. And, when did Christmas music become the ubiquitous juggernaut it is now? Musicologist and Washington DC dj Dick Spottswood recently compiled a collection of unusual Christmas music from 1917 to 1959, entitled "Where will You Be Christmas Day?"

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