Whether youre looking for advice to round out your music collection or just inspiration for a heated argument, Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is the essential guide to the best music of modern times from the world's greatest music magazine.The albums included in this comprehensive book were chosen by 273 of the world's pre-eminent musicians and critics ranging from Fats Domino to Moby. From the Beatles Sgt. Peppers to Nirvana's Nevermind, Ray Charles The Birth of Soul to the White Stripes Elephant, this book is packed with classics. Behind-the-scenes stories of the making of these albums are included, as well as rare photos of legendary recording studios including Abbey Road and Muscle Shoals. Topping the list of 500 are Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (the Beatles, 1967), Pet Sounds (the Beach Boys, 1966), Revolver (the Beatles, 1966), Highway Revisited (Bob Dylan, 1965), Rubber Soul (the Beatles, 1965), What's Going On (Marvin Gaye, 1971), Exile on Main Street (the Rolling Stones, 1972), London Calling (the Clash, 1980), Blonde on Blonde (Bob Dylan, 1966 ), and The White Album (the Beatles, 1968 ).

    During the Britpop boom of the mid-90s, the astonishing success of Oasis brought Creation fame on the world stage. In 1999, however, McGee announced his shock departure as his label's influence over a generation of British music came to a confusing and disappointing end.

    Now some of that knowledge has been distilled into The Wire Primers: a comprehensive guide to the core recordings of some of the most visionary and inspiring, subversive and radical musicians on the planet, past and present. Each chapter surveys the musical universe of a particular artist, group or genre by way of a contextualizing introduction and a thumbnail guide to the most essential recordings. A massive and eclectic range of music is celebrated and demystified, from rock mavericks such as Captain Beefheart and The Fall; the funk of James Brown and Fela Kuti; the future jazz of Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman; and the experimental compositions of John Cage and Morton Feldman. Genres surveyed and explained include P-funk, musique concrète, turntablism, Brazilian Tropicália, avant metal and dubstep. The Wire Primers is a vital guide to contemporary sounds, providing an accessible entry point for any reader wanting to dig below the surface of mainstream music.

    It has been out of print since at least 1977 and was never published outside the USA.

    But the artistically fertile relationship between rock and country music has--since their first encounter in the 1950s--been uneasy and often explosive.

    Each insightful entry contains pungent critical analysis, biographical information and a complete album disography.Selected praise for "The Trouser Press Record Guide to '90's Rock""My trustworthy fact checker, be-all-and-end-all arguement settler and the last word on modern rock. I don't go on the air without it." -- Gary Cee, WLIR-FM"Still the most comprehensive guide through the labryrinth of indie and alternative rock. WHen you need a refresher course on all of Steve Albini's bands, or if you just wan tto know what Boy George did after Cultrue Club, this is the book to grab." -- David Browne, "Entertainment Weekly"

    Zimmer, with the full cooperation of the band, traces each of the performers from their early musical roots to their first song together in L.A.'s storied Laurel Canyon, from their addition of Neil Young to Woodstock, from their stormy years of creative conflicts through their reunions and reconciliations. A new chapter delves into Crosby's recovery from drug addiction, CSN's ongoing solo and group projects, and the making of the new CSNY album.

    It's Big Brother singing. Call it what you will -- elevator music, Moodsong ® easy listening, or Muzak ®. For a musical genre that was supposed to offend no one, it has a lot of enemies.Musical cognoscenti decry its insipid content; regular folk -- if they notice -- bemoan its pervasiveness; while hipsters and campsters celebrate its retro chic. Mindful of the many voices, Joseph Lanza's Elevator Music sings seriously, with tongue in cheek, the praises of this venerable American institution.Lanza addresses the criticisms of elites who say that Muzak and its ilk are dehumanized, vapid, or cheesy. These reactions, he argues, are based more on cultural prejudices than honest musical appraisal.Says Lanza, today's so-called mood music is the inheritor of a long tradition of mood-altering music stretching back to the ancients; Nero's fiddle and the sirens of Odysseus being two famous examples. Contemporary atmospheric music, Lanza argues, not only serves the same purpose, it is also the inevitable background for our media-dominated age.One of Lanza's premises, to quote Mark Twain, is that this music is "better than it sounds." "This book will have succeeded in its purpose," he writes, "if I can help efface...the distinction between one person's elevator music and another's prized recording."Joseph Lanza is an author, producer, and music historian. His most recent book is Russ Columbo and the Crooner Mystique.

    

    Packed from cover to cover with stunning color photographs.

    The early 1950s. The Mississippi rolls by, and there's a train in the night. Down on Beale Street there's hard-edged blues, on the outskirts of town they're pickin' hillbilly boogie.At Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there's something different going on. "Shake it, baby, shake it!" "Go, cat, go!" "We're gonna rock..."This is where rock 'n' roll was born-the record company that launched Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. The label that brought the world, "Blue Suede Shoes," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "Breathless," "I Walk the Line," "Mystery Train," "Baby, Let's Play House,' "Good Rockin' Tonight." Good Rockin Tonight is the history, in words and over 240 photographs, of Sam Phillips' legendary storefront studio, from the early days with primal blues artists like Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King to the long nights in the studio with Elvis and Jerry Lee. As colorful and energetic as the music itself, it's a one-of-a-kind book for anyone who wants to know where it all started.

    Ian Hunter's revealing tour diary was first published in 1974 to coincide with the band's global success. It gives an insight into life with a rock group on the road.

    Burdon was ripped off by unscrupulous agents, accountants, and record labels, hounded by the police, and framed for a crime he didn't commit. Yet through it all, he never became bitter. He was the first rocker to play behind the Iron Curtain. He sang with Jimi Hendrix, chased Jim Morrison out of his house with a .44, and introduced John Lee Hooker to the toughest venue Hooker ever played. Eric Burdon explains how he became the "Egg Man" in the Beatles' "I am the Walrus." With the enthusiasm and good humor of his live shows, Burdon recalls the tense reunion between John Lennon and Lennon's long-estranged father; racing motorcycles across the California desert with Steve McQueen; picketing the offices of MGM Records for nonpayment of royalties; performing in wartime Sarajevo with a symphony orchestra; getting run out of Meridian, Mississippi for promoting black music, and singing his heart out year after year. A complete discography and fifty photographs, many never before published, are included in this unforgettable memoir. "Burdon has lived like a real rocker." -New York Times Book Review "Riveting and informative."-Los Angeles Times "These reminiscences will delight Burdon's fans . . . in general."-Library Journal

    The book reveals the facts about his suspended prison sentence, his dispute with the group over unpaid royalties and his retiring from the music industry, and his rumoured heroin addiction.Written with the full co-operation of Grant's family and friends to give a unique access into the most fabled and feared man in the music business.

    evil. Heavy Metal guitarist, Dimebag Darrell Abbott, was attacked and murdered on stage, December 8th, 2004 at the Alrosa Villa Nightclub. Erin Halk, Jeff Thompson and Nathan Bray each lost their lives trying to help Dimebag and others from the attack of an armed madman. While Dimebag is certainly a part of the story contained within the book, the focus is squarely on the background of Halk, Bray & Thompson, in addition to the killer, his motives and the actual incident at the venue. "A Vulgar Display Of Power: Courage And Carnage At The Alrosa Villa" is a deep, moving story which does an amazing job of honoring the memories Jeff, Nate, Erin, and Darrell. Of the victims who lost their lives, Nathan Bray is the only person who is survived by a wife and child. MJS Music Publications is contributing proceeds from every copy sold to a college fund set up for his son, Anthony. Music History/True Crime/Biography 352 pages, 240+ pictures.