'A definitive tome for both Who fans and newcomers alike' ***** Q Magazine Pete Townshend was once asked how he prepared himself for The Who' s violent live performances. His answer? ' Pretend you' re in a war.' For a band as prone to furious infighting as it was notorious for acts of ' auto-destructive art' this could have served as a motto. Between 1964 and 1969 The Who released some of the most dramatic and confrontational music of the decade, including ' I Can' t Explain' , ' My Generation' and ' I Can See For Miles' . This was a body of work driven by bitter rivalry, black humour and dark childhood secrets, but it also held up a mirror to a society in transition. Now, acclaimed rock biographer Mark Blake goes in search of its inspiration to present a unique perspective on both The Who and the sixties. From their breakthrough as Mod figureheads to the rise and fall of psychedelia, he reveals how The Who, in their explorations of sex, drugs, spirituality and class, refracted the growing turbulence of the time. He also lays bare the colourful but crucial role played by their managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. And - in the uneasy alliance between art-school experimentation and working-class ambition - he locates the motor of the Swinging Sixties. As the decade closed, with The Who performing Tommy in front of 500,000 people at the Woodstock Festival, the ' rock opera' was born. In retrospect, it was the crowning achievement of a band who had already embraced pop art and the concept album; who had pioneered the power chord and the guitar smash; and who had embodied - more so than any of their peers - the guiding spirit of the age: war.

A SUNDAY TIMES POP BOOK OF THE YEAR A DAILY TELEGRAPH MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR A DAILY MAIL MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIMES MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR ('Of the many Led Zeppelin biographies marking the band's 50th anniversary, this is the most illuminating') OBSERVER BEST BOOKS OF 2018 'An enthralling and rigorously researched book' Sunday Times 'Blake has talked to everyone, and the stories are both lurid and melancholy' Mail on Sunday 'A juicy saga of excess all areas, Mark Blake's biography of Led Zeppelin's notoriously combative manager, Peter Grant, reads at times like an all-you-can-eat buffet of guilty pleasures . . . a riotous roller coaster' The Times 'A tale as expansive and complex as the man himself' Mojo 'To say Bring It On Home is a rambunctious page-turner is an understatement; but despite all the violence and weirdness, you can't help liking the "real" Peter Grant who emerges here' Planet Rock The late Peter Grant managed Led Zeppelin to global stardom. But his life story was every bit as extraordinary and dramatic as the musicians he looked after. For the first time ever, the Grant family have allowed an author access to previously unseen correspondence and photographs to help build the most complete and revealing story yet of a man who was a pioneer of rock music management, but also a son, a husband and a father. Published to coincide with Led Zeppelin's 50th anniversary, Bring It On Home charts Peter Grant's rise from wartime poverty through his time as a nightclub doorman, wrestler and bit-part actor to the birth of rock'n'roll in the 1950s. From here, it explores his pivotal role in the formation of Led Zeppelin and charts the impossible highs and lows of life on the road with rock's most outrageous band. Bring It On Home includes almost 100 new interviews with family members, friends, musicians and rival managers, and walk-on parts for Sharon Osbourne, Bob Dylan, Stanley Kubrick, Freddie Mercury, Elizabeth Taylor, the FBI, the CIA, the Mafia - and Elvis Presley. As Grant's son Warren says now: 'My dad knew everyone.' It is the first biography to reveal the truth behind Led Zeppelin's demise, Grant's subsequent fall from grace amid death threats and the shadow of organised crime, and his final days as a man who shunned the excesses of the music industry in favour of his friends and family. With access to several previously unpublished interviews - including Grant's last and most revealing yet - Bring It On Home sheds new light on the story of rock's greatest manager and one of the giants of modern music history.

Interest in Pink Floyd remains as intense as ever even 40 years after the release of Dark Side of the Moon, with lavish box-sets collecting demos and out-takes, and Roger Waters' world tours of The Wall playing to packed stadiums. Now, Mark Blake's superbly comprehensive and engrossing history of the group, rightly acclaimed as the definitive book on the band, has been fully revised and extended with new interviews to bring the story up to date with the recent appearances of David Gilmour and Nick Mason with Roger Waters at a London date on his The Wall tour.

Mark Blake draws on his own interviews with band members as well as the group's friends, road crew, musical contemporaries, former housemates, and university colleagues to produce a riveting history of one of the biggest rock bands of all time. We follow Pink Floyd from the early psychedelic nights at UFO, to the stadium-rock and concept-album zenith of the seventies, to the acrimonious schisms of the late '80s and '90s. Along the way there are fascinating new revelations about Syd Barrett's chaotic life at the time of "Piper at the Gates of Dawn," the band's painstaking and Byzantine recording sessions at Abbey Road, and the fractious negotiations to bring about their fragile, tantalizing reunion in Hyde Park.

Meticulous, exacting, and ambitious as any Pink Floyd album, "Comfortably Numb" is the definitive account of this most adventurous--and most English--rock band.

'You want it all? There's not much missing here. 9/10.' - Classic Rock 'An engaging mix of humour and detailed critical analysis ... great fun. 4/5.' - Mojo From the award-winning author of Bring It On Home: Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin and Beyond and Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd comes MAGNIFICO! THE A TO Z OF QUEEN. Addressing the phenomenal success of Bohemian Rhapsody, acclaimed music journalist Mark Blake builds on the legend of Queen and their enduring audience appeal. Providing a fresh, unparalleled take on Queen's music, story and legacy, Blake's complete portrait covers not only the major hits and bestselling albums, but also the inside stories behind the music. Via a series of essays, interviews and biographies, the author shares a wealth of lesser-known details - gained from over thirty years of original material - and explores what the songs of Queen say about their creators.

(Book). Freddie Mercury was one of rock's most dazzling front men. When he died in 1991, the music world lost one of its most flamboyant characters, as well as a supremely talented writer and vocalist. Best known as the lead singer of Queen, his amazing four-octave voice was a distinctive element in the band's unique sound, which resulted in more than a dozen million-selling albums through the 1970s, '80s, and early '90s. Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic charts his extraordinary career in the context of the life he led in the glare of rock stardom. With expert understanding, Mark Blake traces Freddie's astonishing achievements from his childhood in Zanzibar and India to his world-conquering performance at Live Aid in 1985 and beyond. Published just ahead of what would have been Freddie's 70th birthday, this special book features a retrospective commentary on his studio and live albums, a complete discography, photographs, and memorabilia throughout. Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic is an essential tribute to a truly innovative recording artist and an irreplaceable performer who rocked the world.

'You want it all? There's not much missing here. 9/10.' - Classic Rock 'An engaging mix of humour and detailed critical analysis ... great fun. 4/5.' - Mojo From award-winning author Mark Blake comes Magnifico! The A to Z of Queen. Addressing the phenomenal cinematic success of Bohemian Rhapsody, acclaimed music journalist Mark Blake builds on the legend of Queen and their enduring audience appeal. Providing a fresh, unparalleled take on Queen's music, story and legacy, Blake's complete portrait covers not only the major hits and bestselling albums, but also the inside stories behind the music. Via a series of essays, interviews and biographies, the author shares a wealth of lesser-known details - gained from over thirty years of original material - and explores what the songs of Queen say about their creators.

Queen's success in the 1970s was accompanied by a taste for musical and non-musical excess. "Is This the Real Life?" draws on eyewitness testimonies--former producers and managers, ex-girlfriends and boyfriends--to create a complete picture of one of the world's most ambitiously driven rock bands at work and at play. Revealing Queen's complex dynamic, Blake also explores how Freddie Mercury's sexuality alienated some of the band's fan base, how they reinvented themselves by morphing from hard rock to pop, and how they saw out their final years as Mercury became one of the most successful rock stars in the world.

"Is This the Real Life?" looks beyond Queen's public persona to shed light on the legendary band's four wildly divergent personalities, particularly lead singer Freddie Mercury's.

In his own words-from rock's most legendary bad boy.
Rock 'n' roll legend and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has quite a few things to say: about Mick Jagger, the Stones, sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and life itself. Sample these nuggets of wit and wisdom chipped from the tablets of Stone:
"On etiquette": "I've never turned blue in someone else's bathroom. I consider that the height of bad manners."
"On Mick Jagger": "My aim is always to try to introduce a bit of levity into his life."
"On the police": "There was a knock on our dressing-room door. Our manager shouted, 'Keith! Ron! The Police are here!' Oh, man, we panicked, flushed everything down the john. Then the door opened and it was Stewart Copeland and Sting."
"On family": "My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow."
"On dental care": "Miraculously, due to abstinence and prayer, my teeth grew back."

Julia McAllister is the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert McAllister of London, England. When the McAllister's successful shoe business is forced to close in 1894, the patriarch of the family makes a bold move by deciding to immigrate to the United States. There, they find that living conditions that they must now cope with are a leap down the socio-economic scale. Soon, the McAllister's triumphant spirit overcomes adversity and they become semi-wealthy and well-liked citizens. When a move to a new apartment is in order, the McAllister's make haste and find themselves in a posh new apartment. However, with this new apartment comes rambunctious neighbors making all kinds of din into the wee hours of the night--or so they think. Soon, they discover that the din is originating from one of their own--the eldest McAllister, Samantha. She reveals that she is falling in love with the other half of the rowdiness, the suave sophisticate, Christopher Joplin. This first meeting quickly turns into a romantic engagement. Soon, all of the McAllister's head to California to meet the Joplin family--and to prepare for the grand wedding.