The Recording Angel, 2nd ed.

Music, Records and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa

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by Evan Eisenberg

Yale University Press

Due/Published July 2005, 288 pages, paper

ISBN 0300099045

First published in 1987, Evan Eisenberg's The Recording Angel has been translated into several languages and is now considered a classic by those with an interest in the intersection of music and technology. Eisenberg offers a study of how the phonograph and related media have transformed music into a tangible commodity and relegated live performance to the background of Western culture.
In this newly expanded edition of the book, the author takes fully into account developments related to the era of digital sound recording. The book is essential reading for anyone curious about recording as an art in itself, any collector of recorded music, and any owner of the first edition who has wished to read more of what Evan Eisenberg has to say about music, how it is created, and how recorded sound has changed the human condition.