The long-awaited memoir of Booker T. Jones, leader of the famed Stax Records house band, architect of the Memphis soul sound, and one of the most legendary figures in music. From Booker T. Jones's earliest years in segregated Memphis, music was the driving force in his life. While he worked paper routes and played gigs in local nightclubs to pay for lessons and support his family, Jones, on the side, was also recording sessions in what became the famous Stax Studios-all while still in high school. Not long after, he would form the genre-defining group Booker T. and the MGs, whose recordings went on to sell millions of copies, win a place in Rolling Stone's list of top 500 songs of all time, and help forge collaborations with some of the era's most influential artists, including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Sam & Dave. Nearly five decades later, Jones's influence continues to help define the music industry, but only now is he ready to tell his remarkable life story. Time is Tight is the deeply moving account of how Jones balanced the brutality of the segregationist South with the loving support of his family and community, all while transforming a burgeoning studio into a musical mecca. Culminating with a definitive account into the inner workings of the Stax label, as well as a fascinating portrait of working with many of the era's most legendary performers-Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Tom Jones, among them-this extraordinary memoir promises to become a landmark moment in the history of Southern Soul.

From the very beginning, the blues has had a close connection with the LGBTQ community. There is a long and decorated history of so-called 'dirty blues' songs, stretching back beyond the earliest attempts to capture the blues on record. The 1920s and 30s saw the release of dozens of raunchy, bawdy blues recordings aimed at a knowing LGBTQ audience. Queer Blues tells the story of the pioneering LGBTQ composers and entertainers that wrote, performed and recorded these wonderfully outlandish, life-affirming songs and chronicles, including: Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Josephine Baker to Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon and many more. This is the definitive account of the LGBTQ trailblazers of early blues and a fascinating consideration of the intersection between music and LGBTQ history, from the award-winning Darryl W. Bullock.

In 2010, recording artist Lil Wayne was at the height of his career. A fixture in the rap game for more than a decade, Lil Wayne (aka Weezy) had established himself as both a prolific musician and a savvy businessman, smashing long-held industry records, winning multiple Grammy Awards and signing up-and-coming talent like Drake and Nicki Minaj to his Young Money label. All of this momentum came to a halt when he was convicted of possession of a firearm and sentenced to a yearlong stay at Rikers Island. Suddenly, the artist at the top of his game was now an inmate in the American penal system. Gone 'Til November reveals the true story of what really happened while Wayne was behind bars, exploring everything from his daily rituals to his interactions with other inmates, and how he was able to keep himself motivated and grateful. Taken directly from Wayne's own journal, this intimate, personal account of his incarceration is an utterly humane look at the man behind the artist.

57 Varieties is an amazing page-turning journey through the music scene of the early 1980s featuring an exclusive collection of never-republished vintage interviews with some of the biggest names in music: including Queen, Bob Marley, AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Paul & Linda McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Damned, Marc Bolan, Malcolm McLaren, The Buzzcocks, Iggy Pop, The Who, X-Ray Spex, Blondie, The Stranglers, Dr Feelgood, Ian Dury, Spandau Ballet and many, many more.

Life's a Gamble is the autobiography of iconic singer-songwriter Pauline Murray. It recounts her journey from a small mining village in northeast England, through to gaining national recognition as the frontwoman of her band, Penetration, and how she became a key member of the punk movement. Emerging onto the punk scene at just 18 years old, inspired by an early encounter with the Sex Pistols, Pauline details how she played alongside the leading bands of the era, navigated the demands of the music industry, conquered the post-punk landscape with the Invisible Girls, opened her own music studios and reformed Penetration in 2001. Highly illustrated with unseen photographs and drawing upon Pauline's teenage diaries, interviews and archive material from her personal collection, this book chronicles the life and work of an authentic creative artist and punk rock legend.

Classical music was never meant to be an art for snobs! In the 1700s and 1800s, classical music was popular music. People went to concerts with their friends, they brought snacks and drinks, and cheered right in the middle of the concert. Well, guess what? Three hundred years later, that music is just as catchy, thrilling, and emotional. From Bach to Mozart and Chopin, history's greatest composers have stood the test of time and continue to delight listeners from all walks of life. And in Classical Music For Dummies, you'll dive deeply into some of the greatest pieces of music ever written. You'll also get: A second-by-second listening guide to some of history's greatest pieces, annotated with time codes A classical music timeline, a field guide to the orchestra, and listening suggestions for your next foray into the classical genre Expanded references so you can continue your studies with recommended resources Bonus online material, like videos and audio tracks, to help you better understand concepts from the book Classical Music For Dummies is perfect for anyone who loves music. It's also a funny, authoritative guide to expanding your musical horizons--and to learning how the world's greatest composers laid the groundwork for every piece of music written since.

"Both a pleasure and a testament to life in Ukraine, before" The Times "Ukraine's greatest living novelist" New European "A Ukrainian Murakami" Guardian A hugely entertaining romp through the beautiful city of Lviv, by the author of Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees, now reporting widely on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, his home country. Strange things are afoot in the cosmopolitan city of Lviv, western Ukraine. Seagulls are circling and the air smells salty, though Lviv is a long way from the sea . . . A ragtag group gathers round a mysterious grave in Lychakiv Cemetery - among them an ex-KGB officer and an ageing hippy he used to spy on. Before long, Captain Ryabtsev and Alik Olisevych are teaming up to discover the source of the "anomalies". Meanwhile, Taras ­- who makes a living driving kidney-stone patients over cobblestones in his ancient Opel Vectra - is courting Darka, who works nights at a bureau de change despite being allergic to money. The young lovers don't know it, but their fate depends on two lonely old men, relics of another era, who will stop at nothing to save their city. Shot through with Kurkov's unique brand of black humour and vodka-fuelled magic realism, Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv is an affectionate portrait one the world's most intriguing cities. Translated from the Russian by Reuben Woolley

SHORTLISTED for the Baillie Gifford Prize’s 25th Anniversary Winner of Winners award WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2020 A Spectator Book of the Year • A Times Book of the Year • A Telegraph Book of the Year • A Sunday Times Book of the Year From the award-winning author of Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret comes a fascinating, hilarious, kaleidoscopic biography of the Fab Four. John Updike compared them to ‘the sun coming out on an Easter morning’. Bob Dylan introduced them to drugs. The Duchess of Windsor adored them. Noel Coward despised them. JRR Tolkien snubbed them. The Rolling Stones copied them. Loenard Bernstein admired them. Muhammad Ali called them ‘little sissies’. Successive Prime Ministers sucked up to them. No one has remained unaffected by the music of The Beatles. As Queen Elizabeth II observed on her golden wedding anniversary, ‘Think what we would have missed if we had never heard The Beatles.’ One Two Three Four traces the chance fusion of the four key elements that made up The Beatles: fire (John), water (Paul), air (George) and earth (Ringo). It also tells the bizarre and often unfortunate tales of the disparate and colourful people within their orbit, among them Fred Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Maharishi, Aunt Mimi, Helen Shapiro, the con artist Magic Alex, Phil Spector, their psychedelic dentist John Riley and their failed nemesis, Det Sgt Norman Pilcher. From the bestselling author of Ma’am Darling comes a kaleidoscopic mixture of history, etymology, diaries, autobiography, fan letters, essays, parallel lives, party lists, charts, interviews, announcements and stories. One Two Three Four joyfully echoes the frenetic hurly-burly of an era.

This set of four volumes draws together extended material from across the topics of music in Britain in the long nineteenth century, particularly focussing on documents not readily accessible or not commonly quoted in the literature. Together they will form an important resource for students and scholars of music and culture. The general introduction explores the state of research into music in nineteenth-century Britain from a historiographical perspective, as well as an assessment of the most pressing themes for the immediate future of the discipline. Introductions to each thematic section briefly review the relevant literature and the most important points of concern, while a short preface to each document points out particular points of note, context, and explanations of any unusual phrases. Each sub-topic includes four or five documents drawn from newspapers, journals, pamphlets and, where possible, archival material. Documents will span the full length of the nineteenth century and a significant number will be drawn from the writings of Scottish, Welsh and Irish authors.

Four lads from a small town called Liverpool changed the face of Rock and Roll—forever. But their story is far more than one of music. It's about having dreams and making them come true. It's about the power of genuine friendship; it's about believing in yourself—and others—and living a life filled with heart, tenacity, and passion. John, Paul, George, and Ringo gave the musical world its Happily Ever After, and for this, a billion fans are eternally grateful. But, maybe even more than that, The Beatles' story is a heartfelt reminder to every one of us that it's not where you start that counts—it's how you finish.

'I can be scratching around at home on an acoustic guitar, or singing a funny little idea into my phone, and all of a sudden, it becomes a beautiful fully fledged song. And I'm asking myself, how did we do that again? I still find that fascinating. It's magic.' - PAUL WELLER In Magic: A Journal of Song, Paul Weller talks about his life and music through a personally curated selection of over 100 songs spanning his entire musical career. As one of the most innovative and remarkable songwriters of the last 50 years, Paul Weller has proved to be the ultimate shapeshifter, moving from The Jam's punk sensibilities to the genre-defying Style Council, and later through a remarkable 30-year solo career. Alongside Lennon and McCartney, Weller is one of few artists that has attained a UK number one album over five consecutive decades, and has also received career defining awards from the BRITs (Lifetime Achievement Award), NME Awards (Godlike Genius Award) and a GQ Award for Songwriter of the Year. Magic: A Journal of Song is the definitive book of Weller's songwriting career from founding The Jam in his teenage years, to creating The Style Council, through to his years as a solo musician. Offering unprecedented insight into Weller's creative process, his lyrics are accompanied by more than 450 photographs and items of memorabilia, and an illuminating commentary of over 25,000 words. As told to journalist and author, Dylan Jones, Magic is Paul Weller's most candid and intimate account of his musical life to date. 'Paul Weller has proved that he is not only beyond reproach, in some senses he is quite possibly without equal.' - DYLAN JONES OBE 'The thing I have discovered is that music in its truest sense is beyond any trend or movement or category.' - PAUL WELLER

Riverdance exploded across the stage at Dublin's Point Theatre one spring evening in 1994 during a seven-minute interval of the Eurovision Song Contest hosted by Ireland. It was a watershed moment in the cultural history of a country embracing the future, a confident leap into world music grounded in the footfall of the choreographed kick-line. It was a moment forty-five years in the making for its composer. In this tenderly unfurled memoir Bill Whelan rehearses a lifetime of unconscious preparation as step by step he revisits his past, from with his Barrington Street home in 1950s Limerick, to the forcing ground of University College Dublin and the Law Library during the 1960s, to his attic studio in Ranelagh. Along the way the reader is introduced to people and places in the immersive world of fellow musicians, artists and producers, friends and collaborators, embracing the spectrum of Irish music as it broke boundaries, entering the global slipstream of the 1980s and 1990s. As art and commerce fused, dramas and contending personalities come to view behind the arras of stage, screen and recording desk. Whelan pays tribute to a parade of those who formed his world. He describes the warmth and sustenance of his Limerick childhood, his parents and Denise Quinn, won through assiduous courtship; the McCourts and Jesuit fathers of his early days, the breakthrough with a tempestuous Richard Harris who summoned him to London; Danny Doyle, Shay Healy, Dickie Rock, Planxty, The Dubliners and Stockton's Wing, Noel Pearson, Sean O Riada; working with Jimmy Webb, Leon Uris, The Corrs, Paul McGuinness, Moya Doherty, John McColgan, Jean Butler and Michael Flatley. Written with wry, inimitable Irish humour and insight, Bill Whelan's self deprecation allows us to to see the players in all their glory, vulnerability and idiosyncracy. This fascinating work reveals the nuts, bolts, sheer effort and serendipities that formed the road to Riverdance in his reinvention of the Irish tradition for a modern age. As the show went on to perform to millions worldwide, Whelan was honoured with a 1997 Grammy Award when Riverdance was named the 'Best Musical Show Album.' Richly detailed and illustrated, The Road to Riverdance forms an enduring repository of memory for all concerned with the performing arts.

The International Who's Who in Classical Music 2023 is a vast source of biographical and contact information for singers, instrumentalists, composers, conductors, managers and more. Each entrant has been given the opportunity to update his or her information for the new improved 2023 edition. Each biographical entry comprises personal information, principal career details, repertoire, recordings and compositions, and full contact details where available. Appendices provide contact details for national orchestras, opera companies, music festivals, music organizations and major competitions and awards. International Who's Who in Classical Music includes individuals involved in all aspects of the world of classical music: composers, instrumentalists, singers, arrangers, writers, musicologists, conductors, directors and managers. Key Features: - about 8,000 detailed biographical entries - covers the classical and light classical fields - includes both up-and-coming musicians and well-established names. This book will prove valuable for anyone in need of reliable, up-to-date information on the individuals and organizations involved in classical music.

A collection of true stories, gossip and details of 500 of the singles that failed to dent the Top 10, but which are still worthy of inclusion in a volume such as this. This book demonstrates just how much a melting pot of talent, creativity and energy the decade really was. It s not just in the groove, but between the grooves that you'll find the magic. Nuggets of information and connections between the artists, producers and songwriters offer a unique insight into the careers and development of key (and not so key) performers. The idea behind this book is simple to gather together a fantastic selection of 60s pop releases that are not nearly as well-known as they deserve to be. Packed full of beautiful glossy pictures of each and every disc featured, it is a colourful and quirky guide to records that you may never have heard of, but you will certainly want to listen to when you've finished.

In this breathtaking memoir, acclaimed writer Alex Wheatle shows how music became his salvation through a childhood marred by abuse and his imprisonment as a young man protesting against systemic racism and police brutality. "Alex Wheatle is an inspirer. He sheds light in dark places . . . He is a vital writer" LEMN SISSAY Abandoned as a baby to the British care system, Alex Wheatle grows up with no knowledge of his Jamaican parentage or family history. Later, he is inexorably drawn to reggae, his lifeline through disrupted teenage years and the challenges of living as a young Black man in 1980s Britain. "Alex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath" KIT DE WAAL Alex's youth was portrayed in Oscar Award-winning director Steve McQueen's "Small Axe" series (2020). In Sufferah, he tells his own story urgently, vividly and unsentimentally. His award-winning fiction - and this memoir - are a call to never give up hope. Sufferah reminds us that words can be our sustenance, and music our heartbeat. "Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion" STEVE McQUEEN, director of Small Axe

Musician and naturalist Bernie Krause is one of the world's leading experts in natural sound, and he's spent his life discovering and recording nature's rich chorus. Searching far beyond our modern world's honking horns and buzzing machinery, he has sought out the truly wild places that remain, where natural soundscapes exist virtually unchanged from when the earliest humans first inhabited the earth.
Krause shares fascinating insight into how deeply animals rely on their aural habitat to survive and the damaging effects of extraneous noise on the delicate balance between predator and prey. But natural soundscapes aren't vital only to the animal kingdom; Krause explores how the myriad voices and rhythms of the natural world formed a basis from which our own musical expression emerged.
From snapping shrimp, popping viruses, and the songs of humpback whales-whose voices, if unimpeded, could circle the earth in hours-to cracking glaciers, bubbling streams, and the roar of intense storms; from melody-singing birds to the organlike drone of wind blowing over reeds, the sounds Krause has experienced and describes are like no others. And from recording jaguars at night in the Amazon rain forest to encountering mountain gorillas in Africa's Virunga Mountains, Krause offers an intense and intensely personal narrative of the planet's deep and connected natural sounds and rhythm.
"The Great Animal Orchestra" is the story of one man's pursuit of natural music in its purest form, and an impassioned case for the conservation of one of our most overlooked natural resources-the music of the wild.

No artist offered a more compelling portrayal of the landscape of the 1970s than David Bowie. From his first hit, "Space Oddity," in 1969 to the release of the LP Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in 1980, Bowie cultivated an innovative and shocking brand of performance, a mesmerizing blend of high-concept science fiction and old-fashioned rock 'n' roll, delivered in skintight spandex and operatic alien makeup. Through songs at once prescient and esoteric, beautiful and haunting, Bowie cut hard against the grain of '60s and '70s pop music, replacing it with something far more intriguing: a dark, fantastical vision that heralded the dawn of a new decade.

In The Man Who Sold the World, acclaimed journalist Peter Doggett explores the rich heritage of Bowie's most productive and inspired decade. Viewing the artist through the lens of his music and his many guises, Doggett offers a detailed analysis--musical, lyrical, conceptual, social--of every song Bowie wrote and recorded during that period, as well as a brilliant exploration of the development of a performer who profoundly affected popular music and the idea of stardom itself.