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Books > Music > Composers & musicians
The beautiful and tragic saga of the Louvin Brothers - one of the
most legendary country duos of all time - is one of America's great
untold stories. Charlie Louvin was a good, god-fearing, churchgoing
singer, but his brother Ira had the devil in him and was known for
smashing his mandolin to splinters onstage, cussing out Elvis
Presley, and trying to strangle his third wife with a telephone
cord. "Satan is Real" is the incredible tale of Charlie Louvin's
sixty-five-year career, the timeless murder ballads of the Louvin
Brothers, and the epic tale of two brothers bound together by love,
hate, alcohol, blood, and music.
'...probably the best book written about grunge' Paul Brannigan,
Classic Rock 'Mudhoney are the jewel of Seattle.' Thurston Moore,
Sonic Youth If rock fans associate Seattle primarily with Nirvana
and Pearl Jam, time has shown that the city's most influential
grunge band may well have been Mudhoney. They're still going strong
and this is their story. Formed in early 1988 Mudhoney originally
comprised Mark Arm, Matt Lukin, Dan Peters and Steve Turner and
their debut single, 'Touch Me I'm Sick', was the catalytic force
behind Nirvana and Pearl Jam who took grunge global. Mudhoney's
would have been another story of half-forgotten pioneers paving the
way for others who grabbed the prize... except they not only
survived all the classic rock band excesses, but they also kept on
producing great music. Bolstered by new member Guy Maddison, they
celebrated their quarter-century with a superb 2013 album,
Vanishing Point, and showed no signs of slowing down with the
release of Digital Garbage in 2018 and Morning In America in 2019.
Updated with a new chapter drawing on fresh interviews with the
group, this book tells an unconventional tale of rock heroism about
a band that missed out on superstardom but kept control of the
music and triumphantly outlived their more famous disciples.
Bright Lights Dark Shadows is the definitive biography of Abba, the
world's greatest pop band whose hit musical Mamma Mia! has become
the most successful stage show and UK film of all time. This new
edition of the best-selling Abba book has been substantially
updated and revised to include details Mamma Mia's extraordinary
success and the ongoing lives of Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson,
Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Foltskog, their music and their
personal lives. It has also been substantially revised throughout.
'This book will delight both New Order-ites and general rock
readers' Mojo A ROLLICKING, NO-HOLDS-BARRED ACCOUNT OF NEW ORDER'S
ENTIRE HISTORY. Two acclaimed albums and an upcoming US tour - Joy
Division had the world at their feet. Then, on the eve of that
tour, the band's troubled lead singer, Ian Curtis, killed himself.
The next time they got together, they were a new band. That band
was New Order - their label was Factory Records, their club The
Hacienda. Their distinctive sound paved the way for the dance music
explosion that followed, earning them the reputation as one of the
most influential bands of their generation, and changing the course
of popular music. Following on from his bestselling titles The
Hacienda and Unknown Pleasures, Peter Hook has written a
rollicking, no-holds-barred account of the band's entire history.
Substance is packed with never-before-seen detail, discographies
and technical information. This is possibly the most entertaining
memoir ever written by a British musician. 'There are stories here
that make Ozzy Osbourne looks like Mother Teresa' Sunday Express 'A
rollicking read' Record Collector 'Rock writing rarely tells us
properly what a band treading water or in slow decline feels like
from the inside. Hook does so memorably' Guardian 'As mammoth and
downright idiotic as the band deserves ... something hilariously
daft happens on nearly all of Substance's 750 pages' Classic Pop
This first volume of a projected two volume study of the music of
John Jenkins concentrates exclusively on his consorts for viols.
John Jenkins (1592-1678) was both the most prolific and most
esteemed of English composers between the death of Byrd and the
rise of Purcell. During his long life he was employed as a resident
musician in East Anglian noble households and became a court
musician to Charles II in his later years. This is the first in a
two-volume study of Jenkins and his music. It presents a
biographical introduction to the composer then concerns itself
exclusively with the superb consorts for viols which dominate the
early part of the composer's career. It is profusely illustrated
with music examples and discusses virtually every work in this
form. ANDREW ASHBEE is an internationally renowned expert on C17th
English instrumental music, has edited a number of volumes of music
from the period, and is an author, broadcaster and lecturer.
"Liner Notes is, unsurprisingly, as good as its author's songs,
with moments of sharp humour alternating with real-life pain, and
vivid reflections on love, death, and the whole damn thing. Loudon
Wainwright is a true original: not like anyone else, just as he set
out to be." Salman Rushdie "An excellent book. 8/10." Uncut
Magazine With a career spanning more than four decades, Loudon
Wainwright III has established himself as one of the most enduring
singer-songwriters who emerged from the late sixties. There is
probably no singer songwriter who has so blatantly inserted himself
into his songs, about parents, grandparents, children, siblings,
and wives. As he puts it in "So Many Songs": It's taken so long to
finally see / My songs about you are all about me. The songs can be
laugh out loud funny, but they also can cut to the bone. In his
memoir, Wainwright continues to emphasize the personal: he details
the family history his lyrics have referenced and the fractured
relationships in the Wainwright family throughout generations: the
alcoholism, the infidelities, the competitiveness -- as well as the
closeness, the successes, and the joy. Wainwright reflects on the
experiences that have influenced his songwriting, including
boarding school, the music business, swimming, macrobiotics, sex,
incarceration, and something he calls Sir Walter Raleigh Syndrome.
LINER NOTES is very much about being a son -- a status that
dominates many of Wainwright's songs. But it is also about being a
parent, a brother, and a grandfather. Wainwright's song lyrics are
represented throughout the book, amplifying his prose and showing
the connections between the songs and real life. He also includes
excerpts and selections from his father's brilliant LIFE magazine
columns - and, in so doing, re-establishes him as a major essayist
of his era. A funny and insightful meditation on family,
inspiration, and art, LINER NOTES will thrill fans, readers, and
anyone who appreciates the intersection of music and life.
October 21, 1982. Three singers stand on the steps of the High
Court with large cheques and broken dreams. The women are Annie
(Annabel Leventon, the book's author), GB (Gaye Brown), and Di-Di
(Diane Langton). Their dream was of a British three-woman rock
band, unique and different from anything that had gone before. They
called themselves Rock Bottom. They were raunchy, rude and
hilarious - the contemporary media described them as 'a cross
between the female Rolling Stones and the female Marx Brothers' -
and they nearly made it. Until Thames Television stole everything
and made a major award-winning series called Rock Follies, about
them, based on them, but without them. It made stars of the three
lookalikes playing them. And they lost everything. A common enough
tale of showbiz betrayal. Except that they fought back. At the
offset of the Court trial, the Head of Drama at Thames TV
sarcastically quipped, 'three little actresses against the might of
EMI?' Forget it, the three ladies were told. Move on. They didn't.
They took the case to the High Court and won. Breach of Confidence
is now on the Statute Books and it has become one of the defining
cases in Intellectual Property. The Real Rock Follies is a
real-life story of youthful trust betrayed, dreams of stardom
dashed and cruel lessons learnt. The three girls, then in their
late twenties, learned too late that in the harsh showbiz world you
can hardly trust anyone, not even your friends. However, despite
everything, they got the last laugh. Their promising career
couldn't be returned to them but they enjoyed the huge satisfaction
(both emotional and financial) that the ruling confirmed that the
creative concept behind Rock Follies was fully theirs.
Barcelonian Gaspar Cassado (1897-1966) was one of the greatest
cello virtuosi of the twentieth century and a notable composer and
arranger, leaving a vast and heterogeneous legacy. In this book,
Gabrielle Kaufman provides the first full-length scholarly work
dedicated to Cassado, containing the results of seven years of
research into his life and legacy, after following the cellist's
steps through Spain, France, Italy and Japan. The study presents
in-depth descriptions of the three main parts of Cassado's creative
output: composition, transcription and performance, especially
focusing on Cassado's plural and multi-facetted creativity, which
is examined from both cultural and historical perspectives.
Cassado's role within the evolution of twentieth-century cello
performance is thoroughly examined, including a discussion
regarding the musical and technical aspects of performing Cassado's
works, aimed directly at performers. The study presents the first
attempt at a comprehensive catalogue of Cassado's works, both
original and transcribed, as well as his recordings, using a number
of new archival sources and testimonies. In addition, the
composer's significance within Spanish twentieth-century music is
treated in detail through a number of case studies, sustained by
examples from recovered score manuscripts. Illuminated by
extraordinary source material Gaspar Cassado: Cellist, Composer and
Transcriber expands and deepens our knowledge of this complex
figure, and will be of crucial importance to students and scholars
in the fields of Performance Practice and Spanish Music, as well as
to professional cellists and advanced cello students.
The best of Harry Benson's era-defining Beatles portfolio,
capturing the Liverpudlian quartet on the road, performing, and
coming to terms with skyrocketing fame. From a pillow fight in
Paris to their first U.S. tour, shot in luminous black and white,
Benson's pictures show intimate glimpses of George, John, Paul, and
Ringo composing, relaxing, and engaging with euphoric fans.
THE SUNDAY TIMES MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR A DAILY TELEGRAPH BEST
MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR A TELEGRAPH BEST MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR A
NEW STATESMAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Faith, Hope and Carnage is a
book about Nick Cave's inner life. Created from over forty hours of
intimate conversations with Seán O'Hagan, it is a profoundly
thoughtful exploration, in Cave's own words, of what really drives
his life and creativity. The book examines questions of faith, art,
music, freedom, grief and love. It draws candidly on Cave's life,
from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work
ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years. From a place
of considered reflection, Faith, Hope and Carnage offers ladders of
hope and inspiration from a true creative visionary.
Maurice Ravel: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated
bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related
to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary
sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as
a composer and theorist.
Get inside the head of one of the most influential musicians of our
time, a pop music phenomenon turned titan of industry and cultural
icon: Taylor Swift. This collection of quotes has been carefully
curated from Swift's numerous public statements-interviews, op-eds,
social media posts, and more. It's a comprehensive picture of her
meteoric rise to the top, her ever-savvy business sense, and her
increasingly vocalized perspective on the music world and beyond.
Swift's catchy, chart-topping songs have propelled her to become
one of the bestselling musicians of all time. But in the 15 years
she's been making music, she has also amassed enough power to buck
the norms of an industry notorious for controlling the images of
its often very young female artists. Her latest, unprecedented
record deal gives her ownership of all her master records, the
ability to dictate the terms of her albums' streaming releases in
order to maximize her profits, and a requirement that her label
share proceeds from sale of its stake in Spotify with its
musicians. She has championed the rights of artists to earn fair
royalties, and more recently, she has inspired tens of thousands of
fans to register to vote. Swift's achievements have earned her
spots on both Forbes's Most Powerful Women and Time's 100 Most
Influential People lists. Now, for the first time, you can find her
most inspirational, thought-provoking quotes in one place.
The Go-Go’s debut album Beauty and the Beat was released on July
8, 1981. The album spent six weeks in the number one spot on the
Billboard charts, produced two hit singles and sold more than two
million copies making it one of the most successful debut albums of
all time. Beauty and the Beat made the Go-Go’s the first, and to
date only, female band to have a number one album who not only
wrote their own songs, but also played their own instruments.
Beauty and the Beat is a ground-breaking album, but the Go-Go’s
are often overlooked when we talk about influential female
musicians. The Go-Go’s were a feminist band and Beauty and the
Beat a call to arms that inspired generations of women. The band
embraced the DIY spirit of Riot Grrrl before there was a Bikini
Kill or a Bratmobile. Girls making music on their own terms
didn’t start with Courtney Love or Beyoncé or Billie Eilish, it
started with the Go-Go’s. It started with Beauty and the Beat.
While they may have controlled their music, the Go-Go’s
couldn’t control the misogyny of the music industry, media and
fans. The sexist and tired stereotypes the Go-Go’s experienced 40
years ago still exist today. The legacy of Beauty and the Beat is
both a celebration of how the record inspired countless girls to
make art and music on their own terms, but also a painful reminder
of how little has changed in how female musicians are marketed,
manipulated, and discarded.
The first full-length narrative biography of Led Zeppelin's John
Bonham, considered by many to be one of the greatest drummers in
rock history, and a genuine wild man of epic (and sadly fatal)
proportions. Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin is the
first-ever biography of the iconic John Bonham, considered by many
to be one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) rock drummer of all
time. Bonham first learned to play the drums at the age of five,
and despite never taking formal lessons, began drumming for local
bands immediately upon graduating from secondary school. By the
late 1960s, Bonham was looking for a more solid gig in order to
provide his growing family with a more regular income. Meanwhile,
following the dissolution of the popular blues rock band The
Yardbirds, lead guitarist Jimmy Page sought the company of new
bandmates to help him record an album and tour Scandinavia as the
New Yardbirds. A few months later, Bonham was recruited to join the
band who would eventually become known as Led Zeppelin-and before
the year was out, Bonham and his three bandmates would become the
richest rock band in the world. In their first year, Led Zeppelin
released two albums and completed four US and four UK concert
tours. As their popularity exploded, they moved from ballrooms and
smaller clubs to larger auditoriums, and eventually started selling
out full arenas. Throughout the 1970s, Led Zeppelin reached new
heights of commercial and critical success, making them one of the
most influential groups of the era, both in musical style and in
their approach towards the workings of the entertainment industry.
They added extravagant lasers, light shows, and mirror balls to
their performances; wore flamboyant and often glittering outfits;
traveled in a private jet airliner and rented out entire sections
of hotels; and soon become the subject of frequently repeated
stories of debauchery and destruction while on tour. In 1977, the
group performed what would be their final live appearance in the
US, following months of rising fervor and rioting from their
fandom. And in September of 1980, Bonham-plagued by alcoholism,
anxiety, and the after-effects of years of excess-was found dead by
his bandmates. To this day, Bonham is posthumously described as one
of the most important, well-known, and influential drummers in
rock, topping best of lists describing him as an inimitable,
all-time great. As Adam Budofsky, managing editor of Modern
Drummer, explained, "If the king of rock 'n' roll was Elvis
Presley, then the king of rock drumming was certainly John Bonham."
The correspondence of the composer-pianists Percy Grainger
[1882-1961] and Ronald Stevenson [b. 1928], together with
Stevenson's writings on Grainger and two interviews with Stevenson.
In 1957 the Australian-American composer Percy Grainger, then 75
and in failing health, received a letter from another
pianist-composer, the young Ronald Stevenson, writing from his home
in West Linton, below Edinburgh. That firstcontact - requesting
Grainger's reminiscences of Ferruccio Busoni, with whom he had
studied - led to an exchange of 32 letters over the four years
before Grainger's death in February 1961. The two men soon found
that, despite their 46-year age-difference, they had many
affinities. Both were pianists of staggering abilities and
composers who combined a love for folk-music and working-class art
with an aesthetic that proposed a `world music' to include the
farthest reaches of humanity. Both made an art of piano
transcription of a wide variety of works and were champions of
little-known music and composers. And both revered the work of Walt
Whitman, that great poet of inclusivity,the pioneering spirit and
the open road. This book presents both the complete
Grainger-Stevenson correspondence and Ronald Stevenson's many
articles and lectures on Grainger and his music, edited by Teresa
Balough, whosetwo interviews with Stevenson open and close the
volume - which includes a CD of a lecture-recital on Grainger that
Stevenson presented in Grainger's home in White Plains, New York,
in 1976.
Bob Dylan: All the Songs focuses on Dylan's creative process and
his organic, unencumbered style of recording. It is the only book
to tell the stories, many unfamiliar even to his most fervent fans,
behind the more than 500 songs he has released over the span of his
career. Organized chronologically by album, and updated to include
all of his most recent work including the 2020 release of his 39th
album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, Margotin and Guesdon detail the
origins of his melodies and lyrics, his process in the recording
studio, the instruments he used, and the contribution of a myriad
of musicians and producers to his canon.
Compiled by Blackmore biographer Jerry Bloom this is the perfect
companion to his 2006 biography Black Knight, as it portrays
Blackmore's career visually with photos and memorabilia from 1958
to the present day. Not only does it feature a large selection of
photos, many of which have never been seen before but following
years of research by Bloom, it also includes the most comprehensive
gig list ever published, for Blackmore's pre-Deep Purple career
between 1958-67 with over 400 gigs detailed from his days with The
Outlaws - backing Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis; with Screaming
Lord Sutch & The Savages; Neil Christian & The Crusaders;
and even going back to his earliest bands such as The Vampires and
The Condors. Augmented with memorabilia from the time, the book
also plots Blackmore's career in photos, through Deep Purple,
Rainbow and Blackmore's Night along with narrative by Bloom that
puts the visual elements in context.
I have no time for lies and fantasy, and neither should you. Enjoy
or die.--John Lydon
Punk has been romanticized and embalmed in various media. It has
been portrayed as an English class revolt and a reckless diversion
that became a marketing dream. But there is no disputing its
starting point. Every story of punk starts with its idols, the Sex
Pistols, and its sneering hero was Johnny Rotten.
In Rotten, Lydon looks back at himself, the Sex Pistols, and the no
future disaffection of the time. Much more than just a music book,
Rotten is an oral history of punk: angry, witty, honest, poignant,
and crackling with energy.
This book celebrates Madvillainy as a representation of two genius
musical minds melding to form one revered supervillain. A product
of circumstance, the album came together soon after MF DOOM's
resurgence and Madlib's reluctant return from avant-garde jazz to
hip-hop. Written from the alternating perspectives of three fake
music journalist superheroes-featuring interviews with Wildchild,
M.E.D., Walasia, Daedalus, Stones Throw execs, and many other real
individuals involved with the album's creation-this book blends
fiction and non-fiction to celebrate Madvillainy not just as an
album, but as a folkloric artifact. It is one specific retelling of
a story which, like Madvillain's music, continues to spawn infinite
legends.
The intimate biography of the iconic DJ who was lost too soon. Like
a firework against the night sky, the DJ and producer Tim Bergling
exploded onto the music scene. A musical visionary who, through his
sense for melodies, came to define the era when Swedish and
European house music took over the world. But Tim Bergling was also
an introverted and fragile young man who was forced to grow up at
an inhumanly fast pace. After a series of emergencies resulting in
hospital stays, he stopped touring in the summer of 2016. Barely
two years later, he took his own life. Tim - The Biography of
Avicii is written by the award-winning journalist Mans Mosesson,
who was given unique access to Tim's own notes, as well as
interviews with Tim's family, friends and colleagues in the music
business. The book paints an honest picture of Tim and his search
in life, not shying from the difficulties that he struggled with.
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