Krautrocksampler

There's not many books on the subject of Krautrock, or Kosmische Musik, but Cope's was one of the first to bring the music back into something approaching the mainstream. Cope's approach is that of the fanboy, a headlong rush to preach the Krautrock gospel and convert the uninitiated. Sadly that means objectivity goes out of the window.

The early part of the book where Cope sets the scene and introduces the main players is good and his pieces on bands such as Neu! and Tangerinee Dream are effective, but later on he gets all metaphysical and trippy and starts trumpeting the virtues of some of the more obscure offshoots of Krautrock. That's where he loses me.

The last part of the book is dedicated to Cope's highly selective and personal Top 50 Krautrock records, for which he provides reviews. Again his love of the music comes through in the passion of his writing, but again he has no objectivity and his highly personal cut-off point for some bands is questionable.

Cope has said that he has no plans to revise or update this book, which is long out of print (you can, as I did, locate a PDF of it with a simple google search), and he has acknowledged that there are factual and interpretive errors. But for all that it is an enjoyable and informative read, just take it all with a pinch of salt.