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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Composers & musicians
BTS are much more than just a K-Pop phenomenon, they are a band acclaimed for their record-smashing, barrier-breaking, trend-setting dance-pop and hip-hop tunes and personal philosophies. BTS - The Ultimate Fan Book is the first celebration of this colourful seven-piece phenomenon from Korea, exploring in stunning technicolour detail the group's origins, members and super rise to success, beautifully accompanied by photographs celebrating the band's kaleidoscope of personalities and passions that have made them famous. BTS are more than just a boy band - they are a way of life.
The remarkable autobiography of the last great wartime icon. Born Vera Welch on 20 March, 1917 in the East End of London, Dame Vera Lynn's career was set from an early age - along with her father, who also did a 'turn', she sang in Working Men's Clubs from just seven years old. She had a successful radio career with Joe Loss and Charlie Kunz in the 1920s and '30s, but it was with World War II that she became the iconic figure that captured the imagination of the national public. Her spirit and verve, along with her ability to connect with the men fighting for their country and those left behind praying for their loved ones, made her the 'Forces' sweetheart'. Performing the songs that she will always be associated with, such as 'We'll Meet Again' and 'Yours', Vera toured Egypt, India and Burma to entertain the troops and bring them a sense of 'back home'. Her career after the war flourished, with hits in the US and the UK, but Vera was never able to leave behind her wartime role and was deeply affected by what she had seen. Still heavily involved with veteran and other charities, this is Dame Vera's vivid story of her life and her war - from bombs and rations to dance halls and the searing heat of her appearances abroad. Epitomising British fortitude and hope, Dame Vera gives a vivid portrait of Britain at war, and a unique story of one woman who came to symbolize a nation.
Description updated
'I will always believe in the strength we have as women.' As the queen of pop music since the glory days of Destiny's Child to her incredible solo career, Beyonce is one of the most inspiring and powerful women in music. The Little Book of Queen Bey is a collection of the most iconic quotes from a woman who needs no introduction. When it comes to self-love, empowerment and sisterhood, Beyonce has more wisdom than anybody. From how to be an independent woman to positive affirmations that will give you hope, The Little Book of Queen Bey is the perfect gift for fans of the goddess of pop. Prepare to be inspired.
To evaluate the familiar, even over-familiar, story of Handel's life could be seen as a quixotic endeavour. How can there be anything new to say? This book seeks to distinguish fact from fiction, not only to produce a new biography but also to explore the concepts of biography and dissemination by using Handel's life and lives as a case study. By examining the images of Handel to be found in biographies and music histories - the genius, the religious profound, the master of musical styles, the distiller into music of English sentiment, the glorifier of the Hanoverians, the hymner of the middle class, the independent, the prodigious, the generous, the sexless, the successful, the wealthy, the bankrupt, the pious, the crude, the heroic, the devious, the battler of ill-fortune, the moral exemplar - and by adding new factual information, David Hunter shows how events are manipulated into stories and tropes. One such trope has been employed to portray numerous persons as Handel's enemies regardless of whether Handel considered them as such. Picking apart the writing of Handel's biographers and other reporters, Hunter exposes the narrative underpinnings - the lies, confusions, presumptions, and conclusions, whether direct and inferred or assumed - to show how Handel's 'lives' in biographies and histories have moulded our understanding of the musician, the man and the icon. DAVID HUNTER is Music Librarian at the University of Texas at Austin.
The death of Bon Scott is the Da Vinci Code of rock. As the legend of the man known around the world simply as 'Bon' has grown with each passing year since his untimely death, AC/DCs trailblazing frontman has become a rock icon. But how much of it is true and how much is myth? At the heart of Bon: The Last Highway: The Untold Story of Bon Scott and AC/DC's Back In Black is a special - and unlikely - friendship between a Scottish-born Australian rock star and an alcoholic Texan rebel. Jesse Fink, author of the critically acclaimed international bestseller The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC, reveals its importance in Bon's story for the first time. Leaving no stone unturned in a journey that begins in Austin in 1977 and ends in London in 1980, Fink takes the reader back to the end of the '70s, a legendary era for music that saw the relentless AC/DC machine achieve its commercial breakthrough but also threaten to come apart. With unprecedented access to Bon's lovers, newly unearthed documents, and a trove of never-before-seen photos, Fink divulges startling new information about Bon's incredible life and his final hours to solve the mystery of how he died. Music fans around the world have been waiting for the original, forensic, unflinching, masterful biography Bon Scott so richly deserves and now, finally, it's here. Praise for Bon: The Last Highway: 'The most extensively researched book on AC/DC ever ... it's outstanding. This is as close as anyone is ever gonna get to the complete truth behind the legend, warts and all.' - B. J. LISKO, Canton Repository 'This one-man investigation, born of respect for the truth and for Bon Scott as a human being, blazes a new trail.' - JOE BONOMO, author of AC/DC's Highway To Hell (33 1/3 Series) 'Jesse Fink has done rock fans a great service. He dispels the many myths about how AC/DC's Bon Scott lived and died, and in doing so, brings to life one of the most influential, memorable and complex figures in rock history.' - GREG RENOFF, author of Van Halen Rising
The greatest of the heroic epics to emerge from medieval Germany,
the Nibelungenlied is a revenge saga of sweeping dimensions. It
tells of the dragon-slayer Sivrit, the mysterious kingdom of the
Nibelungs, a priceless treasure guarded by dwarves and giants, an
Amazonian queen, fortune-telling water-sprites, and a cloak of
invisibility. Driven by the conflict between Kriemhilt, the
innocent maiden turned she-devil, and her antagonist, the stoic,
indomitable Hagen, the story is one of love, jealousy, murder, and
revenge, ending in slaughter on a horrific scale. Since its
rediscovery in the eighteenth century, the Nibelungenlied has come
to be regarded as the national epic of the Germans, and has
inspired countless adaptations, including Richard Wagner's Ring
cycle. Cyril Edwards' prose translation, the first in forty years,
is more accurate and accessible and captures the poem's epic
qualities. Edwards also provides an introduction that discusses the
poem's historical background and its status as German national
epic. The volume includes an up-to-date bibliography, invaluable
notes, a map, and a list of people and places.
Ritchie Blackmore once said, "You can't get any better than Cozy, you know. He's always up there on stage going crazy, he always pushes me on when I look round. He always gives me that incentive to play because Cozy won't let anybody take it easy." He wasn't wrong. Cozy Powell was a talented, reliable and versatile drummer. A drummer of such calibre that he played with Jeff Beck, Rainbow, Michael Schenker, Whitesnake, Emerson and Lake, Black Sabbath and Brian May as well as being a hugely in-demand session player. But before all that he initially came to prominence with three Mickie Most produced top twenty singles under his own name. An extraordinary feat for an instrumentalist, and a drummer at that. Cozy Powell's career as a musician is a story that needs to be told. Author Laura Shenton MA LLCM DipRSL has a Masters degree in music and provides an insightful angle on Cozy Powell's abilities along with detailed research that presents Powell's career in all its glory.
THE SEQUEL TO THE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER WORKING CLASS BOY It's a life too big and a story too extraordinary for just one book. Jimmy Barnes has lived many lives - from Glaswegian migrant kid to iconic front man, from solo superstar to proud father of his own musical clan. In this hugely anticipated sequel to his critically acclaimed bestseller, Working Class Boy, Jimmy picks up the story of his life as he leaves Adelaide in the back of an old truck with a then unknown band called Cold Chisel. A spellbinding and searingly honest reflection on success, fame and addiction; this self-penned memoir reveals how Jimmy Barnes used the fuel of childhood trauma to ignite and propel Australia's greatest rock'n'roll story. But beyond the combustible merry-go-round of fame, drugs and rehab, across the Cold Chisel, solo and soul years - this is a story about how it's never too late to try and put things right.
To the economist and ballet enthusiast John Maynard Keynes he was potentially the most brilliant man he'd ever met; to Dame Ninette de Valois he was the greatest ballet conductor and advisor this country has ever had; to the composer Denis ApIvor he was the greatest, most lovable, and most entertaining personality of the musical world; whilst to the dance critic Clement Crisp he was quite simply a musician of genius. Yet sixty years after his tragic early death Constant Lambert is little known today. As a composer he is remembered for his jazz-inspired The Rio Grande but little more, and for a man who selflessly devoted the greater part of his life to the establishment of English ballet his work is largely unrecognized today. This book amply demonstrates why he deserves to be held in greater renown. With numerous music examples, extensive appendices and a unique iconography, every aspect of the career and life of this extraordinary, multi-talented man is examined. It looks not only at his music but at his journalism, his talks for the BBC, his championing of jazz (in particular Duke Ellington), and - more privately - his long-standing affair with Margot Fonteyn. This is an indispensable biography for anyone interested in Constant Lambert, ballet and British musical life in the first part of the twentieth century. STEPHEN LLOYD is a writer on British music and author of William Walton: Muse of Fire (Boydell, 2001).
For music makers who love Bruce Springsteen, this collection features 29 sheet music arrangements that represent a more comprehensive span of Springsteen's career than any other songbook can offer. Nearly 40 years of hits are contained within its pages, including 1970s favorites like "Blinded by the Light" and "Born to Run," plus dozens more from the '80s, '90s, and beyond---all the way up to Working on a Dream (2009) and The Promise (2010). The unprecedented array of songs and carefully transcribed piano/vocal/guitar arrangements make this a must-own for Bruce Springsteen fans of all ages. Titles: Atlantic City * Badlands * Because the Night * Blinded by the Light * Born to Run * Brilliant Disguise * Dancing in the Dark * Devil's Arcade * Girls in Their Summer Clothes * Glory Days * Gypsy Biker * Hungry Heart * If I Should Fall Behind * Jungleland * My Hometown * Pink Cadillac * The Promise * Prove It All Night * Racing in the Street * The Rising * The River * Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town * Save My Love * Streets of Philadelphia * Tenth Avenue Freeze Out * Thunder Road * Tunnel of Love * Working on a Dream * The Wrestler.
Beginning with rockabilly, moving on to folk music, sliding over to electric, and falling into a psychedelic phase, like a chameleon Bob Dylan has changed his skin repeatedly over the years, juggling his image with apparent ease and subverting the prevailing social and aesthetic models each time. His Supro guitar and the leather jacket - reminiscent of James Dean; the muse of his hobo period Suze Rotolo and his legendary Triumph Bonneville; the Newport Jazz Festival and the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village: artist Matteo Guarnaccia has documented this pilgrimage of styles stage by stage, year by year, with a wealth of detail. The clothes, faces, music and places of those years become subjects to colour in, paper-dolls to dress, and board games to assemble, while the characters of his songs provide the members of a colourful circus. This is the ultimate collector's activity-book to be approached with glue, scissors and colouring pencils, dedicated to all the fans of the legendary singer-songwriter.
"They were pure rock - and I never saw a band perform quite like they did. They owned the stage and each member had their own special and specific contribution. And to see them live - to capture those moments onstage - well, it was like watching kings surveying their kingdom. Their kingdom was the stage." - Terry O Neill Four men took the stage for the very first time. Their first gig was in a basement below a record shop, but at the peak of their success, they played to over 50 000. An early manager commented that the band would go down like 'a lead balloon'. The 'a' was dropped and 'zeppelin' substituted, and out of an insult, Led Zeppelin was born. Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant were all experienced and respected musicians in their own right. When they formed a band, they transformed the way we listen to rock. But it wasn't just their music that would shake the world. Their performances left millions with the memories of a lifetime. In partnership with ACC Editions, Iconic Images has created a book that celebrates the live performances that defined a generation. Photographers, including the world-famous Terry O'Neill, Michael Brennan and Baron Wolman have opened up their archives to present Led Zeppelin: Live. With more than 200 million records sold world-wide, including eight consecutive number one albums in the UK alone, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 2005. Rolling Stone magazine named Led Zeppelin one of the greatest acts of all time. The three surviving members are recipients of Kennedy Center Honors, and some of the most well-known faces in the history of modern music.
The guitarist and composer Pat Metheny ranks among the most popular and innovative jazz musicians of all time. In Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975-1984, Mervyn Cooke offers the first in-depth account of Metheny's early creative period, during which he recorded eleven stunningly varied albums for the pioneering European record label ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music). This impressive body of recordings encompasses both straight-ahead jazz playing with virtuosic small ensembles and the increasingly complex textures and structures of the Pat Metheny Group, a hugely successful band also notable for its creative exploration of advanced music technologies which were state-of-the-art at the time. Metheny's music in all its shapes and forms broke major new ground in its refusal to subscribe to either of the stylistic poles of bebop and jazz-rock fusion which prevailed in the late 1970s. Through a series of detailed analyses based on a substantial body of new transcriptions from the recordings, this study reveals the close interrelationship of improvisation and pre-composition which lies at the very heart of the music. Furthermore, these analyses vividly demonstrate how Metheny's music is often conditioned by a strongly linear narrative model: both its story-telling characteristics and atmospheric suggestiveness have sometimes been compared to those of film music, a genre in which the guitarist also became active during this early period. The melodic memorability for which Metheny's compositions and improvisations have long been world-renowned is shown to be just one important element in an unusually rich and flexible musical language that embraces influences as diverse as bebop, free jazz, rock, pop, country & western, Brazilian music, classical music, minimalism, and the avant-garde. These elements are melded into a uniquely distinctive soundworld which, above all, directly reflects Metheny's passionate belief in the need to refashion jazz in ways which can allow it to speak powerfully to each new generation of youthful listeners.
It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous--the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years. Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.
Richard Strauss in Context offers a distinctive approach to the study of a composer in that it places the emphasis on contextualizing topics rather than on biography and artistic output. One might say that it inverts the relationship between composer and context. Rather than studies of Strauss's librettists that discuss the texts themselves and his musical settings, for instance, this book offers essays on the writers themselves: their biographical circumstances, styles, landmark works, and broader positions in literary history. Likewise, Strauss's contributions to the concert hall are positioned within the broader development of the orchestra and trends in programmatic music. In short, readers will benefit from an elaboration of material that is either absent from or treated only briefly in existing publications. Through this supplemental and broader contextual approach, this book serves as a valuable and unique resource for students, scholars, and a general readership.
David Bowie: Icon gathers the greatest images of one of the greatest stars in history, into a single, luxurious volume. The result is the most important anthology of David Bowie images that has ever been compiled. Featuring work from many of the greatest names in photography, this book showcases an incredible portfolio of imagery, featuring the iconic, the awe inspiring, the candid and the surprising. Follow the visual evolution of Bowie over the years, through the lenses of his famous photographer collaborators. Photography and text by: Gerald Fearnley, Justin de Villeneuve, Terry O'Neill, Masayoshi Sukita, Norman Parkinson, Kevin Cummins, Janet Macoska, Lynn Goldsmith, Geoff MacCormack, Alec Byrne, Brian Aris, Andrew Kent, Vernon Dewhurst, Gavin Evans, Fernando Aceves, Barry Schultz, Ray Stevenson, Chalkie Davies, Markus Klinko, Greg Gorman, John Scarisbrick, Denis O'Regan, Mick Rock, Philippe Auliac, Steve Schapiro. When David Bowie passed away on 10 January 2016, the world lost an icon. And yet, his legacy lives on. From his humble origins as a teen musician in the 1960s up until the very end, David Bowie's music, lyrics and provocative performances inspired not only his generation, but every generation that followed. While his sound and style underwent several alterations throughout his career, two facts never changed. He was an innovator, and photographers adored him. This book pays homage to this once-in-a-lifetime icon.
Someday I'm Gonna Rent This Town! is a peek behind the musical curtain, written with humor and truth, revealing the struggles and glories of life as a hit songwriter. From Eddie Rabbitt's, "I Love a Rainy Night," to Dr. Hook's, "When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman," the creative process is laid bare for all to see. Welcome to the odd world of Even Stevens. How does a preacher's kid from a small farm town arrive in a beat-up mail truck with 40 bucks in his pocket, survive on the cold, lonesome streets of Nashville, and end up a BMI "Songwriter of the Century"? Even Stevens pulls back the curtain for a peek at the music business in his book Someday I'm Gonna Rent This Town!, revisiting the rejection, false promises, inspiring creative characters, and money-grubbing scum suckers he met along the way: the drugged up record label exec, the Tina Turner "mistake," Clint Eastwood, and more. From his "Hippy" days in San Francisco to creating hit songs, the world of an aspiring songwriter is laid bare for all to see. Welcome to the odd world of Even Stevens.
Originally published in German as Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard in 1957, this definitive work on the performance of Mozart's works has greatly influenced students and scholars of keyboard literature and of Mozart. Now, in a completely updated and revised edition, this book includes the last half century of scholarship on Mozart's music, addressing the elements of performance and problems that may occur in performing Mozart's works on modern instruments.
Formed as a New York City hardcore band in 1981, Beastie Boys struck an unlikely path to global hip hop superstardom. Here is their story, told for the first time in the words of the band. Adam "AD-ROCK" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond offer revealing and very funny accounts of their transition from teenage punks to budding rappers; their early collaboration with Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin; the almost impossible-to-fathom overnight success of their debut studio album Licensed to Ill; that album's messy fallout; their break with Def Jam, move to Los Angeles, and rebirth as musicians and social activists, with the genre-defying masterpiece Paul's Boutique. For more than twenty years, this band has had a wide-ranging and lasting influence on popular culture. With a style as distinctive and eclectic as a Beastie Boys album, Beastie Boys Book upends the typical music memoir. Alongside the band narrative you will find rare photos, original illustrations, a cookbook by chef Roy Choi, a graphic novel, a map of Beastie Boys' New York, mixtape playlists, pieces by guest contributors, and many more surprises.
The compelling story of one of the foremost exponents of authentic rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll in the world today. Michael Madden has been given full access to a vast archive of material charting Mike Sanchez's journey from his Spanish roots through an eventful 35 year musical career that has seen him progress through the ranks of the Rockets, the Big Town Playboys and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings to fronting his own band and performing with some of the biggest names of the rock world including Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood and Jeff Beck. The text is illuminated with comments from many friends, fans and fellow musicians, and generously illustrated with many rare / previously unseen photographs. |
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