Agreement that they were far and away the best pop group ever is all but universal. And nowhere is the spirit of the Sixties - both in its soaring optimism and its drug-spirited introspection - more perfectly expressed than in the Beatles' music. Taking all the elements which combined to create each song as it was captured on vinyl - the songwriting process, the stimuli of contemporary pop hits and events, the evolving input from each of the Four, the brilliant innovations pulled off in the studio and, ultimately, the twisting grip of psychedelic drugs - the Beatles are pinpointed, record by record, in precise and fascinating detail against the backdrop of that vibrant era.

    The authors are pop culture experts and lifelong Beatles aficionados whose enlightening commentary sheds new light on the subject. The book is profusely illustrated with great photos of the band at work and play, and all of the memorable album cover art that has come to represent a generation. Appendices include a complete song list, discography, videography, and bibliography, making it a one-stop source of Beatles facts and figures.

    Mark Hodkinson's biography of Queen focuses on the band's formative years, and draws on interviews with over sixty friends and colleagues of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon.

    This analysis provides an in-depth look at Dylan as a performer, exploring his work on stage and in the studio, and looks at the evolution of his style and concerns.

    New Large Hardcover with dust jacket

    Arranged chronologically by album and packed with color and black and white photographs and illustrations, A Hard Day's Write is hard to put down. Look up one song and you find yourself stopping to read about the others as the mini-stories recount how private incidents influenced the Beatles, collectively and as individual artists. A longtime Beatles admirer, Turner tracked down and interviewed the real-life subjects of the songs, probed public records, and newspaper archives, and spoke in depth to the personalities closest to the Beatles. The result is a book no Beatles fan should be without.

    The Rough Guide to the Beatles covers every aspect of the Fab Four, delving deep into the Beatles music, lyrics, movies and the Beatles solo careers. Features include: The Story: from Liverpool clubs to Beatlemania. The Music: incisive reviews of every Beatles and solo album and new Beatle Music from George Martin's son Giles. The Canon: the inside track on the 50 greatest songs. On Screen: the movies, the promos and the TV appearances and new coverage of the upcoming Rock Band-style video game of Beatle music.The Fifth Beatle: George Martin, Yoko Ono, Magic Alex and other contenders as well as the resignation and death of Neil Aspinall. Beatleology: the best books, the weirdest covers, the most obsessive websites, the obscurest trivia. This updated edition includes new material on Cirque Du Soleil 's acclaimed Love Show - the only officially endorsed Beatles theatrical presentation, Paul McCartney's albums Memory Almost Full, Ecce Cor Meum and Electric Arguments and the media circus surrounding the McCartney/ Mills divorce. All you need is this!

    Why did Kurt Cobain write "Polly", his graphic anti-rape song? What is "Teen Spirit"? Who is Floyd the Barber? As Chuck Crisafulli answers these questions he chronicles Nirvana's rise to fame and the emergence of grunge. 90 full-color and b&w photos.

    It addresses the technical side of The Beatles' sessions and was written with the assistance of many of the group's former engineers and technicians [1]. The book looks at every piece of recording equipment used at Abbey Road Studios during the Beatles' sessions, including all microphones, outboard gear, mixing consoles, speakers, and tape machines. Each piece is examined in great detail, and the book is illustrated with hundreds of full color photographs, charts, drawings and illustrations. How the equipment was implemented during the group's sessions is also covered. The effects used on the Beatles' records are addressed in great detail, with full explanations of concepts such as ADT and flanging. The Production section of the book looks at the group's recording processes chronologically, starting with their "artist test" in 1962 and progressing through to their final session in 1970. The book contains several rare and unseen photos of the Beatles in the studio. The studio personnel and the studio itself is examined.The authors spent over a decade researching the subject matter and offer up their findings in exhaustive detail. The 540-page hardcover book has been highly praised not only for its massive scope, but also for its presentation. The "Deluxe" version, released in September of 2006, was housed in a replica EMI multi-track tape-box, complete with faux time-worn edges. Rather than a listing of the tape's contents, the back of the box featured the book's contents, hand-written by former Beatles tape-op and engineer, Ken Scott. The book was also accompanied by several "bonus items", including reproductions of never-seen photos of the Beatles. The first printing of 3,000 books sold out in November of 2006, and a second printing was released in February of 2007. The book is currently in its fourth printing.The book has been critically praised by recognized Beatles authority Mark Lewisohn (who also contributed the book's Foreword), The New York Times[2][3], Mojo (magazine) (which gave it 5 stars), Beatles engineers Norman Smith, Ken Scott, and Alan Parsons, Yoko Ono, and many other individuals directly involved with the Beatles' work. The release of the book was celebrated in November 2006 with a party in Studio Two at Abbey Road [4]. In attendance were most of the Beatles' former engineers and technicians.

    Clinton Heylin has devoted his career to Bob Dylan's work and presents here a comprehensive study of all of Dylan's recording sessions 1960 - 1994

    With exclusive access to the RCA vaults, producer Ernst Jorgensen brings to intimate life every moment that Elvis spent in the studio--from the spontaneous joy of his early sessions to the intensely creative periods of his later career. At once the definitive recording session guide and a compellingly readable narrative, this is the ultimate companion to the singer and his songs.

    He later worked with the Beatles as they recorded their singles “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the songs that would propel them to international superstardom. In 1964 he would witness the transformation of this young and playful group from Liverpool into professional, polished musicians as they put to tape classic songs such as “Eight Days A Week” and “I Feel Fine.” Then, in 1966, at age nineteen, Geoff Emerick became the Beatles’ chief engineer, the man responsible for their distinctive sound as they recorded the classic album Revolver, in which they pioneered innovative recording techniques that changed the course of rock history. Emerick would also engineer the monumental Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums, considered by many the greatest rock recordings of all time. In Here, There and Everywhere he reveals the creative process of the band in the studio, and describes how he achieved the sounds on their most famous songs. Emerick also brings to light the personal dynamics of the band, from the relentless (and increasingly mean-spirited) competition between Lennon and McCartney to the infighting and frustration that eventually brought a bitter end to the greatest rock band the world has ever known.

    

    in 1978. Punk kings who spread counterculture around the world, they’ve been cited as influences by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Rancid and The Offspring; have toured with The Clash, The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Nirvana, PiL, Minor Threat and others; and are the subject of two tribute albums. They are the band that introduced the term “hardcore” into punk lexicon and may have turned Nirvana’s lead singer Kurt Cobain onto a career in music.But punk is more than a style of music: it’s a political act, and D.O.A. have always had a social conscience, having performed in support of Greenpeace, women’s rape/crisis centres, prisoner’s rights, and antinuke and antiglobalization organizations. Twenty-five years later D.O.A. can claim sales of hundreds of thousands of copies of their 11 albums and tours in 30 different countries, and they are still going strong.I, Shithead is Joey’s personal, no-bullshit recollections of a life in punk, starting with the burgeoning punk movement and traversing a generation disillusioned with the status quo, who believed they could change the world: stories of riots, drinking, travelling, playing and conquering all manner of obstacles through sheer determination.Praise for D.O.A.:“They rock out. They blow the roof off. Some of the best shows I’ve seen in my life were D.O.A. gigs. I’ve never seen D.O.A. not be amazing.”—Henry Rollins (Black Flag, Rollins Band)“The proper medicine growing young minds needed.”—Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)“Joey Shithead casts a long shadow.”—John Doe (X)“They’ve changed a lot of people’s lives.”—Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters)Joey “Shithead” Keithley has long been an activist, including as a candidate for the Green Party, and is the founder of Sudden Death Records (www.suddendeath.com). He lives in Vancouver with his wife and their three children.

    Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G.In this riveting account of Biggie's remarkable life, hip hop journalist Cheo Hodari Coker tells the story you've never heard about the dramatic, tension-filled world of Biggie, Tupac, Puff Daddy, and Suge Knight, tracing their friendships and feuds from the beginning to the bitter end. Despite the clash of personalities and styles, all four were key players in a volatile and creative era of hip hop, a time when gangsta rap became popular music.Before he rocketed to fame as Biggie, Christopher Wallace was a young black man growing up in Brooklyn with a loving single mother. An honors student who dropped out of school to sell drugs, Biggie soon discovered that he had a gift for rocking the mike. Coker's narrative is based on exclusive interviews with Biggie's family and friends, some of whom have never spoken publicly about Biggie before.Compellingly written and brilliantly illustrated, with rare color and black-and-white photographs from Vibe's archives and Biggie's family, this is an in-depth look at the life and afterlife of an icon whose music is as powerful and prevalent as ever. A virtuoso of flow as well as a master storyteller, Biggie was arguably the greatest rapper of all time. We've heard a lot of speculation about Biggie's death. Now it's time to remember his life and celebrate his work.