This groundbreaking biography of a brilliant but disturbed performer explores the paradox of the man and the artist. Based on more than 100 interviews, this intelligent profile explores Morrison's roots; the hard times he went through in London, New York, and Boston; the making of his seminal albums "Moondance" and "Astral Weeks"; and the disastrous business arrangements that left Morrison hungry and penniless while his songs were topping the charts. Detailed are the breakdown of Morrison's marriage, the creative drought that followed, and his triumphant reemergence. In addition, this biography attempts to explain the forbidding aspects of Morrison's persona, such as paranoia, hard drinking, misanthropy, as well as why, in the words of his one-time singing partner Linda Gail Lewis, Morrison's music "brings happiness to other people, not him." Also included is a Van Morrision sessionography that spans 1964 to 2001.

The second volume of Clinton Heylin's magisterial biography takes us from Dylan's 1966 motorcycle accident to the present day. We meet a man who is determined to confound expectations; yet whatever he does only seems to confirm his iconic status to fans and critics alike. There are peaks and troughs. Long periods of writer's block are followed by sudden bursts of creativity that produce some of the best work of his career, including perhaps his most celebrated album, 1975's Blood On The Tracks. There is the unpredictable recording process, with Dylan often including on his albums the worst takes and leaving off the best songs altogether. On the Neverending Tour he reinvents his songbook on a nightly basis, at times without recognition. Then there are the albums and songs that reveal the genius of an artist whose lyrics draw on centuries of American culture but who refuses to be shackled to his own past. Today his voice is almost unrecognisable from his 1960s peak, and the man whose songs had been devoted to dissecting his romantic relationships has become focused on mortality, solitude and getting old. Yet his albums continue to top the charts, 2020's Rough And Rowdy Ways being his fourth No. 1 album of the twenty-first century. There is no other living artist whose creative output has remained constantly intriguing, often baffling, sometimes infuriating but always fascinating for over sixty years. Clinton Heylin's definitive, scrupulously researched and revelatory life, based on unprecedented access to the official Tulsa archive and other new sources, paints the fullest and brightest portrait yet of an iconic figure that has defined contemporary culture.

In virtually all areas of Dylan's life - his immigrant antecedents, his business dealings, his various addictions and his romantic attachments - Heylin is able to provide a fascinating picture of a man who changed the whole course of popular music in the sixties and, over thirty years later, won three Grammys. Heylin has given full weight to Dylan's own words and those of his closest associates, with over 250 people quoted in the book, helping to provide a portrait of a complex figure. Including 60,000 words of brand new material - dealing with Dylan's four twenty-first century albums; his archival audio-visual projects; his third film; his series of paintings and exhibitions; his autobiography, Chronicles; and his ongoing romantic liaisons and 'missing' marriages - this fully updated story of Dylan provides a monumental overview of the Man and his Music.

The celebrated popular music scholar presents an intimate portrait of The Boss and his legendary band
Bruce Springsteen fans know that the band makes the man, which is why millions of people have jammed stadiums and arenas to see The Boss play countless shows with his incredible E Street Band. In this revelatory and unapologetic biography, respected music scholar Clinton Heylin turns a critical eye towards Springsteen's early days, capturing this classic phase of his career and his rise from Asbury Park hood rat to global rock star. Using long-buried archival recordings and bootlegs, Heylin expertly traces Springsteen's creative process as a songwriter and performer and illuminates the roles of the E Street Band members in creating their distinctive sound. Highly nuanced and as fiery as Springsteen himself, "E Street Shuffle" offers the most revealing portrait yet written on this American icon.

This is the second volume in Clinton Heylin's magisterial survey of the songs of Bob Dylan. The first volume - Revolution in the Air which is now available in paperback - charted the rise of Bob Dylan from his first jottings to the full expression of genius in songs such as 'Hard Rain Gonna Fall' and 'The Times They Are a Changin''. Still on the Road begins in 1974 with "Blood on the Tracks", the album filled with masterworks such as 'Tangled Up in Blue' and 'Simple Twist of Fate' that heralded a watershed in Dylan's creative journey, and continues to chart his never-ending fascination with music and the art of song up to 2006's "Modern Times". Praise for Revolution in the Air: 'Beg, steal, borrow ... a compelling history of Dylan's mercurial song writing.' Mojo, 5-star review 'Better than any biography could ever be, and a crucial Dylan book' Jonathan Letham 'Valuable resource' Observer 'A gripping new book by Dylan scholar Clinton Heylin so is so far in the deep end that its borderline insane . . [yet] has been devoured with a ravenous, insatiable appetite, and I have even made notes in the margin.' Mark Ellen, Word. 'Terrifically interesting for Dylan nuts' Sunday Herald 'Manna for completists' Metro 'True to form, Heylin digs deep-way deep-into the songs, mixing cold hard facts with illuminating anecdotes.' - Mark Smith, managing editor, Acoustic Guitar

In Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry, Clinton Heylin examines the entire modern history of this underground culture: from what defines a bootleg and its complex and protean legal status, to a full history of bootlegs' production and distribution, to what's contained on some of the most notorious bootlegs and how to find them. Along with many illustrations of the creative packages, this is the whole story of the $250 million industry that sustains itself on the great figures of rock music and their biggest admirers.

Bob Dylan has always regarded himself as a songwriter: 'I am my words,' he wrote in 1964. Distilling a lifetime's passion and study, leading Dylan author, Clinton Heylin charts the development and first moments of genius of this unique artist whose songs changed the world. From his first attempts at writing, Song to Bridget, in 1957, (apparently for Brigitte Bardot) Bob Dylan always aspired to poetry, yet his role as a writer rather than a performer of his own songs is often overlooked. In over fifty years of creativity he had penned some of the most iconic, and perfect, songs in popular history. Arriving in New York in 1961, the city had an enormous impact on the young artist and, as he established himself amongst the folk clubs and artists, he would produce songs that spoke for a whole generation: Blowing in the Wind, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, The Times They Are a Changin', Like a Rolling Stone, and Forever Young. In Revolution in the Air Clinton Heylin recounts the story of each song as it is written, giving a full appreciation of the songs themselves as well as Dylan the emerging artist. Unlike any other book on Dylan, it charts his rise as a writer, where he gained his inspiration, the burst of energy which produced some of his most famous songs as well as the lesser known stories behind the more iconic verses. This is an essential book for anyone interested in Dylan and his place in literature. Informative, opinionated, packed with new insights and revelations, this is an instant classic.

The Velvet Underground, among the most influential bands of all time, are credited with creating a streetwise, pre-punk sensibility that has become inseparable from the popular image of downtown New York. "Discovered" by Andy Warhol in 1966, the VU - with their original line-up of Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Mo Tucker - would soon become the house band of the avantgarde, composing songs simultaneously furious in their abrasiveness and beautiful in their pathos, standing in striking contrast to the prevailing flower power of the era. All Yesterdays' Parties gathers for the first time almost all of the published writings contemporary with the band's existence-from sources as mainstream as the New York Times to vanished voices of the counterculture like Oz, Fusion , and Crawdaddy! The book is a revealing snapshot of an era by trailblazing rock writers such as Lester Bangs, Robert Greenfield, and Paul Williams. With photographs, posters, and other visual evocations of the period throughout, All Yesterdays' Parties is an invaluable resource, a trove of lore for anyone interested in the VU, their roots, and legacy.

'The definitive, scrupulously researched biography of a life steeped in mystery' Observer The definitive biography of one contemporary culture's most iconic and mysterious figures - musical revolutionary, Nobel Prize-winner, chart-topping recording artist In 2016 it was announced that Bob Dylan had sold his personal archive to the George Kaiser Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reportedly for $22 million. As the boxes started to arrive, the Foundation asked Clinton Heylin - author of the acclaimed Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades and 'perhaps the world's authority on all things Dylan' (Rolling Stone) - to assess the material they had been given. What he found in Tulsa - as well as what he gleaned from other papers he had recently been given access to by Sony and the Dylan office - so changed his understanding of the artist, especially of his creative process, that he became convinced that a whole new biography was needed. It turns out that much of what previous biographers - Dylan himself included - have said is wrong; often as not, a case of, Print the Legend. With fresh and revealing information on every page A Restless, Hungry Feeling tells the story of Dylan's meteoric rise to fame: his arrival in early 1961 in New York, where he is embraced by the folk scene; his elevation to spokesman of a generation whose protest songs provide the soundtrack for the burgeoning Civil Rights movement; his alleged betrayal when he 'goes electric' at Newport in 1965; his subsequent controversial world tour with a rock 'n' roll band; and the recording of his three undisputed electric masterpieces: Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. At the peak of his fame in July 1966 he reportedly crashes his motorbike in Woodstock, upstate New York, and disappears from public view. When he re-emerges, he looks different, his voice sounds different, his songs are different. That other story will be told in Volume 2, to be published in autumn 2022. Clinton Heylin's meticulously researched, all-encompassing and consistently revelatory account of these fascinating early years is the closest we will ever get to a definitive life of an artist who has been the lodestar of popular culture for six decades.

With Fairport Convention and solo, Sandy Denny displayed one of contemporary music's finest voices; she also composed her own material, including "Who Knows Where The Time Goes"--a huge U.S. hit for Judy Collins--and sang on Led Zeppelin IV. However, Sandy tragically got caught in a spiral of drink and drugs and died at age 31 in 1978. Best-selling Dylan biographer Heylin draws on hours of new interviews to tell Sandy's story.

Since the early days of rock 'n' roll--since Elvis Presley came out of Memphis to startle the world--a whole body of writing has grown up around it, from the album notes to obituaries, from on-the-road insider tales to dissections of the meaning behind the meaning. "The Da Capo Book of Rock & Roll Writing" presents the very best of this writing, on the best of the music: the Beatles, Elvis, Bruce Springsteen, the Sex Pistols, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and countless others. Part history, part literature, part reference book--part hyperbole and part disillusionment--"The Da Capo Book of Rock & Roll Writing" is an extraordinary tribute to one of the great creative achievements of the century: rock & roll. And where else can you find "The First Tycoon of Teen" by Tom Wolfe "In Which Yet Another Pompous Blowhard Purports to Possess the True Meaning of Punk Rock" by Lester Bangs "What the Sixties Had That the Eighties Don't Have" by Paul Williams "You and the Boss" by Tama Janowitz