The vast majority of the material here is new, thanks to remembrances from Will.i.am, Smokey Robinson, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Slash, Usher, LA Reid, Brooke Shields, Kenny Gamble, Wyclef Jean, Ne-Yo, Martin Scorsese, Glen Ballard, John Landis, plus the Rolling Stone staff. Also included are reprints of two classic Rolling Stone cover stories, one from 1973 by Ben Fong-Torres, and a 1983 piece by Gerri Hershey.

    Fay has gone back to primary documents: Shostakovich's many letters, concert programs and reviews, newspaper articles, and diaries of his contemporaries. An indefatigable worker, he wrote his arresting music despite deprivations during the Nazi invasion and constant surveillance under Stalin's regime. Shostakovich's life is a fascinating example of the paradoxes of living as an artist under totalitarian rule. In August 1942, his Seventh Symphony, written as a protest against fascism, was performed in Nazi-besieged Leningrad by the city's surviving musicians, and was triumphantly broadcast to the German troops, who had been bombarded beforehand to silence them. Alone among his artistic peers, he survived successive Stalinist cultural purges and won the Stalin Prize five times, yet in 1948 he was dismissed from his conservatory teaching positions, and many of his works were banned from performance. He prudently censored himself, in one case putting aside a work based on Jewish folk poems. Under later regimes he balanced a career as a model Soviet, holding government positions and acting as an international ambassador with his unflagging artistic ambitions. In the years since his death in 1975, many have embraced a view of Shostakovich as a lifelong dissident who encoded anti-Communist messages in his music. This lucid and fascinating biography demonstrates that the reality was much more complex. Laurel Fay's book includes a detailed list of works, a glossary of names, and an extensive bibliography, making it an indispensable resource for future studies of Shostakovich.

    The first English book about Slayer explores the creation of the most universally respected metal album and its long road to the stores, through original interviews with the entire band, producer Rick Rubin, engineer Andy Wallace, cover artist Larry Carroll, and Def Jam insiders from Russell Simmons to M.C. Serch. From Tori Amos to Pantera's Phil Anselmo, dozens of fans and artists discuss the record's ongoing impact and Slayer's status in the small fraternity of rock's greatest groups.

    "Music: An Appreciation" includes some of the greatest music ever created. Roger Kamien's excellence as an interpreter of that music has made his program number one in the market used by over half a million students since its conception. Now, CONNECT Kamien provides the world-class instrument that allows "Music: An Appreciation" to bring great music to his audience in an extraordinary new way. "Music: An Appreciation" is great music, a great interpreter, and a great instrument.

    Lucier explains in detail how each piece is made, unlocking secrets of the composers' style and technique. The book as a whole charts the progress of American experimental music from the 1950s to the present, covering such topics as indeterminacy, electronics, and minimalism, as well as radical innovations in music for the piano, string quartet, and opera. Clear, approachable and lively, Music 109 is Lucier's indispensable guide to late 20th-century composition. No previous musical knowledge is required, and all readers are welcome.

    Told from an insider’s perspective, Sid Vicious: Rock 'n' Roll Star covers the brief life of punk’s original poster boy including everything from Vicious’s lowly beginning as the only child of a drug-addicted parent to his obsession with violence and the notorious death of girlfriend Nancy Spungen. New material and numerous photographs capture the extremes of this charismatic rebel who crashed and burned at 21.

    They shared their memories with him and the result is a book packed with nostalgia, statistics, action, revelations—an extraordinary oral history of baseball in the halcyon days beween the two world wars. Babe Ruth, Lefty Grove, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Dizzy Dean, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, and many others are brought to life through the recollections of Wes Ferrell, Charlie Gehringer, Elbie Fletcher, Bucky Waters, Billy Herman, Cool Papa Bell, Spud Chandler, Pete Reiser, and a host of others. Those were the days when the grass was real, salaries were modest, Bob Feller was America's most famous seventeen-year-old, and idealism was in full swing. "Baseball builds your pride," said pitcher Wes Ferrell, who played it in order "to be a better guy."

    

    It’s firmly rooted in familial embarrassment (the Kellys’ house is “decorated like the inside of somebody’s hut in Guatemala”), reinforced by an abiding love of Dee Dee Ramone and other (lesser) gods of the rock pantheon, and cemented by the secret of a remarkable religious epiphany Francis experiences at the age of twelve.Clare and Francis become happy adults with rewarding careers and loving spouses. But when tragedy strikes, Francis finds his faith shattered and his life horribly transformed, and Clare doesn’t know how to help the brother she loves but has never fully understood.Nearly flattened by sadness, Francis turns to the angry, propulsive music that sustained him through adolescence and finds that you’re never too old to be punk rock. With the help of a bass guitar and the support of Clare and some unlikely new friends, Francis gradually finds his way back from the depths of despair to a life that feels worth living.Told in Clare’s wry, compassionate voice, Long Way Back is an original, moving novel about grief, guitars, and grace. It shows that the Velvet Underground didn’t lie: Your life really can be saved by rock and roll.From the Hardcover edition.

    It's a hard-bound, 898-page, full-color feast for the senses. Completists will get lost in thousands of freshly-manicured setlists, song histories, and charts. Prose junkies will binge on hundreds of evocative show reviews and fan stories. Photophiles will gape at 128 pages of dazzling Phish photography - most of which has never been published. And poster collectors, get ready: The Phish Companion's eight chapters are anchored by stunning original works from Welker, Masthay, Helton, and more - each of whom was commissioned to freely interpret a period of Phish. No need to wait in line before "doors" for this art. If that's not enough, the net proceeds of your purchase will benefit music education programs via grants from The Mockingbird Foundation. We firmly believe that music is not extracurricular, and we have seen first-hand how your generosity changes lives. Yes, the Phish story is one of epic sweep, but it's also personal. It's about the feeling that overtakes you when the lights go down and the roar comes up. Feel the feeling, right at your fingertips. Read The Book.

    Organized by year, it has all the most current information about the band's classic years from 1958--1978."650 images...capture The Who's journey from raucous r&b interpreters to roiling rockers..."--The Washington PostThe Who put on one of the most astounding stage shows ever seen (culminating in a blaze of smashed-up instruments) and took popular music to new heights with the first rock opera. Together, songwriter Pete Townshend, sexy lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist John Entwhistle, and drumming wild man Keith Moon redefined rock. Here, in a series of day-to-day diaries brimming with enthusiasm, thoroughness, and fresh information, is the tale of their performing career. The authors gained rare access to various official archives, many not viewed before; to friends and associates (some of whom had never spoken publicly about their relationship with the group); and to Pete, Roger, and John themselves. Three hundred photos capture the charismatic band, Daltrey has contributed a foreword, and the diaries recount club dates, TV appearances, auditions, and recordings. No Who fan can do without this unprecedented and engrossing look at the band.

    An electrifying live performer, superb writer, and virtuosic vocalist, he has successfully bridged two musical worlds that usually have little use for each other--commercial country and its alternative/Americana/roots-rocking counterpart. Defying the label "too country for rock, too rock for country," Yoakam has triumphed while many of his peers have had to settle for cult acceptance. Four decades into his career, he has sold more than 25 million records and continues to tour regularly, with an extremely loyal fan base.In Dwight Yoakam, award-winning music journalist Don McLeese offers the first musical biography of this acclaimed artist. Tracing the seemingly disparate influences in Yoakam's music, McLeese shows how he has combined rock and roll, rockabilly, country, blues, and gospel into a seamless whole. In particular, McLeese explores the essential issue of "authenticity" and how it applies to Yoakam, as well as to country music and popular culture in general. Drawing on wide-ranging interviews with Yoakam and his management, while also benefitting from the perspectives of others closely associated with his musical success (including producer-guitarist Pete Anderson, Yoakam's partner throughout his most popular and creative decades), Dwight Yoakam pays tribute to the musician who has established himself as a visionary beyond time, an artist who could title an album Tomorrow's Sounds Today and deliver it.

    Following her impressive debut at age 14 with the album Age Ain't Nothin' but a Number, Aaliyah raised the bar with her hugely influential and bestselling follow-up, One in a Million. She then took her talents to Hollywood, starring in the action thriller Romeo Must Die and the highly anticipated horror film The Queen of the Damned. But soon after the release of her third album in the summer of 2001, Aaliyah's life was cut short in a tragic plane crash. Here is the inspirational story of the star The Washington Post dubbed "Hip-Hop's Lady Di" -- a woman who, by the time of her death at age twenty-two, touched legions of fans around the world with her haunting voice and gentle spirit.

    Nancy worked for Elvis from 1967 until his untimely death in 1977. Read her stories of what those years were like, of what the routines were at Graceland, and what it meant to be close to Elvis and his family on a daily basis. Read the sad account of her rushing upstairs, after a frantic call from Ginger Alden, and finding him on the bathroom floor. This book presents that picture, one that every Elvis fan will want to see."

    It will make you happy. Legendary producer and co-founder of Chic, Nile Rodgers wrote 'We are Family' for Sister Sledge and 'I'm Coming Out' for Diana Ross, produced 'Let's Dance' for David Bowie and 'Like a Virgin' for Madonna. He has worked with just about every major star, from Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan to Prince and Duran Duran. But before he reinvented pop music, Nile Rodgers invented himself. Born into a mixed-race family of dopefiend bohemians, he learned "at a very early age" everything he needed to know about love, loss, fashion, art, music, and the subversive power of underground culture. The stars of the scene were his glamorous teenage mom and heroin-addicted Jewish stepfather, but there were also monkeys, voodoo orishas, jazz cats, and contract killers in the mix. By the age of 16, Nile was busking his way through the 60s, half-hippie and half-Black Panther. He jammed with Jimi Hendrix, took acid with Timothy Leary, toured with Big Bird on Sesame Street's road show, and played guitar behind history's greatest soul singers. And then, one night, he discovered disco. This was pop's most glamorous and decadent age. Nile Rodgers wrote the songs, produced the hits and lived behind the velvet rope holding court in the bathroom stalls at Studio 54, club-hopping with Madonna, scarfing down burgers with Diana Ross. Le Freak is the personal, moving story of a creative genius, told in his own unique voice "warm, intimate and relentlessly charming. It is also a stunning recreation of an age" told by the man who wrote its soundtrack.