Best of
Music

2015

The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed


Shea Serrano - 2015
    Shea Serrano deftly pays homage to the most important song of each year. Serrano also examines the most important moments that surround the history and culture of rap music—from artists’ backgrounds to issues of race, the rise of hip-hop, and the struggles among its major players—both personal and professional. Covering East Coast and West Coast, famous rapper feuds, chart toppers, and show stoppers, The Rap Year Book is an in-depth look at the most influential genre of music to come out of the last generation.    Complete with infographics, lyric maps, hilarious and informative footnotes, portraits of the artists, and short essays by other prominent music writers, The Rap Year Book is both a narrative and illustrated guide to the most iconic and influential rap songs ever created.

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad


M.T. Anderson - 2015
    T. Anderson delivers an account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony.In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history—almost three years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of 1943–1944. More than a million citizens perished. Survivors recall corpses littering the frozen streets, their relatives having neither the means nor the strength to bury them. Residents burned books, furniture, and floorboards to keep warm; they ate family pets and—eventually—one another to stay alive. Trapped between the Nazi invading force and the Soviet government itself was composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who would write a symphony that roused, rallied, eulogized, and commemorated his fellow citizens—the Leningrad Symphony, which came to occupy a surprising place of prominence in the eventual Allied victory.This is the true story of a city under siege: the triumph of bravery and defiance in the face of terrifying odds. It is also a look at the power—and layered meaning—of music in beleaguered lives.

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout


Laura Jane Grace - 2015
    It began in a bedroom in Naples, Florida, when a misbehaving punk teenager named Tom Gabel, armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a headful of anarchist politics, landed on a riff. Gabel formed Against Me! and rocketed the band from its scrappy beginnings-banging on a drum kit made of pickle buckets-to a major-label powerhouse that critics have called this generation's The Clash. Since its inception in 1997, Against Me! has been one of punk's most influential modern bands, but also one of its most divisive. With every notch the four-piece climbed in their career, they gained new fans while infuriating their old ones. They suffered legal woes, a revolving door of drummers, and a horde of angry, militant punks who called them "sellouts" and tried to sabotage their shows at every turn. But underneath the public turmoil, something much greater occupied Gabel-a secret kept for 30 years, only acknowledged in the scrawled-out pages of personal journals and hidden in lyrics. Through a troubled childhood, delinquency, and struggles with drugs, Gabel was on a punishing search for identity. Not until May of 2012 did a Rolling Stone profile finally reveal it: Gabel is a transsexual, and would from then on be living as a woman under the name Laura Jane Grace. Tranny is the intimate story of Against Me!'s enigmatic founder, weaving the narrative of the band's history, as well as Grace's, with dozens of never-before-seen entries from the piles of journals Grace kept. More than a typical music memoir about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll-although it certainly has plenty of that-Tranny is an inside look at one of the most remarkable stories in the history of rock.

Trombone Shorty


Troy Andrews - 2015
    A prodigy, he was leading his own band by age six, and today this Grammy-nominated artist headlines the legendary New Orleans Jazz Fest. Along with esteemed illustrator Bryan Collier, Andrews has created a lively picture book autobiography about how he followed his dream of becoming a musician, despite the odds, until he reached international stardom. Trombone Shorty is a celebration of the rich cultural history of New Orleans and the power of music.

Petty: The Biography


Warren Zanes - 2015
    Rock and roll made it otherwise. From meeting Elvis, to seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, to producing Del Shannon, backing Bob Dylan, putting together a band with George Harrison, Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, making records with Johnny Cash, and sending well more than a dozen of his own celebrated recordings high onto the charts, Tom Petty's story has all the drama of a rock and roll epic. Now in his mid-sixties, still making records and still touring, Petty, known for his reclusive style, has shared with Warren Zanes his insights and arguments, his regrets and lasting ambitions, and the details of his life on and off the stage.This is a book for those who know and love the songs, from "American Girl" and "Refugee" to "Free Fallin'" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance," and for those who want to see the classic rock and roll era embodied in one man's remarkable story. Dark and mysterious, Petty manages to come back, again and again, showing us what the music can do and where it can take us.

The Bear and the Piano


David Litchfield - 2015
    As time passes, he teaches himself how to play the strange instrument, and eventually the beautiful sounds are heard by a father and son who are picnicking in the woods. The bear goes with them on an incredible journey to New York, where his piano playing makes him a huge star. He has fame, fortune and all the music in the world, but he misses the friends and family he has left behind. A moving tale of exploration and belonging from an exciting debut author-illustrator.

Making Music. 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers


Dennis DeSantis - 2015
    This site features a selection of chapters from the book.

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music


Margarita Engle - 2015
    Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule—until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her dream-bright music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream.         Inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba's traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girl tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere.

How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy


Stephen Richard Witt - 2015
    It’s about the greatest pirate in history, the most powerful executive in the music business, a revolutionary invention and an illegal website four times the size of the iTunes Music Store. Journalist Stephen Witt traces the secret history of digital music piracy, from the German audio engineers who invented the mp3, to a North Carolina compact-disc manufacturing plant where factory worker Dell Glover leaked nearly two thousand albums over the course of a decade, to the high-rises of midtown Manhattan where music executive Doug Morris cornered the global market on rap, and, finally, into the darkest recesses of the Internet.Through these interwoven narratives, Witt has written a thrilling book that depicts the moment in history when ordinary life became forever entwined with the world online — when, suddenly, all the music ever recorded was available for free. In the page-turning tradition of writers like Michael Lewis and Lawrence Wright, Witt’s deeply-reported first book introduces the unforgettable characters—inventors, executives, factory workers, and smugglers—who revolutionized an entire artform, and reveals for the first time the secret underworld of media pirates that transformed our digital lives.An irresistible never-before-told story of greed, cunning, genius, and deceit, How Music Got Free isn’t just a story of the music industry—it’s a must-read history of the Internet itself.

Instrumental: A Memoir of Madness, Medication and Music


James Rhodes - 2015
    It has been the thread that has held him together through a life that has encompassed abuse, breakdown and addiction. Listening to Rachmaninov on a loop as a traumatised teenager or discovering an Adagio by Bach while in a psychiatric ward - such exquisite miracles of musical genius have helped him survive his demons, and, along with a chance encounter with a stranger, inspired him to become the renowned concert pianist he is today. This is a memoir like no other: unapologetically candid, boldly outspoken and surprisingly funny - James' prose is shot through with an unexpectedly mordant wit, even at the darkest of moments. An impassioned tribute to the therapeutic powers of music, Instrumental also weaves in fascinating facts about how classical music actually works and about the extraordinary lives of some of the great composers. It explains why and how music has the potential to transform all of our lives.

The Road Beneath My Feet


Frank Turner - 2015
    On the laminantes that listed the tour dates, the entry for 24 September simply read: 'Get a job.'Deflated, jaded and hungover, Frank returned to his hometown of Winchester without a plan for the future. All he knew was that he wanted to keep playing music.Cut to 13 April 2012, a thousand shows later (show 1,216 to be precise), and he was headlining a sold-out gig at Wembley Arena with his band The Sleeping Souls. That summer, they played to 200,000 people at the Olympics opening ceremony warm-up by personal invitation of Danny Boyle.Told through his tour reminiscences, this is a blisteringly honest story of Frank's career from the grimy pub scene where sweat drips from the ceiling, to filling out arenas with fans roaring every word. But more than that, it is an intimate account of what it's like to spend your life constantly on the road; sleeping on floors, invariably jetlagged, all for the love of playing live music.

Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal


Greg Renoff - 2015
    The quartet’s classic 1978 debut, Van Halen, sold more than a million copies within months of release and rocketed the band to the stratosphere of rock success. On tour, Van Halen’s high-energy show wowed audiences and prompted headlining acts like Black Sabbath to concede that they’d been blown off the stage. By the year’s end, Van Halen had established themselves as superstars and reinvigorated heavy metal in the process.Based on more than 230 original interviews — including with former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and power players like Pete Angelus, Marshall Berle, Donn Landee, Ted Templeman, and Neil Zlozower — Van Halen Rising reveals the untold story of how these rock legends made the unlikely journey from Pasadena, California, to the worldwide stage.

Substance: Inside New Order


Peter Hook - 2015
    Resurrected from the ashes of Joy Division after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis, New Order would become one most critically acclaimed and important bands of the decade and beyond. With their hits "Bizarre Love Triangle", "Perfect Kiss", and "Blue Monday"—the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time—Peter Hook and company quickly rose to the top of the alternative music scene. Widely regarded as the godfathers of electronic dance music, their sound would influence Moby, The Chemical Brothers, The Postal Service, The Killers, and other acts that followed in their wake.Hook tells the complete, unvarnished story of New Order’s founding and evolution; the band’s experiences in the New York City club scene and rapid rise to international fame, its impact on house music, techno, and rave; and its eventual rancorous dissolution. Full of Hook’s "gleefully profane" (Entertainment Weekly) humor and vivid, witty storytelling, Substance is the most important and certainly the most controversial part of his story, emanating with drugs, booze, and sex.Complete with timelines, discographies, gigographies and track-by-track analysis, and exclusive photographs and archival images from Hook’s personal collection, it is the definitive, comprehensive history of New Order and a compelling snapshot of the '80s cultural scene in all its neon-hued glory.

Sinatra: The Chairman


James Kaplan - 2015
    Like Peter Guralnick on Elvis, Kaplan goes behind the legend to give us the man in full, in his many guises and aspects: peerless singer, (sometimes) accomplished actor, business mogul, tireless lover, and associate of the powerful and infamous.     In 2010’s Frank: The Voice, James Kaplan, in rich, distinctive, compulsively readable prose, told the story of Frank Sinatra’s meteoric rise to fame, subsequent failures, and reinvention as a star of live performance and screen. The story of “Ol’ Blue Eyes” continues with Sinatra: The Chairman, picking up the day after he claimed his Academy Award in 1954 and had reestablished himself as the top recording artist. Sinatra’s life post-Oscar was astonishing in scope and achievement and, occasionally, scandal, including immortal recordings almost too numerous to count, affairs ditto, many memorable films (and more than a few stinkers), Rat Pack hijinks that mesmerized the world with their air of masculine privilege, and an intimate involvement at the intersection of politics and organized crime that continues to shock and astound with its hubris. James Kaplan has orchestrated the wildly disparate aspects of Frank Sinatra’s life and character into an American epic—a towering achievement in biography of a stature befitting its subject.

Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography


Tom Jones - 2015
    With a drive that comes from nothing but the love for what he does, he breaks through and then wrestles with the vagaries of the music industry, the nature of success and its inevitable consequences. Having recorded an expansive body of work and performed with fellow artists from across the spectrum and across every popular music genre, from rock, pop and dance to country, blues and soul, the one constant throughout has been his unique musical gifts and unmistakable voice.But how did a boy from a Welsh coal-mining family attain success across the globe? And how has he survived the twists and turns of fame and fortune to not only stay exciting, but actually become more credible and interesting with age? In this, his first and only autobiography, Tom revisits his past and tells the tale of his journey from wartime Pontypridd to LA and beyond. He reveals the stories behind the ups and downs of his fascinating and remarkable life, from the early heydays to the subsequent fallow years to his later period of artistic renaissance.It's the story nobody else knows or understands, told by the man who lived it, and written the only way he knows how: simply and from the heart. Raw, honest, funny and powerful, this is a memoir like no other from one of the world's greatest ever singing talents. This is Tom Jones and Over the Top and Back is his story.

Sweet Jones: Pimp C's Trill Life Story


Julia Beverly - 2015
    Sweet Jones pays tribute to the extremely talented - yet bipolar and complex - musician who embodied the Southern dream. Written by the founder and Editor-in-Chief of esteemed Southern rap publication OZONE Magazine and compiled from interviews with Pimp C himself, his mother and manager Weslyn "Mama Wes" Monroe, UGK rap partner Bun B, and hundreds of friends, family members, and collaborators like Snoop Dogg, Scarface, Too $hort, 8Ball & MJG, Jazze Pha, David Banner, Mannie Fresh, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Trae, and Willie D of the Geto Boys, Sweet Jones is a must-read for any Southern rap fan.

This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead


Blair Jackson - 2015
    Capturing the ebullient spirit at the group’s core, Jackson and Gans weave together a musical saga that examines the music and subculture that developed into its own economy, touching fans from all walks of life, from penniless hippies to celebrities, and at least one U.S. vice president.This definitive book traces the Dead’s evolution from its humble beginnings as a folk/bluegrass band playing small venues in Palo Alto to the feral psychedelic warriors and stadium-filling Americana jam band that blazed all the way through to the 90s. Along the way, we hear from many who were touched by the Dead—from David Crosby and Miles Davis, to Ken Kesey, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, and a host of Merry Pranksters, to legendary concert promoter Bill Graham, and others.Throughout their journey the Dead broke (and sometimes rewrote) just about every rule of the music business, defying conventional wisdom and charting their own often unusual course, in the process creating a business model unlike any seen before. Musically, too, they were pioneers, fusing inspired ideas and techniques with intuition and fearlessness to craft an utterly unique and instantly recognizable sound. Their music centered on collective improvisation, spiritual and social democracy, trust, generosity, and fun. They believed that you can make something real, spontaneous, and compelling happen with other musicians if you trust and encourage each other, and jam as if your life depended on it. And when it worked, there was nothing else like it.Whether you’re part of the new generation of Deadheads who are just discovering their music or a devoted fan who has traded Dead tapes for decades, you will want to listen in on the irresistible conversations and anecdotes shared in these pages. You’ll hear stories you haven’t heard before, possibly from voices that may be unfamiliar to you, and the tales that unfold will shed a whole new light on a long and inspiring musical odyssey.

It's a Long Story: My Life


Willie Nelson - 2015
    Funny. Leaving no stone unturned." . . . So say the publishers about this book I've written. What I say is that this is the story of my life, told as clear as a Texas sky and in the same rhythm that I lived it. It's a story of restlessness and the purity of the moment and living right. Of my childhood in Abbott, Texas, to the Pacific Northwest, from Nashville to Hawaii and all the way back again. Of selling vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias while hosting radio shows and writing song after song, hoping to strike gold. It's a story of true love, wild times, best friends, and barrooms, with a musical sound track ripping right through it. My life gets lived on the road, at home, and on the road again, tried and true, and I've written it all down from my heart to yours. Signed,Willie Nelson

Good Night and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Shape Modern Life


David Cavanagh - 2015
    But Peel's influence goes much deeper than this. Whether he was championing punk, reggae, jungle or grime, he had a unique relationship with his audience that was part taste-maker, part trusted friend.The book focuses on some 300 shows between 1967 and 2004, giving a thorough overview of Peel's broadcasting career and placing it in its cultural and social contexts. Peel comes alive for the reader, as do the key developments that kept him at the cutting edge - the changes in his tastes; the changes in his thinking. Just like a Peel show, Goodnight and Good Riddance is warm, informative and insightful, and wears its enthusiasm proudly.

Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed


Lesléa Newman - 2015
    But Moshe didn’t mind. Everything he heard was music to his ears. One day, while out for a walk, he heard a small, sad sound that he’d never heard before. It was a tiny kitten! "Come on, little Ketzel," Moshe said, "I will take you home and we will make beautiful music together." And they did—in a most surprising way. Inspired by a true story, Lesléa Newman and Amy June Bates craft an engaging tale of a creative man and the beloved cat who brings unexpected sweet notes his way.

How to Ru(i)n a Record Label: The Story of Lookout Records


Larry Livermore - 2015
    He had no idea this little label, first run out of his solar powered cabin in the Northern California mountains, then a cramped room in the backstreets of Berkeley, would rise to international prominence, introducing the world to the likes of Green Day, Operation Ivy, and a host of other artists. How To Ru(i)n A Record Label documents the author’s experiences from Gilman Street to Bialystok, Poland, as he built Lookout from the ground up, only to find himself losing control of the label a mere ten years later, and abruptly walking away from the multi-million dollar company when it was at its peak of success. Throughout that time, however, he was central to the influential scene that gave birth to Gilman Street, Maximum Rocknroll, and a new generation of independent music that has had an everlasting effect on both the underground and mainstream. In the process, he just might even have found himself. Larry Livermore was the co-founder of Lookout Records, the editor and publisher of Lookout magazine, and a longtime columnist for Maximum Rocknroll and Punk Planet. His first memoir, Spy Rock Memories, was published in 2013 by Don Giovanni Records. He lives in Brooklyn.

Rebel Rebel (Bowiesongs 1)


Chris O'Leary - 2015
    Includes a list of "unheard" Bowie songs and extensive discography. Based on the blog Pushing Ahead of the Dame (http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com).

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck


Brett Morgen - 2015
    For the first time, his story is told in Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, a fully authorized feature documentary released in 2015. Brett Morgen is writer, director, and producer of Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck. Visual artist Frances Bean Cobain, Cobain’s daughter, is executive producer. This riveting book accompanies Morgen’s documentary and delve further into the material created for the film, presenting an illuminating and honest portrait of the Nirvana frontman that captures the contradictions that made up his character. The book is composed of the extended versions of the exclusive interviews featured in the film. The book also showcases the film’s incredible visuals with a mixture of animation stills, rare photography, and other treasures from Kurt Cobain’s personal archive. Director Brett Morgen also offers his personal thoughts on the creation of the film and the need to shatter the mythos that surrounds Cobain.

Welcome to the Symphony: A Musical Exploration of the Orchestra Using Beethoven's Symphony No. 5


Carolyn Sloan - 2015
    The concert is about to begin!   “An ideal way to introduce children to the magic of music—delightful, charming, wonderfully entertaining, beautifully illustrated.”—Gerard Schwarz, Music Director, the All-Star Orchestra   Discover what a symphony is. Who Beethoven was. What happens when a conductor takes the podium and faces of the orchestra. And when you should and shouldn’t clap. Here is a unique, interactive introduction to the world of classical music, presenting one of the most famous symphonies ever written, by one the most famous composers who ever lived. With its 19-button sound panel, you’ll hear the different parts and voices of the music—the beginning of Symphony No. 5, the melody, the harmony, the sounds made by a violin, a viola, a cello, a double bass, and more. And you can even sing along.Note to parents: The secret to raising a child to love and appreciate classical music isn’t a secret at all. You just need to listen with your child and be a willing explorer. Talk about what you hear. Marvel at the sounds. Try to identify the instruments—and have fun with it!

They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock’n’Roll


Shep Gordon - 2015
    He is also credited with inventing the "celebrity chef," and has worked with Nobu Matsuhisa, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roger Vergé, and many others, including his holiness the Dalai Lama. In this wonderfully engaging memoir, the charismatic entertainment legend recalls his life, from his humble beginnings as a "shy, no self-esteem, Jewish nebbisher kid with no ambition" in Oceanside, Long Island, to his unexpected rise as one of the most influential and respected personalities in show business, revered for his kindness, charisma—and fondness for a good time. Gordon shares riotous anecdotes and outrageous accounts of his free-wheeling, globe-trotting experiences with some of the biggest celebrities of the past five decades, including his first meeting with Janice Joplin in 1968, when the raspy singer punched him in the face. Told with incomparable humor and heart, They Call Me Supermensch is a sincere, hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the worlds of music and entertainment from the consummate Hollywood insider.

Patti Smith Collected Lyrics, 1970-2015


Patti Smith - 2015
    Building on the collection originally published in 1998, this new edition features more than thirty-five new songs, new artwork, and an introduction from Patti Smith herself.As relevant, fresh, and searing as when they were originally written, Smith’s lyrics capture her unique voice, raw in beauty, grace, and authenticity. Sharing a message of dedication, love, and compassion that speaks across the ages, Smith’s words empower fans and reveal the strong yet vulnerable heart of woman defined by her art.

Color Me Crazy


Carol Pavliska - 2015
    His life as an iconic rock guitarist was a stressful psychedelic trip that nearly destroyed him. Now he’s abandoned the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle for the peaceful sanctity of his recording studio, but when fiery Cleo Compton comes to work for him, she brings chaos with her.Cleo Compton has had her flings with rockstars—and it’s left her wary and bruised. Julian may have those sexy bedroom eyes and drool-worthy tattoos, but Cleo is determined to keep things strictly professional—until Julian turns out to be every dream she’s ever chased. When he risks it all to hit the road with a band again, Cleo fears he’ll return as the one thing she can no longer abide—a rockstar.

Words Without Music: A Memoir


Philip Glass - 2015
    Yet in Words Without Music, his critically acclaimed memoir, he creates an entirely new and unexpected voice, that of a born storyteller and an acutely insightful chronicler, whose behind-the-scenes recollections allow readers to experience those moments of creative fusion when life so magically merged with art. From his childhood in Baltimore to his student days in Chicago and at Juilliard, to his first journey to Paris and a life-changing trip to India, Glass movingly recalls his early mentors, while reconstructing the places that helped shape his creative consciousness. Whether describing working as an unlicensed plumber in gritty 1970s New York or composing Satyagraha, Glass breaks across genres and re-creates, here in words, the thrill that results from artistic creation.Words Without Music ultimately affirms the power of music to change the world.

Rise Again!: A Group Singing Songbook


Annie Patterson - 2015
    Not your average fake book! Great for musicians, camps, teachers or for singing with family and friends. This songbook is a treasure trove of well-loved songs from blues, country, jazz and Motown to composed folk, traditional ballads, gospel and rounds. Using the same unique format as the editors' bset-selling songbook, Rise Up Singing, Rise Again provides easy access to 1200 important songs in a compact, affordable collection. Including extensive liner notes and well-organized indices, this is an important resource for anyone who loves music.

Detroit 67: The Year That Changed Soul


Stuart Cosgrove - 2015
    Berry Gordy, owner of Motown Records, is trapped in his home, unable to do anything about the internal war ravaging his most successful group, The Supremes. Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard are imploding as Ballard battles alcoholism and the aftermath of rape. But soon, even more chaos will descend on Detroit. As the year heats up, melting the snow, Gordy and his city face one of the most challenging periods of its existence.Detroit 67 is the story of Detroit in the year that changed everything. Twelve monthly chapters take you on a turbulent year long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through the city in 1967. Over a dramatic 12-month period, the Motor City was torn apart by personal, political and inter-racial disputes. It is the story of Motown, the breakup of The Supremes and the implosion of the most successful African-American music label ever.Set against a backdrop of urban riots, escalating war in Vietnam and police corruption, the book weaves its way through a year when soul music came of age, and the underground counterculture flourished. LSD arrived in the city with hallucinogenic power and local guitar-band MC5 -self-styled "holy barbarians" of rock went to war with mainstream America. A summer of street-level rebellion turned Detroit into one of the most notorious cities on earth, known for its unique creativity, its unpredictability and self-lacerating crime rates.1967 ended in social meltdown, personal bitterness and intense legal warfare as the complex threads that held Detroit together finally unraveled. Detroit 67 is the story of the year that changed everything.

The Death Archives: Mayhem 1984-94


Jørn Stubberud - 2015
    Death Archives offer never before seen photographs and unique insight into one of music's most extreme subcultures. The Death Archives is a ravishingly illustrated first-person account of the birth of black metal in the Norwegian scene by Jorn "Necrobutcher" Stubberud, the founding member and ongoing bass player in Mayhem. During the band's ongoing career, now spanning thirty years, bass player and only surviving band member from the original line-up, Jorn "Necrobutcher" Stubberud, has collected enormous amounts of photographs, video diaries and memorabilia. In this unique documentary book, Stubberud shares the first groundbreaking years of Mayhem's existence including their first photo-sessions in full corpse regalia; recording sessions, and exclusive stills from live video footage of their earliest gigs. In Necrobutcher's Death Archives he shares rarely seen photos of the band before death of singer Pelle "Dead" Ohlin and murder of guitarist Oystein "Euronymous" Aarseth.

Kate: Inside the Rainbow


John Carder Bush - 2015
    It includes outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from The Dreaming and Hounds of Love sessions, and rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including 'Army Dreamers' and 'Running Up that Hill'. These stunning images will be accompanied by two new essays by John Carder Bush: From Cathy to Kate, describing in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the early, whirlwind days of Kate's career, and Chasing the Shot, which vividly evokes John's experience of photographing his sister. John Carder Bush: For me, each of these images forms part of a golden thread that shoots through the visual tapestry of Kate's remarkable career. Storytelling has always been the heartbeat of Kate's body of work, and it has been a privilege to capture these photographic illustrations that accompany those magical tales

Badass In My Bed: Badass #1


Rae Lynn Blaise - 2015
    She plays it, she lives it, she breathes it. And next week she'll start playing her cello with the Boston Symphony, which isn't exactly the kind of music career she wanted, but one that will make her father happy. And her happy enough. But the weekend before she leaves for Boston, she meets Dylan. Tattoos. Biceps. Killer smile. Hard cock. Total badass. It's a surprise that he'd ever be interested in her, but he is. He goes against everything she ever wanted in a man... or, thought she wanted. But it's only for one night, right?

Cross Dog Blues: Book One of A Great Long Story to Tell


Richard M. Brock - 2015
    Fiction and Hist. Thrillers★★★★★ 4.7-Star Average Reader Review“...this is storytelling at its best...” -- Fortean Times Magazine“...poignant...heartening...insightful...” -- Kirkus ReviewsWith the rambling pioneers of blues music leading an unforgettable cast of characters, this raw, rousing and adventurous debut novel delivers a breathtaking view of life, livin’, love and hate in America in the 20th century, and the mysterious beginnings of the music that provided the soundtrack for it all...THE BLUES.In 1915, in a moonlit room in a boarding house in Texas, Charlie Patton -- the enigmatic inventor of blues music -- founds a shadowy alliance with Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter and Blind Lemon Jefferson. A pact is made, and the seeds of revolution are sown. Back at the Dockery Plantation in the Mississippi Delta, with the help of the likes of Son House, Howlin‘ Wolf, Robert Johnson, and others, Charlie’s plan spreads across the South, and then across the country. But these bluesmen have no way of knowing where this dangerous road will lead. Nor do they know the Ku Klux Klan is watching.In 2002, Franklyn O’Connor -- an adventurous and penniless youth -- sits at a lonely bar in the train station of his small upstate New York hometown holding a one-way ticket to the Crossroads in the Mississippi Delta. There he hopes to track down his deadbeat father, who walked out on his family when Frank was five. With nothing but his rucksack and the unsolicited assistance of a little old man called Furry Jenkins, Frank soon unwittingly drifts into the middle of a combustible racial feud at the intersection of a still divided society. A shocking truth waiting down the line.An adventurous and powerful novel about how, and more importantly why, from the cotton fields of Mississippi, blues music changed the world, and how the world changed one young man.

Brandon Boyd: So The Echo


Brandon Boyd - 2015
    Beautifully designed, the book reveals many new sketches and works with watercolor and other experimental techniques, as well as very personal photos and journal entries. There is a breath and space to the book and artwork that is a departure from his previous publications but the intimacy remains very much in tact.

What Is Punk?


Eric Morse - 2015
    Their crazy creativity matches the expressive spirit of punk....As [Morse] points out, the best way to learn about punk it just to listen....If invested adults love the topic, a shared reading experience can't be beat."-- Kirkus Reviews "Clay artist Yi molds...fantastically detailed Plasticine figures to create scenes of the birth of punk. Using a benign craft-project material for the skinny bodies and ragged clothing of Joey Ramone, Sid Vicious, and their rowdy, fist-waving audiences is very much in the spirit of punk (Plasticine is especially good for mohawks), and readers will spend long stretches inspecting her painstakingly modeled guitars, amplifiers, and safety pins."-- Publishers Weekly "Why It's Wild: A history of punk music for kids illustrated in Gumby-esque claymation (minus the –mation)."-- School Library Journal , 100 Scope Notes's "Wildest Children's Books of 2015""What is Punk? is fun, sophisticated and beautifully illustrated introduction to the music genre for kids--or adults."-- New York Daily News "Reading What is Punk? to [my kids] made me feel as if I was passing on something truly significant. Morse and Yi have created a comprehensive and articulate...documentary about the roots of punk rock."-- The Globe and Mail "An essential way to pass down to your son or daughter the lesson that pop culture can be political."-- The Globe and Mail , 100 Best Books of 2015"A cool book of punk history for kids by Eric Morse, with great clay illustrations by Anny Yi."-- Slate , Mom and Dad Are Fighting podcast"Eric Morse's book What Is Punk? explains the envelope-pushing genre to the younger set, and perhaps some adults, as well."--St. Louis Public Radio"Think Wallace and Grommet with liberty spikes and anarchy patches...While [Anny Yi's] images of Johnny Rotten and Henry Rollins are cute, they're presented as live action dioramas that are adorable, accurate and engaging."-- San Diego City Beat "While What Is Punk? is undeniably a children’s book, it can serve as a history lesson for potential fans of any age....What Is Punk? exposes the reader to the rebellious sub-culture in a friendly, educative manner."-- Alternative Press "A fun little book intended to serve as (rhyming) curriculum for little punks learning their Punk History 101....Sid, Glenn, and Milo meet Wallace and Gromit."-- Razorcake "Pairing Yi's Wallace & Gromit-style clay pictorials with Morse's rhyming ride through the history of punk music across the globe, the children’s book is ready to raise the next generation of riot grrrls....You're going to want to give What Is Punk? as a gift at every baby shower this year. Just don't be surprised if your niece ends up bleaching her hair blonde and tearing up her leather jacket at age 6."--Bustle"Written by Trampoline House founder Eric Morse in classically Suessical iambic, the book is lusciously illustrated with photographs of Play-Doh recreations of all mommy's and daddy's favorite punk heroes: the Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges--and Debbie Harry, David Byrne, David Johansen, Tom Verlaine, and Lou Reed all standing in front of CBGBs."--Bedford & BoweryWhat Is Punk? is a must-read pop-culture primer for children--an introduction to the punk revolution, recreated in vivid 3-D clay illustrations and told through rhyming couplets.From London's Clash and Sex Pistols to the Ramones' NYC protopunk, from Iggy Pop to the Misfits, this volume depicts some of our culture's seminal moments and iconic characters. A delightful read for kids and parents alike, illustrated in a truly unique visual style, What Is Punk? lays the groundwork for the next generation of little punks.

So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead


David Browne - 2015
    Drawing on new interviews with surviving members and people in their inner circle along with previously unknown details gleaned from the group’s extensive archives, David Browne, acclaimed music journalist and contributing editor at Rolling Stone, lends the Dead’s epic story the vivid feel of a novel. He sheds new light on the band’s beginnings, music, dynamics, and struggles since Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. No longer dismissed as relics of the hippie era, a new generation has lionized the Dead for creating a culture that paved the way for social networking, free music swapping, and the uncompromising anti-corporate attitude of indie rock. Now, fifty years after the band first began changing rock ’n’ roll—both sonically and psychically—So Many Roadspaints the most vivid portrait yet of the Grateful Dead, one of the most enduring institutions in American music and culture.

The Sick Bag Song


Nick Cave - 2015
    It began life scribbled on airline sick bags during Cave’s 22-city tour of North America in 2014. It soon grew into a restless full-length contemporary epic. Spurred by encounters with modern day North America, and racked by romantic longing and exhaustion, Cave teases out the significant moments, the people, the books and the music that have influenced and inspired him, and drops them into his Sick Bag.The Sick Bag Song blends poetry, lyrics, memories, musings, flights of fancy and journal entries. Both mythic and contemporary, it lies somewhere between The Wasteland and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and explores and develops the imaginative universe of Nick Cave.The sumptuous physical edition reproduces in full colour twenty-two sick bags, each hand-customised by Nick, that are integrated throughout the text.

Sick On You: The Disastrous Story of Britain's Great Lost Punk Band


Andrew Matheson - 2015
    His band, The Hollywood Brats, were pre-punk prophets – uncompromising, ultra-thin, wild, untameable and outrageous. But thrown into the crazy world of the 1970s London music scene, the Brats ultimately fell foul of the crooks and heavies that ran it and an industry that just wasn’t ready for them.Directly inspiring the London SS, the Clash, Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols, The Hollywood Brats imploded too soon to share the glory. Punk’s answer to Withnail and I, Sick On You is a startling, funny and brilliantly entertaining period memoir about never quite achieving success, despite flying so close to greatness.

In the All-Night Café: A Memoir of Belle and Sebastian's Formative Year


Stuart David - 2015
    Then he had the fateful idea to learn bass guitar, and to head for Glasgow in search of likeminded artists. In the All-Night Café describes his fortuitous meeting with the group’s cofounder Stuart Murdoch in a course for unemployed musicians. It tells of their adventures in two early incarnations of Belle and Sebastian and culminates in the recording of their celebrated debut album, Tigermilk. This portrait of the group and its origins will resonate with anyone who has put together—or thought of putting together—a band. It is a story of a group of friends who wanted to create a different kind of music, and how—against all expectations—they succeeded. Written with wit, affection, and a novelist’s observant eye, In the All-Night Café brings to life the early days of this most enigmatic and intriguing of bands.

I've Always Kept a Unicorn: The Biography of Sandy Denny


Mick Houghton - 2015
    Sandy Denny laid down the marker for folk-rock when she joined Fairport Convention in 1968, releasing three albums with them in 1969 before her shock departure just ahead of the release of the celebrated Liege & Lief. Her music went far beyond this during the seventies, driven by a restless search for the perfect framework for her songs, first with Fotheringay the group she formed but controversially left after recording just one album. On leaving, she immediately collaborated on a historic one-off recording with Led Zeppelin on ‘The Battle of Evermore’ – the only guest vocalist ever to record with the group. Four fascinating, mercurial solo albums followed as well as an ultimately misguided return to Fairport Convention before her tragic and untimely death, aged 31, in 1978, in circumstances still shrouded in hearsay and speculation.Sandy emerged from the folk scene of the sixties – a world of larger-than-life characters such as Alex Campbell, Jackson C. Frank, Anne Briggs and Australian singer Trevor Lucas, whom she married in 1973. Their often turbulent relationship is at the core of Sandy’s later life and work, as she tried to reconcile a longing for the simple life and motherhood with the trappings of a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and a fear of the fame and success which others expected of her.This is her story told with the help of more than sixty of her friends, fellow musicians and contemporaries all of whom spoke with great candour, some with too much candour, and all with a mixture of joy and sadness when talking about Sandy.

On Board Flight 666. by Iron Maiden


John McMurtrie - 2015
    The band's official photographer, John McMurtrie, accompanied them throughout this mammoth and groundbreaking undertaking, and the exciting results of his fly-on-the-wall coverage are represented in this unique pictorial odyssey. John's unrestricted access has allowed him to capture exclusive images and moments both onstage and off, in nearly 600 spectacular photographs annotated with individual insights and anecdotes. Providing their legions of loyal fans with an up-close look at the band as they circumnavigate the globe, this book provides an unprecedented insight into one of the most adventurous rock tours ever undertaken; and into what makes this band so special.

Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!: My Adventures in The Alice Cooper Group


Dennis Dunaway - 2015
    Their wild, impossible journey took them from Hollywood to the ferocious Detroit music scene, and along the way they discovered the utterly original performance style and look that would make them the stuff of legend.Speaking out for the first time about his adventures in the Alice Cooper group, Dunaway reveals a band that was obsessed with topping themselves, with their increasingly outlandish shows and ever-blackening reputation. Dunaway takes readers into back rooms, behind brainstorming sessions, and into the most exclusive parties of the 1970s, revealing the talent, drama, and characters that drove two teenagers to create what would become America's highest-grossing act.From struggling for recognition to topping the charts with a string of hits including "I'm Eighteen," "School's Out," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy," the Alice Cooper group was entertaining, outrageous, and one of a kind.Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! is a riveting account of the band's creation in the '60s, their strange glory in the '70s, and the legendary characters they met along the way.

Music Habits - The Mental Game of Electronic Music Production: Finish Songs Fast, Beat Procrastination and Find Your Creative Flow


Jason Timothy - 2015
    The goal of this book, is to cover music production from many different angles in a way that will change your thinking on the subject and build your confidence. Music making is a very mental and psychological game, and more often than not, all the technical stuff can hold you back from achieving your goals if you don't have the right creative habits in place first. With all the information available with a simple Google search, I wanted to really get to the heart of things that aren't being discussed nearly enough. I want to clear out all the garbage you may have been told and replace it with the essentials you can put to immediate use. Many people new to music may dive into forums and mindlessly watch video tutorials attempting to gather more and more information until they think they have enough to get going (hint: you never feel like you know enough). That would be like reading a whole encyclopedia and then being asked to recall only the important things that will get you from point A to point B. Even worse, much of the information you get will contradict the last thing you read. It's like finding a needle in a haystack only to be told it's the wrong needle. There is a much better approach. It's an approach that doesn't require you to know a lot to get started. You only need to know enough to get to the next step in your process. There is truly nothing stopping you from becoming a music producer. The ones who are successful now are the ones who started from nothing and chipped away at it until they found a way to express their unique voice. There are no gatekeepers making decisions on who is worthy and who isn't. The determining factor is you, your habits and your confidence in yourself. This book can be read from start to finish, or as a “choose your own adventure”, going directly to what you think can help you most right now. Don't get caught up thinking you have to devour everything before getting started. That isn't necessary, and isn't the point of the book. The core concepts in the book will come up time & time again which should help you retain them & be able to recall them when the need arrives. By exploring these concepts from several angles you should gain a broad view of their many uses. My hope is that this book is used as a toolbox. You simply find the right tool that moves you forward and get back to work. So few people, who have more than enough information in their heads, ever start. Of those who do start, even fewer finish what they started and are satisfied with the results. I want you to be in that small group of finishers. Let's get started.

Assure Her


Thia Finn - 2015
    She's lead a sheltered life of luxury and is determined to make the most of this tour as part of the band until her world is suddenly turned upside down. Then more life-shattering news alters the course she's set for herself.Meeting Chandler at her audition for a temporary spot in Assured Distraction, lead singer Keeton MacDonald flashes a panty-dropping smile knowing that a woman is sure to wreak havoc on the bus for this bunch of guys looking to enjoy the perks of life on the road as the rock stars they are.Assured Distraction's tour is the beginning of a raucous journey for them all that leads to fun days, exciting concerts, and hot nights.Not just a life on the bus story, but a story about living messy lives in the real world.

Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records


Michael White - 2015
    Yet now, more than 20 years after its founders symbolically “destroyed” it, Sarah is among the most passionately fetishized record labels of all time. Its rare releases command hundreds of dollars, devotees around the world hungrily seek out any information they can find about its poorly documented history, and young musicians-some of them not yet born when Sarah shut down-claim its bands (such as Blueboy, the Field Mice, Heavenly, and the Wake) as major influences.Featuring dozens of exclusive interviews with the music-makers, producers, writers and assorted eyewitnesses who played a part in Sarah's eight-year odyssey, Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records is the first authorised biography of an unlikely cult legend.

Lee Brilleaux: Rock'n'Roll Gentleman


Zoë Howe - 2015
    But he was also one of its greatest gentlemen - a class act with heart, fire, wanderlust and a wild streak. Exploding out of Canvey Island in the early 1970s - an age of glam rock, post-hippy folk and pop androgyny - the Feelgoods, with Lee Brilleaux and Wilko Johnson at the helm, charged into London, grabbed the pub rock scene by the throat and sparked a revolutionary new era, proving that you didn't have to be middle class, wearing the 'right clothes' or living in the 'right place' to succeed. Lee Brilleaux: Rock'n'Roll Gentleman, while a totally different work, is a companion of sorts to the hugely popular Wilko Johnson book: Looking Back At Me (also co-authored by Howe). It is the first comprehensive appreciation of Lee Brilleaux and, with its numerous exclusive interviews and previously unseen images, is a book no Dr Feelgood fan would wish to be without.

Composing Electronic Music: A New Aesthetic


Curtis Roads - 2015
    Opening the door to an unlimited universe of sound, it engages spatialization as an integral aspect of composition and focuses on sound transformation as a core structural strategy. In this newdomain, pitch occurs as a flowing and ephemeral substance that can be bent, modulated, or dissolved into noise. Similarly, time occurs not merely as a fixed duration subdivided by ratios, but as a plastic medium that can be generated, modulated, reversed, warped, scrambled, and granulated. Envelopeand waveform undulations on all time scales interweave to generate form. The power of algorithmic methods amplify the capabilities of music technology. Taken together, these constitute game-changing possibilities.This convergence of technical and aesthetic trends prompts the need for a new text focused on the opportunities of a sound oriented, multiscale approach to composition of electronic music. Sound oriented means a practice that takes place in the presence of sound. Multiscale means an approach thattakes into account the perceptual and physical reality of multiple, interacting time scales-each of which can be composed. After more than a century of research and development, now is an appropriate moment to step back and reevaluate all that has changed under the ground of artistic practice.Composing Electronic Music outlines a new theory of composition based on the toolkit of electronic music techniques. The theory consists of a framework of concepts and a vocabulary of terms describing musical materials, their transformation, and their organization. Central to this discourse is thenotion of narrative structure in composition-how sounds are born, interact, transform, and die. It presents a guidebook: a tour of facts, history, commentary, opinions, and pointers to interesting ideas and new possibilities to consider and explore.

Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life Of Tiny Tim


Justin Martell - 2015
    In 1968, after years of playing dive bars and lesbian cabarets on the Greenwich Village scene, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bob Dylan and Lenny Bruce, the forty-something falsetto-voiced, ukulele-playing Tiny Tim landed a recording contract with Sinatra's Reprise label and an appearance on NBC's Laugh-In. The resulting album, God Bless Tiny Tim, and its single, 'Tip-toe Thru' The Tulips With Me', catapulted him to the highest levels of fame. Soon, Tiny was playing to huge audiences in the USA and Europe, while his marriage to the seventeen-year-old 'Miss' Vicki was broadcast on The Tonight Show in front of an audience of fifty million. Before long, however, his star began to fade. Miss Vicki left him, his earnings evaporated, and the mainstream turned its back on him. He would spend the rest of his life trying to revive his career, with many of those attempts taking a turn toward the absurd. But while he is often characterized as an oddball curio, Tiny Tim was a master interpreter and student of early American popular song, and his story is one of Shakespearean tragedy framed around a bizarre yet loveable public persona. Here, drawing on dozens of new interviews, never-before-seen diaries, and years of original research, author Justin Martell brings that story to life with the first serious biography of one of the most fascinating yet misunderstood figures in popular music.

The Last Waltz: The Strauss Dynasty and Vienna


John Suchet - 2015
    Two generations of this remarkable family transformed and popularised the waltz, delighting all of Viennese society with their prolific compositions. But behind the melody lay a darker discord, as the Strausses tore themselves apart while Vienna itself struggled to secure its place in a rapidly changing world.In The Last Waltz John Suchet skilfully portrays this gripping story, capturing the family dramas, the tensions, triumphs and disasters, all set against the turbulent backdrop of Austria in the nineteenth century, from revolution to regicide.Discover the truth behind Vienna’s extraordinary musical dynasty.

You're Making Me Hate You: A Cantankerous Look at the Common Misconception That Humans Have Any Common Sense Left


Corey Taylor - 2015
    In the tradition of the late great George Carlin, New York Times bestselling author and lead singer of Slipknot and Stone Sour Corey Taylor sounds off in hilarious fashion about the many vagaries of modern life that piss him off.Whether it’s people’s rude behavior in restaurants and malls, the many indignities of air travel, eye-searingly terrible fashion choices, dangerously clueless drivers, and—most of all—the sorry state of much modern music, Taylor’s humor and insight cover civil society’s seeming decline—sparing no one along the way, least of all himself.Holding nothing back and delivered in Taylor’s inimitable voice, You’re Making Me Hate You is a cathartic critique of the strange world in which we find ourselves.

The Emperor of Sound: A Memoir


Timbaland - 2015
    An artist whose fans are multi-racial and multi-generational, Timbaland works with the hottest artists, from Mariah Carey and Missy Elliott to Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Madonna, and his childhood friend, Pharrell Williams. Yet this celebrity is a uniquely private man who shuns parties, stays out of gossip columns, and rarely gives interviews. Deliberately choosing to tour by bus and conspicuously bling-free, he maintains a low-key lifestyle. If he’s not at the recording studio, he is at home with his family.In The Emperor of Sound, Timbaland offers fans an unprecedented look into his life and work. Completely uncensored and totally honest, he reveals the magic behind the music, sharing the various creative impulses that arise while he’s producing, and the layering of sounds that have created dozens of number one hits. Cinematically written, full of revealing anecdotes and reflections from today’s most popular music icons, The Emperor of Sound showcases this master’s artistry and offers an extraordinary glimpse inside this great musical mind.

Jerry on Jerry: The Unpublished Jerry Garcia Interviews


Dennis McNally - 2015
    Jerry on Jerry provides new insight into the beloved frontman of the Grateful Dead in time for the 50th Anniversary of the band.Released by the Jerry Garcia Family and made available to the public for the first time, these are some of the most candid, intimate interviews with Jerry Garcia ever published. Here, Garcia speaks openly about everything from growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and his first encounters with early R&B to his thoughts on songwriting, LSD, the Beats and Neal Cassady, government, movies, and more. Illustrated with family photographs, ephemera, and Jerry's artwork, Jerry on Jerry presents uniquely poignant, unguarded, and astute moments, showing a side of Jerry that even his biggest fans have not known.

On the Road with The Oak Ridge Boys: Forty Years of Untold Stories and Adventures


Joseph S. Bonsall - 2015
    As their fans will testify, an Oak Ridge Boys concert is an unforgettable experience.These "on the road" stories, written by tenor Joseph S. Bonsall and spanning the four decades since the present group came together, will bring laughter, insight, and heartfelt appreciation to their fans young and old.You'll read about...The faith shared by all four "Oaks" the backstage goings-on of The Oak Ridge Boys what "the Boys" do on the tour bus stories about special fans they've met down through the years their surprise mega-hit, "Elvira" and how it came about "Join me as I take you on the road with The Oak Ridge Boys. We'll revisit some of our favorite concerts, reminisce about some old friends, and I'll let you in on what happens behind the scenes. Come on along!" Oak Ridge Boy Joseph S. Bonsall

1966: The Year the Decade Exploded


Jon Savage - 2015
    In America, in London, in Amsterdam, in Paris, revolutionary ideas slow-cooking since the late '50s reached boiling point. In the worlds of pop, pop art, fashion and radical politics, often fueled by perception-enhancing substances and literature, the 'Sixties', as we have come to know them, hit their Modernist peak. A unique chemistry of ideas, substances, freedom of expression and dialogue across pop cultural continents created a landscape of immense and eventually shattering creativity. After 1966 nothing in the pop world would ever be the same. The 7 inch single outsold the long-player for the final time. It was the year in which the ever lasting and transient pop moment would burst forth in its most articulate, instinctive and radical way.Jon Savage's 1966 is a monument to the year that shaped the pop future of the balance of the century. Exploring canonical artists like The Beatles, The Byrds, Velvet Underground, The Who and The Kinks, 1966 also goes much deeper into the social and cultural heart of the decade through unique archival primary sources.

When We're Singin': The Partridge Family & Their Music


Johnny Ray Miller - 2015
    

Anton Corbijn 1-2-3-4


Anton Corbijn - 2015
    This gloriously illustrated, oversized book pays homage to Corbijn's obsession with rock and roll—an interest that has led to lifelong friendships with Bono, Michael Stipe, Dave Gahan, and other iconic musicians. Looking back over three decades, it features hundreds of creative, offbeat images that Corbijn was able to capture largely as a result of his close relationships with his subjects. Nearly every revered musician and band is represented in Corbijn’s archives: Nick Cave to Nirvana, U2 to R.E.M., the Rolling Stones to Siouxie and the Banshees. Many of the portraits are accompanied by their subjects' own take on Corbijn's distinct style and approach. Also included here are previously unpublished photos of the late Joe Cocker and the band Depeche Mode, who considered him an honorary member. A fitting tribute to an innovative and deeply passionate photographer, this book will rock the worlds of fans of music and photography.

Black Metal: The Cult Never Dies, Vol. 1


Dayal Patterson - 2015
    Comprised entirely of exclusive interviews, many with artists who have never spoken about their careers before, this tome begins the project by examining three facets of the genre in detail, returning to the subject of Norwegian Black Metal, discussing Polish Black Metal and telling the story of the subgenre of Depressive/Suicidal Black Metal.

The Hysterics


Kristen Hope Mazzola - 2015
    Rock and roll, drugs, and bad decisions were the life I lived. I'd fallen so deep into the dark rabbit hole that I was certain I would never make it out alive. People like me didn't get second chance. People like me didn't get lifted from the darkness. So when the opportunity showed up, I had to take it. I walked away from everything I loved, everything that was killing me, and I became Fae Dunham. After that, I had behind makeup, long sleeves, and a closed-off heart. All was well until I met Dane Pearson. He wasn't convinced of the new me, and whenever he was near, I felt like the old me, the real me, filled with passion and a love for music. Every day was a fight to not fall back down the rabbit hole. And every day, somehow, I slowly began to discover what it meant to fin myself. It was a hysteric rise, but it was ours. And I wouldn't change a thing. From the Author **18+ for sexual situations, language, and adult content.** This book is a standalone! In the Crashing Series there are some character overlaps with The Hysterics, so after you fall in love with Dane and Fallon in The Hysterics, you can see what they're up to a few years in the future in Crashing Back Down

Let There Be GWAR


Bob Gorman - 2015
    Covering the beginning of time at The Dairy in Richmond, Virginia, where the band first met, to their spread across the land like a disease through the 1990s and 2000s, this book is a record and testament to all that is GWAR. Music changed when GWAR entered the arena with their intense performances of blood spewing nuns, ravaging stage shows and outlandish costumes, all while entertaining and awing the growing number of fans across the globe. Let There be GWAR takes you through the GWAR kingdom in photos, band posters, ephemera and interviews, chronicling their albums, comics and video in a blood-stained hardbound luxe book. GWAR fans, known as The Scumdogs of the Universe, will unite and delight in the wretched world of GWAR through the pages of this monstrous book.

Sinatra 100


Charles Pignone - 2015
    Of course, Sinatra’s legacy speaks for itself. An entertainer of mesmerizing talent, charisma, and style, he is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, and Academy Award-winning actor, and a cultural icon.From inciting bobby-soxer riots and achieving teen idol status in the 1940s to the incredible recording career, the film career, the Rat Pack and Las Vegas, Sinatra 100 has the unseen photographs (and the iconic ones) as well as a rare trove of memorabilia and ephemera—over half of it never before published. With a majority of the text based on unpublished personal interviews and conversations with Frank Sinatra and his friends, family, and colleagues, Sinatra 100 unparalleled in its scope and depth. It’s the ultimate Sinatra gift, both for the fans who think they’ve seen it all and those just discovering this inimitable artist.

A Lover Sings: Selected Lyrics


Billy Bragg - 2015
    A Lover Sings contains over seventy of his best-known lyrics, selected and annotated by the author.'Sexuality', 'A New England', 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' - these are unadorned, poetic songs that skilfully interweave everyday observation with much broader concerns: of fairness and outrage, of generosity and love. A Lover Sings reveals a unique sensibility: principled and proudly of the Left, funny, forthright and tender. It is a remarkable collection.

Fat Man Blues


Richard Wall - 2015
     "A page-turner of a Blues Book..." Blues In Britain Magazine "...a story composed and delivered in the best traditions of the Blues..." Darren Weale - British Blues Exhibition "Hobo John" is an English blues enthusiast on a pilgrimage to present-day Mississippi. One night in Clarksdale he meets the mysterious Fat Man, who offers him the chance to see the real blues of the 1930s. Unable to refuse this offer, Hobo John embarks on a journey through the afterlife in the company of Travellin' Man, an old blues guitarist who shows him the sights, sounds and everyday life in the Mississippi Delta. Along the way, the Englishman discovers the harsh realities behind his romantic notion of the music he loves and the true price of the deal that he has made.

The Artistry of Teaching and Making Music


Richard Floyd - 2015
    

The Distance Between Us: A Novel


Noah Bly - 2015
      Hester Parker resides in an elegant Victorian house in the town of Bolton, Illinois. She spends her evenings listening to Mahler and Chopin, drinking subpar Merlot, and reflecting on a life that has suddenly fallen apart. At seventy-one, Hester is as brilliant and sharp-tongued as ever, capable of inspiring her music students to soaring heights or reducing them to tears with a single comment. But her wit can’t hide the bitterness that comes with loss—the loss of her renowned violinist husband, Arthur Donovan, who left her for another woman, and the loss of her career as a concert pianist after injuring her wrist.   In this home that holds so many memories, Hester and Arthur raised three volatile children—Paul, a talented, neurotic cellist; Caitlin, an accomplished literary professor who inspires both dread and worship among her students; and Jeremy, sweet, spirited, and as musically gifted as his parents. But since the divorce, Hester’s relationships with them have grown more distant.   When Hester decides to rent out the attic apartment to Alex, a young college student, she has no idea of the impact he will have on her life and her family. Alex soon becomes an unlikely confidant and a means of reconnecting with the world outside Hester’s window. But his presence also exposes old memories and grief that Hester has tried to bury. Over the course of one remarkable month, Hester will confront angry accusations, long-hidden jealousies, and the inescapable truth that tore her family apart—and might, against all odds, help reconcile them again.

Music From Standing Waves


Johanna Craven - 2015
    It didn't matter that my parents didn't want to know me, or that my brother had done a runner with Clara's money. With a bow in my hand I was able to eradicate anything I didn't want to think about. But playing for Matt was different. The emotions were his, the secrets and desires his... I never felt closer to him than when I was playing his music.' Music is Abby's lifeline. She dreams of being a concert violinist; escaping her tiny Australian home town- and a disastrous relationship with her childhood best friend Justin. At eighteen, she is given a chance at her dream: a place at the Melbourne Conservatorium. But when she falls for charismatic composer Matt, Abby discovers love for a person can be as consuming as love for music. Their passionate relationship has her questioning everything she thought she ever wanted. Abby realises that to face the future, she must first confront the past; uncovering some uncomfortable truths about herself, her family and the passion that has shaped her life.

The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame


Rick Hall - 2015
    After producing and engineering the area’s first national hit on Arthur Alexander’s Southern Soul classic “You Better Move On,” Rick went on to earn international fame and eventually a Grammy for a lifetime of achievements.In the days when Martin Luther King Jr. was marching for freedom, Rick proved to be a civil rights pioneer through his music. His records helped introduce white audiences to the black music market and black audiences to the white music market.From the moment “You Better Move On” hit the charts, record executives literally flocked to Muscle Shoals for Rick to produce and engineer a mind-boggling array of major artists, from Aretha Franklin to Bobbie Gentry, from the Osmonds to Alabama. His astonishing production abilities were matched by his incredible versatility.Music fans, history buffs, and others delight to these fascinating tales of how Rick Hall launched the music careers of so many famous artists.Award-winning DVD, Muscle Shoals, included with every book.

The Producer's Mindset: How To Think Like A Producer And Achieve Success (Making Electronic Music Book 1)


Chris Crompton - 2015
    As you probably know, the barrier to entry for making electronic music is practically non-existent these days. That's why success can only come from you, not the plugins or DAW you use. While knowing how to use your tools is important, it's about the drive within that will take you to the next level.In "The Producer's Mindset", you'll learn what myself and others have done to achieve success and get noticed. You will not find any get rich quick ideas. Nor will you find any ways to experience immediate fame and success. What you WILL learn is how to make sure you aren't limiting yourself and your success. CREATE The Right Environment In Your Mind And Success Will Follow... Have you started on a song and not finished it? Many aspiring musicians dream about cranking new tracks out, but they don’t finish their songs. The truth is this: Great producers hone their skills, they practice regularly, and they finish tracks. Not only do they make time to practice what they love, they also follow specific routines that help them focus and avoid getting distracted.The simple fact is that by implementing certain "principles" into your musical life, you'll no doubt increase your productivity. By striving to live up to certain ideas, you can accomplish much more and progress quicker. The producers who succeed with their music make moves and walk right through failure. Moreover, they know that creative spurts aren't a constant, so they adapt to creative "dry spells".The good news is it's not hard to improve from where you currently are. If you learn how to embrace your strengths and you continually push yourself, you will continue to move upward. LEARN The Best Strategies For Thinking Like A Successful Producer "The Producer's Mindset" details a variety of ideas that will increase your productivity and get you through mental tough spots. Inside this book you'll discover: What Being A Producer Actually Means How To Set Yourself Up For Success By Creating A Productive Environment How To Push Past Some Common Negative Beliefs How To Minimize Distractions And Interruptions Ways To Find The Time To Compose - Even If You Have A Full-Time Job Why Habits Will Bring Success How Expectations Can Kill Your Music Why Goals Will Help You Grow Ways To Track Your Progress A Belief System That Is Designed For Success In The Long Run It's definitely possible to crank out finished songs, sign them to labels, and start getting gigs. However, the solution is counter-intuitive. Change your mindset and the rest will follow.Download now and take your producing to the next level. To get started, hit the buy button at the top of the page.

The Savvy Music Teacher: Blueprint for Maximizing Income and Impact


David Cutler - 2015
    This comprehensive resource reveals an entrepreneurial process with lessons that cannot be found anywhere else. Armed with Cutler's expert guidance, readers will learn to develop:- A thriving studio with a transformative curriculum- Multiple income/impact streams- Innovation strategies for every aspect of business and art- Powerhouse marketing- Time management skills- Financial literacy and independence- An inspired career outlookA must-read for music students, aspiring studio owners, early career instructors, and established gurus, The Savvy Music Teacher is packed with actionable advice written in accessible language. Real-life experiences from successful teacher-entrepreneurs are featured throughout.

The Bag I'm In: The Fashions of UK Youth Underground Music Scenes, 1961-1991


Sam Knee - 2015
    Throughout the decades, young people sought to define themselves sartorially, reflecting their identity in terms of regionalism, class and crucially, musical taste, through their clothes. This book is a comprehensive survey of forty-five "tribes" that roamed the streets of Britain from the '60s to the '90s. From Mod to Skinhead and Rocker to Rudeboy, the look of each movement is captured in meticulously researched, previously unpublished archive photography.Explanatory texts by Sam Knee as well as an illustrated "look-book" appendix make this an important resource for fashion students, musos and cultural historians.

Shoot the Conductor: Too Close to Monteux, Szell, and Ormandy


Anshel Brusilow - 2015
    His playing wasn’t ordinary, though. At sixteen, he was soloing with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was also studying conducting.     Brusilow’s tumultuous relationships with Pierre Monteux, George Szell, and Eugene Ormandy shaped his early career. Under Szell, Brusilow was associate concertmaster at the Cleveland Orchestra until Ormandy snatched him away to make him concertmaster in Philadelphia, where he remained from 1959 to 1966. But he was unsatisfied with the violin. Even as concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he felt the violin didn’t give him enough of the music. He wanted to conduct. He formed chamber groups on the side; he conducted summer concerts of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The price was high: it ruined his father-son relationship with Ormandy. Brusilow turned in his violin bow for the baton and created his own Philadelphia Chamber Symphony. Next he took on the then-troubled Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Unhappy endings repeat themselves in his memoir—and yet humor dances constantly around the edges. Musicians need it.     Brusilow played with or conducted many top-tier classical musicians and has something to say about each one. He also made many recordings. Co-written with Robin Underdahl, his memoir is a fascinating view of American classical music as well as an inspiring story of a working-class immigrant child making good in a tough arena.

O Sing Unto the Lord: A History of English Church Music: A History of English Church Music


Andrew Gant - 2015
    It is a history of the music and of the people who made, sang and listened to it. It shows the role church music has played in ordinary lives and how it reflects those lives back to us. The author considers why church music remains so popular and frequently tops the classical charts and why the BBC's Choral Evensong remains the longest-running radio series ever. He shows how England's church music follows the contours of its history and is the soundtrack of its changing politics and culture, from the mysteries of the Mass to the elegant decorum of the Restoration anthem, from stern Puritanism to Victorian bombast, and thence to the fractured worlds of the twentieth century as heard in the music of Vaughan Williams and Britten. This is a book for everyone interested in the history of English music, culture and society.

Music Theory for the Bass Player


Ariane Cap - 2015
    Packed with fretboard diagrams, musical examples and exercises, more than 180 pages of vital information are peppered with mind-bending quizzes, effective mnemonics, and compelling learning approaches. Extensive and detailed photo demonstrations show why relaxed posture and optimized fingering are vital for good tone, timing and chops. You can even work your way through the book without being able to read music! Music Theory for the Bass Player is a comprehensive and immediately applicable guide to making you a well-grounded groover, informed bandmate and all-around more creative musician. This is the definitive resource for the enthusiastic bassist!

Pipe Bomb for the Soul


Alice Bag - 2015
    Pipe Bomb For The Soul excels in rekindling that revolutionary fervor existing in Nicaragua as it attempted a more pluralistic socialist democracy while mired in a bloody U.S.-backed Contra war." - OC WeeklyPipe Bomb for the Soul is based on Alice Bag's 1986 Nicaraguan diaries. A post-punk look at life in a post-revolutionary socialist society, Pipe Bomb for the Soul explodes consumerist, capitalist, racial and gender assumptions and proposes a new model for growth from witnessing an alternate version of reality. 116 pages, illustrated. Softcover edition, 6" x 9"

Encyclopedia Madonnica 20: Madonna from A to Z


Matthew Rettenmund - 2015
    This encyclopedic tome covers every aspect of Madonna's life and career: music, movies, TV, love life, family, tours and more.

New Order


Kevin Cummins - 2015
    New Order remains one of the most popular bands of the last half century. Founded in the dying years of punk and disco, and combining elements of post-punk, new wave, and electronic dance music, New Order was responsible for some of the biggest hits of the era and is one of few bands to have achieved mainstream success while retaining cult status. Having been the most trusted photographer of Joy Division in the 1970s, Kevin Cummins was uniquely placed to document the rise and fall of New Order, from their formation in 1980 to their split in 1993. From underground beginnings as the flagship group of Factory Records in Manchester to grandstand tours around Europe and America, Cummins captured the band in every light, from the intimacy of the studio to the frenetic energy of live performance. Collected here for the first time are more than a hundred photographs reflecting over a decade of New Order. Prefaced by a selection of rarely seen ephemera, conversations with the band members, and an introduction from Douglas Coupland, this is a stunning celebration of a band whose influence on music and fashion is still palpable today.

DeadBase 50: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead


Stu Nixon - 2015
    Along with new reviews, photos and a brand new discography, this book continues the tradition of providing the most complete collection of Grateful Dead related data available.

The Justinguitar.Com Beginner's Songbook: Volume 2


Justin Sandercoe - 2015
    Featuring complete lyrics and chords, as well as tuition notes, with invaluable advice on strumming, chords and general playing tips. The Justinguitar.com Beginner's Songbook Volume 2 is a great companion to Justin's beginner Guitar method, with ten songs for each stage of the course, progressing in difficulty. The songs range from the past to the present and represent a variety of genres, ranging from songs with only two or three chords like Bad Moon Rising, For What It's Worth and Stir It Up through to tunes like Get Lucky and Budapest, all the way to songs like Hold Back The River and Ziggy Stardust, with more complicated rhythms, chords and strumming.  Every song features full lyrics and chords, strumming patterns as well as advice about tricky aspects of the song, or just general performance tips. If you need help with the chords, diagrams are included so that you always have a reference. As your playing develops through the course, the best way to practise is to play along to your favourite tunes, and theJustinguitar.com Beginner's Songbook Volume 2 is the best way to expand your repertoire at the level of your ability. Featuring 100 songs by artists like The Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Bob Marley, Maroon 5, Nirvana and The Rolling Stones, this songbook is a fantastic collection, an invaluable companion to the influential course, and a brilliant follow-up to volume 1, which has sold over 100,000 copies

L.A. Punk Rocker: Stories of Sex, Drugs and Punk Rock That Will Make You Wish You'd Been in There.


Brenda Perlin - 2015
    That unique and precious time when punk rock was more than just a rebellion. Inside you'll discover Billy Idol. Iggy Pop. X. U2. Bad Religion. Tales of local punk rockers on the brink of glorious fame. Late nights at the Roxy. Wild times at the Whisky with some of the best rock ever. Here you'll find the in-your-face attitude, the clothes, the fashion, the sex, the music as hard as nails and fast as lightning. Brenda and her friends were somewhere every night queuing backstage, in hotel rooms with the band, partying on the streets...and avoiding irate parents on school nights! It's all here. LAPunkRocker. The next thing to being there...

The Prophet from Silicon Valley: The Complete Story of Sequential Circuits


David Abernethy - 2015
    

The Collected Works of Jim Morrison


Jim Morrison - 2015
    Throughout, a compelling mix of 160 visual components accompanies the text: excerpts from his 28 privately held notebooks—all written in his own hand and published here for the first time—as well as an array of personal images and commentary on the work by Morrison himself. Almost 50 percent of this volume has never been published before. Nearly 600 pages worth of writings here from the late rock legend and poet.

Devo's Freedom of Choice


Evie Nagy - 2015
    Ohio art-rockers Devo had plainly prepared with their 1979 second LP Duty Now for the Future, and now it was go time. Propelled by the new decade's high-tech, free-market, pre-AIDS promise, 1980's Freedom of Choice would rocket what Devo co-founder Gerald Casale calls his "alternate universe, hermetically sealed, alien band" both into the arms of the Earthlings and back to their home planet in one scenic trip.Before an artistic and commercial decline that resulted in a 20-year gap between Devo's last two studio records, Freedom of Choice made them curious, insurgent superstars, vindicated but ultimately betrayed by the birth of MTV. Their only platinum album represented the best of their unreplicable code: dead-serious tricksters, embracing conformity in order to destroy it with bullet-proof pop sensibility. Through first-hand accounts from the band and musical analysis set against an examination of new wave's emergence, the first-ever authorized book about Devo (with a foreword by Portlandia's Fred Armisen) explores the group's peak of success, when their hermetic seal cracked open to let in mainstream attention, a legion of new Devotees, and plenty of misunderstandings. "Freedom of Choice was the end of Devo innocence–it turned out to be the high point before the s***storm of a total cultural move to the right, the advent of AIDS, and the press starting to figure Devo out and think they had our number," says Casale. "It's where everything changes."

Frankie Liked to Sing


John Seven - 2015
    From his early days in Hoboken, New Jersey, to making it big in New York City, Sinatra was determined to follow his dream of being a singer and moving people with his voice. And now, one hundred years after his birth, his legacy lives on with this spirited and loving tribute.

Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South


Charles L. Hughes - 2015
    Yet the music emerged from the same songwriters, musicians, and producers in the recording studios of Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama--what Charles L. Hughes calls the country-soul triangle. In legendary studios like Stax and FAME, integrated groups of musicians like Booker T. and the MGs and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section produced music that both challenged and reconfirmed racial divisions in the United States. Working with artists from Aretha Franklin to Willie Nelson, these musicians became crucial contributors to the era's popular music and internationally recognized symbols of American racial politics in the turbulent years of civil rights protests, Black Power, and white backlash. Hughes offers a provocative reinterpretation of this key moment in American popular music and challenges the conventional wisdom about the racial politics of southern studios and the music that emerged from them. Drawing on interviews and rarely used archives, Hughes brings to life the daily world of session musicians, producers, and songwriters at the heart of the country and soul scenes. In doing so, he shows how the country-soul triangle gave birth to new ways of thinking about music, race, labor, and the South in this pivotal period.

The Band Photographs: 1968-1969


Elliott Landy - 2015
    One can think of David Duncan's pictures of Picasso at work or Alfred Wertheimer's pictures of Elvis backstage in 1956. Elliott Landy's chronicle of The Band from 1968-1969 is of similar importance. He was trusted so deeply that this group of photographs is as intimate a portrait of a group of musicians inventing a new music as you are ever likely to come across. Today we call that music Americana and it is played all over the world by everyone from Mumford and Sons to the Zac Brown Band. But in 1968, when Elliott first started making these pictures, it was played by six musicians in the town of Woodstock, New York - Bob Dylan and a group called The Hawks. They later changed their name to The Band. They had been The Hawks for five years when Bob Dylan pulled them out of Tony Mart's dive bar on the Jersey Shore to be his band.

the boy with the thorn in his side


Chantelle Atkins - 2015
    I have a constant walking soundtrack to my life you see. There is a song for everything.' In the decade of grunge and Britpop, 13 year old Danny is a music fan in the making. He is also on a mission to deter unsuitable men from his beautiful single mother. With his best friends behind him, a soundtrack in his head and first love on the horizon, things are looking good until local nightclub owner Lee Howard comes on the scene and sweeps Danny’s mother off her feet. What do you do when your mother is dating a real life monster and no one can see it but you? A dark and powerful drama about friendship, music and the choice between escaping and fighting back.

Wye Practice Book For The Flute Books 1-6 Revised Book Only Edition


Trevor Wye - 2015
    This Omnibus Edition features books 1-6 in one bumper compendium.Each Practice Book delves into great detail into a different aspect of playing the Flute. Having sold over 1 million copies, the series as a whole is invaluable for amateur or would-be professional flautists, providing in-depth tips on practising and how to overcome specific technical difficulties. The various books within this edition give hugely important information on the following: Book 1: Tone Book 2: Technique Book 3: Articulation Book 4: Intonation & Vibrato Book 5: Breathing & Scales Book 6: Advanced Practice When combined, this Omnibus Edition of the Practice Books For Flute create a wonderfully comprehensive and well-organised way to become a serious flautist. Within each individual book, Trevor Wye goes into an unparalleled level of detail, laying everything out logically and honestly, so that you are guided through the fine details but the practising itself must come from you. This edition represents great value for money, costing a lot less than it would to buy each book individually, and you also gain Trevor Wye's exceptional gift for instruction across all these concepts.For value for money when learning the Flute, you can't do better than this Omnibus Edition of Trevor Wye's Practice Books For Flute. The authoritative and detailed style is perfect for beginners and seasoned professionals, as there is always something that can be learned or improved upon. Pick up these Practice Books today and hear a di

From A to Zay: The Indie Guide to Music Production


Xavier Dotson - 2015
    Let's get ready to go down the list of everything you need to know about music production (and perhaps life) from A to Zay. - Xavier DotsonThe whole key to Xavier's success, besides the obvious (God, faith, family) has always been his consistency to keep creating, whether that's making beats, writing hooks, scoring films or coming up with ideas to further promote something he is involved in. Most people want the fame and the trappings of success without sacrificing anything. In this business or in anything you do, there's a price to pay to get what you want. Whatever is easy usually doesn't have a whole lot of value to it; anybody can have it. The key is to take the smallest of action steps every day and God will put the right people and situations in your life to get you to your destiny. Let me repeat that. Work on something every single day that will bring you closer to your goal. Stop wondering what you can do and start acting.  Start acting like the person you want to be and you will become that person.  My story is about having a vision. My hope is for you to discover your gifts, focus on them and work until something magical happens. Vision, writing it down and working hard and letting God do the rest. His name alone sets the tone for who he is, what he does and the magnitude of his skill set. Super-producer Xavier "Zaytoven" Dotson copped his name from the German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven because of the many similarities the two musicians share. Both were born in Germany, both mastered the organ and piano at a young age, both boast a genuine interest in music and most notably possessed the same good foresight to align themselves with key people who could help further their careers. For Beethoven it was the dignitaries of Vienna, for Zaytoven it was Gucci Mane, king of the streets of east Atlanta.

Japan - A Foreign Place (The Biography 1974-1984)


Anthony Reynolds. - 2015
    Reynolds, previously responsible for books on The Walker Brothers and Leonard Cohen, engagingly details the strange twists and turns that saw a group of friends from working class South London develop from unpromising provincial Glam Funk origins to eventually become the authors of the innovative and exotic sonic assault of the globally successful Tin Drum. Written with the full approval and co-operation of Richard Barbieri, Steve Jansen and Rob Dean, the book contains many unseen period photographs, as well as first-hand accounts of the band and its music from friends, music industry associates and musical collaborators. Dimensions - 210 x 210mm square. Hardback book, cloth-bound with a foil deboss. Contains approximately 260 pictures, many unseen before.

Art of Rush: Serving A Life Sentence


Hugh Syme - 2015
    Offered in three editions, a general-release Classic Edition, a Limited Special Edition of 250 copies, and a Roadcase Deluxe Limited Edition of 100 copies.

Crate Digger: An Obsession with Punk Records


Bob Suren - 2015
    His new passion causes him to form a band, track down out-of-print records that he loves and begin to reissue them, open a record store, begin a record distribution operation as a public service, mentor a host of young musicians, and befriend all manner of punk luminaries along the way. Slowly, his life’s pursuit pushes him to the point of personal ruination and ultimately redemption.

Sinatra: The Photographs


Andrew Howick - 2015
    Photographs capture not only his ineffable sense of style, but also his aura of vulnerability, intensity, sexuality, and charm. Sinatra: The Photographs focuses on the decades after the war, when he towered over the American entertainment landscape. These were the years of the Rat Pack and Las Vegas, socializing with Jack Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, and making music with Nelson Riddle, Count Basie, and Quincy Jones. Featured is the best work by a group of photographers who helped shape the public image of Sinatra: Ted Allan, Bob Willoughby, Ed Thrasher, Sid Avery, and Bernie Abramson. Photographs by these men form the nucleus of the images gathered in this book, which are accompanied by illuminating commentary on Sinatra by the people who knew him best.

National Theatre: All About Theatre


National Theatre - 2015
    Go backstage at the National Theatre and hear from experts on every aspect of stagecraft, from acting and directing to set building, costume design and prop-making. Focusing on famous National Theatre productions, like War Horse, and packed with interesting tricks of the trade and ideas to try at home, this is the definitive theatre book for anyone interested in theatre.

Strangled: Identity, Status, Structure and The Stranglers


Phil Knight - 2015
    Although major artists within the punk and new-wave movements, their contribution to those genres has been effectively quarantined by subsequent critical and historical analyses. They are somehow "outside" the realm of what responsible accounts of the period consider to be worthy of chronicling. Why is this so? Certainly The Stranglers' seedy and intimidating demeanor, and well-deserved reputation for misogyny and violence, offer a superficial explanation for their cultural excommunication. However, this landmark work suggests that the unsettling aura that permeated the group and their music had much more profound origins; ones that continue to have disturbing implications even today. The Stranglers, it argues, continue to be marginalised because, whether by accident or design, they brought to the fore the underlying issues of identity, status and structure that must by necessity be hidden from society's conscious awareness. For this, they would not be forgiven.

Microgroove: Forays into Other Music


John Corbett - 2015
    Corbett's approach to writing is as polymorphous as the music, ranging from oral history and journalistic portraiture to deeply engaged cultural critique. Corbett advocates for the relevance of "little" music, which despite its smaller audience, is of enormous cultural significance. He writes on musicians as varied as Sun Ra, P.J. Harvey, Koko Taylor, Steve Lacy, and Helmut Lachenmann; and among other topics, he discusses recording formats, investigates the relationship between music and visual art, dance, and poetry, and with Terri Kapsalis, analyzes the role of female orgasm sounds in contemporary popular music. Above all, Corbett privileges the importance of improvisation; he insists on the need to pay close attention to “other” music, and celebrates its ability to open up pathways to new ideas, fresh modes of expression, and unforeseen ways of knowing.

Hypergraphia: The Writings of David Sylvian 1980-2014


David Sylvian - 2015
    Hypergraphia takes the reader through every period of Sylvian's life as a working musician - from his first days of pop stardom to such innovative and mature works as "Blemish" and "Manafon".

The Lonely Hearts Club (Southern Charmers #2)


Sandra Edwards - 2015
    Things are bound to get a little crazy when the groom is not only the son of Georgia's childhood crush, but he's also the nephew of Ginger's boyfriend from high school. To make matters worse, the bride's parents are in the midst of a nasty breakup.Life hasn't turned out quite the way any of them planned, and the prospect of this wedding won't let them forget it! Join New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Sandra Edwards in this delightful tale about love, loss, and picking up the pieces.

In Fine Style: the Dancehall Art of Wilfred Limonious


Christopher Bateman - 2015
    With crazy cartoon characters and wacky hand-drawn typography, his album covers have become synonymous with the colourful, humorous attitude of early dancehall music. In Fine Style: The Dancehall Art Of Wilfred Limonious provides a long-overdue look at the art and career of one of reggae music's most prolific yet unheralded designers, featuring many of his classic album jackets as well as a largely unknown body of work from outside of the reggae world. Includes never-before-seen pieces, photographs and ephemera.

Heartworm


Ben Vendetta - 2015
    While championing an underdog Irish band, Whipping Boy, he embarks on a voyage of sex and drugs from Boston to Belfast while burying memories of his estranged wife - who is now in danger. His life was once saved by rock 'n' roll, but it may be too late for redemption in the last days of the music industry before the bubble bursts. Whether dropped by your record label or dropped by a lover-these situations call for a drink.

The Man That Got Away: The Life and Songs of Harold Arlen


Walter Rimler - 2015
    Yet his name is hardly known--except to the musicians who venerate him. At a gathering of songwriters George Gershwin called him "the best of us." Irving Berlin agreed. Paul McCartney sent him a fan letter and became his publisher. Bob Dylan wrote of his fascination with Arlen's "bittersweet, lonely world." A cantor's son, Arlen believed his music was from a place outside himself, a place that also sent tragedy. When his wife became mentally ill and was institutionalized he turned to alcohol. It nearly killed him. But the beautiful songs kept coming: "Blues in the Night," "My Shining Hour," "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "The Man That Got Away."Walter Rimler drew on interviews with friends and associates of Arlen and on newly available archives to write this intimate portrait of a genius whose work is a pillar of the Great American Songbook.