Ben Ratliff, Every Song Ever
“We are listening in the time of the Cloud,” writes Ratliff, who has been writing about music for The New York Times for 20 years. Every Song Ever includes his insights into the work of a wide range of artists, from Al Green, Carmen Linares, James Brown, Robert Johnson, Miles Davis, Prince, Little Richard, Hank Williams, Sarah Vaughan and Outkast to The Who and The Grateful Dead. He unites Neil Young, John Lewis, Johnny Ramone and Drake, among others, as musicians who excel at “church bell tones.” Ratliff brings listening to a new level in clear, effortless prose. (Credit: Farrar, Straus & Giroux)