The Trouser Press Record Guide

The fourth edition of The Trouser Press Record Guide is a valuable resource that ventures where no other rock book dares: reviewing thousands of records by alternative, nonmainstream, or downright obscure acts, including subgenres like industrial dance music, Japanese punk, and death metal. The write-ups may be too soft on anything considered ''alternative,'' but it's hard to criticize a record guide that dotes on bands with names like Severed Heads, Screeching Weasel, and My Dad Is Dead. B