Advantages: great selection, good variety Disadvantages: somehow mistitled, mostly traditional stuff
from Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland and maybe even the Baltic.
The pieces included on this compilation are mostly fairly traditional ones (most credits claim "traditional"), a crop of the folk music revival that took place in this area in the late 80's and the 90's. This is not a criticism, as there is enough there to actually warrant a sampler compilation for each country or style, but it needs to be said that those of a more rock'n'roll inclination would be probably happier exploring a vast area of folk-inspired music that that has sprung from the Eastern European sources since, combining traditional European music, rock, roots, punk and folk influences from other continents.
As it is, "RoughGuideto the Music of Eastern Europe" is, in itself, a worthy introduction to the more traditional sounds of the area.
It starts ...
Advantages: Chatty, friendly style. Informative Disadvantages: Not a technical 'manual'
terms of disadvantages, if you want an all-singing, all-dancing 'technical manual' with photos and diagrams, this isn't for you.
I'd recommend The RoughGuideto Pregnancy and Birth highly and if you're about to join the Kid Club you'd be well served in picking up a copy.
NB - I have reviewed the 2nd Edition, 2006. ...
Advantages: Great restauraunt recommendations, useful price guides etc Disadvantages: Maps not great, little short of detail
you can only do if you know where you are! So we ended up hopelessly lost and wandering the streets of Rome with luggage! Which would have been fine but the maps in the RoughGuide are, most definately, rough! If you have to rely on them alone for any length of time, take a compass! It is impossible to know which direction on a road you are going for hundreds of metres because the little roads aren't named - very frustrating! Eventually we found our hotel (not mentioned in the guide so can't tell you if their hotel reviews are accurate I'm afraid), and collapsed exhausted after our long walk!
The next morning we set off to see the sights armed with the book and a better map courtesy of our hotel! The descriptions of the colloseum, vatican, panthenon, roman forum and various museums provided a good starting point for a tour. They give ...