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Book SynopsisFinalist, 2024Lesbian Memoir/Biography, Lambda Literary Award for Arts and Culture Winner — Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award, 45th Annual American Book Awards, Before Columbus FoundationA queer, Black “biography in essays” about the performer who gave us “Hound Dog,” “Ball and Chain,” and other songs that changed the course of American music. Born in Alabama in 1926, raised in the church, appropriated by white performers, buried in an indigent’s grave—Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton''s life events epitomize the blues—but Lynnée Denise pushes past the stereotypes to read Thornton’s life through a Black, queer, feminist lens and reveal an artist who was an innovator across her four-decade-long career. Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters “samples” elements of Thornton’s art—and, occasionally, the author’s own story—to create “a biography in essays” that explores the life of its subject as a DJ might dig through a crate of records. Denise connects Thornton’s vaudevillesque performances in Sammy Green’s Hot Harlem Revue to the vocal improvisations that made “Hound Dog” a hit for Peacock Records (and later for Elvis Presley), injecting music criticism into what’s often framed as a cautionary tale of record-industry racism. She interprets Thornton’s performing in men’s suits as both a sly, Little Richard–like queering of the Chitlin Circuit and a simple preference for pants over dresses that didn’t have a pocket for her harmonica. Most radical of all, she refers to her subject by her given name rather than 'Big Mama,' a nickname bestowed upon her by a white man. It''s a deliberate and crucial act of reclamation, because in the name of Willie Mae Thornton is the sound of Black musical resilience. Trade ReviewDenise offers a desperately-needed corrective in this volume about the art, life, and legacy of Thornton, whose song “Hound Dog” (later recorded by Elvis) changed the course of American music. A standout installment in the University of Texas Press’s always great Music Matters series. * The Millions *The enigmatically intelligent and scholarly productive thinker, Lynnée Denise, who has made strides in Black realms of music for well over a decade is now presenting a new book. Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters gives an honest and incredibly bright examination of the relevance of Big Mama Thornton. * The New York Amsterdam News *Denise uses shrewd music criticism and a Black, queer, feminist lens, to reintroduce Thornton as a performer who transcended gender norms . . . Denise’s thoughtful reimagination of Thornton’s career pays tribute to a woman that embodied Black creation and resilience. * Alternative Press *Impressive research and thoughtful commentary illuminate the life and career of Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton (1926–84) in this eloquent volume...What emerges is a portrait of an extraordinary woman who influenced later blues, rock, and pop music performers such as Janis Joplin...An engaging and well-written must-read with generous resources for further study. * Library Journal, starred review *Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was a Black, queer blues woman often recognized for her song, “Hound Dog,” but she was so much more. In the latest volume of the Music Matters series, Lynnée Denise rediscovers and reclaims Thornton’s life and legacy, a gift to us all. * Ms. Magazine *Denise reintroduces Thornton as a performer who transcended genres and gender norms. * The 19th *Denise effectively delivers perhaps her most salient point: Who is authorized to convey the story of these Black musicians? * The Austin Chronicle *Table of Contents Introduction Mothering the Blues The Black South Matters Sisters of the Dirty Blues White Boy Magic and the Making of Genre Grown Little Girls, Tomboy Women, and Black Radio Don’t Ask Me No More about Elvis California Love / California Dreamin’ Willie Mae inna England Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine Mixtapes, White Biographers, and Black Blues People Saved by the Amazing Grace of Mahalia Jackson A Jailed Sassy Mama The ’80s Blackness of Willie Mae’s Blues Epilogue Acknowledgments Sources and References

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Book Synopsis2022 Belmont Award for the Best Book on Country Music, International Country Music Conference/Belmont UniversityNew and expanded biography of one of country music's most celebrated singer-songwriters.Merle Haggard enjoyed numerous artistic and professional triumphs, including more than a hundred country hits (thirty-eight at number one), dozens of studio and live album releases, upwards of ten thousand concerts, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and songs covered by artists as diverse as Lynryd Skynyrd, Elvis Costello, Tammy Wynette, Bobby Blue Bland, Willie Nelson, the Grateful Dead, and Bob Dylan.In The Running Kind, a new edition that expands on his earlier analysis and covers Haggard''s death and afterlife as an icon of both old-school and modern country music, David Cantwell takes us on a revelatory journey through Haggard's music and the life and times out of which it came. Covering the breadth of his career, Cantwell focuses especTrade ReviewCantwell captures why Haggard's best-known songs still matter while never shying away from honest critiques of weaker selections that never made it into the classic country canon. Ultimately, this warts-and-all look at a half-century-spanning back catalog gives its subject his due. * Wide Open Country *Sharp-eyed and sharp-eared insight...abounds in [Cantwell's] book...The Running Kind paints Merle Haggard in a broad and nuanced American cultural landscape, rather than the tight corners that Nixon, the counterculture, country fans, and Haggard himself frequently painted him into. * New York Journal of Books *If you want to read the definitive book on Merle Haggard, this is the one...The beauty of Cantwell’s book lies in his in-depth, astute, and entertaining close readings of Hag’s songs and the covers of those songs by others, from Dylan to Bobby 'Blue' Bland. * No Depression *A remarkable book by one of Merle's most astute scholars. * Lawyers, Guns & Money *In essays on the songs, eras and influences that shaped Haggard’s life and legacy, Cantwell makes a case for Haggard's genius not by leaving out the contradictions that are evident in his work, but by shining a light on them. * Holler *Table of ContentsIntroduction. “Silver Wings”: Kansas City, Missouri, September 14, 2001 1. “Hungry Eyes,” 1969 2. The Roots of His Raising 3. “Mama Tried,” 1968 4. Toward the Bad He Kept on Turnin’ 5. He Loves Them So: A Playlist of Early Influences 6. “Leonard,” 1981 7. The Bakersfield Sound and Fury 8. Someone Told His Story in a Song 9. “I Started Loving You Again,” 1968 10. The Legend of Bonnie and Him 11. “Sing Me Back Home,” 1967 12. They Won’t Let His Secret Go Untold 13. He’s Living in the Good Old Days: Countrypolitan, Country Soul, Country Rock 14. “Workin’ Man Blues,” 1969 15. He Likes Living Right and Being Free 16. “Irma Jackson,” 1969 17. His Fightin’ Side 18. He’d Rather Be Gone 19. “It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad),” 1972 20. He Wishes He Was Santa Claus 21. Merle Loves Dolly 22. Songs He’ll Always Sing 23. He Takes a Lot of Pride in What He Is (Hint: He’s a White Boy) 24. “A Working Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today,” 1977 25. His Country Girl with Hot Pants On 26. He’s Always on a Mountain When He Falls 27. “Rainbow Stew,” 1981 28. He Wishes a Buck Was Still Silver (Not Really) and Likes the Taste of Yesterday’s Wine (Really) 29. “Kern River,” 1985 30. He’s Going Where the Lonely Go 31. “Me and Crippled Soldiers,” 1990 32. The Hag versus the Man in Black 33. He’ll Never Be Gone? Merle Haggard in the Twenty-First Century 34. “If I Could Only Fly,” 2001 Epilogue. Cuba, Missouri: July 15, 2010 Acknowledgments Selected Discography Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAn October 2022 IndieNext pick”[An] engaging and beautifully narrated quest for personal fulfillment and musical recognition...This is a fast-paced tale in which music and love always take center stage...A truly gifted musician, Price writes about her journey with refreshing candor.”—Kirkus, starred review”Brutally honest…a vivid and poignant memoir.”—The GuardianCountry music star Margo Price shares the story of her struggle to make it in an industry that preys on its ingenues while trying to move on from devastating personal tragedies. When Margo Price was nineteen years old, she dropped out of college and moved to Nashville to become a musician. She busked on the street, played open mics, and even threw out her TV so that she would do nothing but write songs. She met Jeremy Ivey, a fellow musician who would become her closest collaborator and her husband. But after worTrade Review[An] engaging and beautifully narrated quest for personal fulfillment and musical recognition...This is a fast-paced tale in which music and love always take center stage...A truly gifted musician, Price writes about her journey with refreshing candor. * Kirkus, starred review *[A] dazzling debut...Told with moving candor, Price’s tale of overcoming squalor and pain provides powerful emotional context to her hard-won country music stardom. Fans will adore this story of survival. * Publishers Weekly *[Maybe We'll Make It] documents [Price's] prolonged plight and the unsung truth of breaking into the biz: It’s not glamorous...Her candid memoir takes the reader on a life-affirming journey. * BuzzFeed News *Brutally honest…a vivid and poignant memoir. * The Guardian *Margo Price delivers an unflinching self-portrait of an artist striving to find her sound and make her Music City dreams come true...Artists of all creeds will find something relatable in Maybe We’ll Make It, with its raw depictions of the artist’s perennial dilemma: bridging the transcendental need to create with the very real need to survive. Beyond this, Price’s memoir offers a heart-wrenching account of her journey as a mother. * Chapter 16 *Price has a knack for telling stories and drawing readers into her life and experience, and Maybe We’ll Make It radiates with her bright candor; she’s not interested in hiding her heart in the shadows and covering her feelings with darkness. Price bares her soul and the jaggedness of her emotions, making Maybe We’ll Make It one of the best music memoirs so far this year. * No Depression *An astonishing tale of an incredible journey...Of its many notable successes, the book efficiently and effectively seals the chapter on popular, mainstream country music's divorce from its diverse, rustic roots. Plus, Price's tales highlight that split's honest, near-destructive impact on the genre's metaphorical orphaned children. Even deeper, these artists energizing themselves and their careers via digital-era globalization and DIY bootstrapping—amid East Nashville-residing marginalization from country music's mainstream industry—reads like the most authentic and timeless outlaw tale combining elements of punk rock and country's crossover into 70s-era rock and roll. * The Tennessean *The gritty struggle of how to get noticed in Nashville…Now established as a favourite songwriter of Willie Nelson, Margo Price had a hard ride to where she is today, her memoir reading like a soap opera borne from a song...As Price's music evolved, so her wisdom grows during the book, and at its heart is stoic love: for each other, for family and friends, and above all for music and creative freedom. * Mojo *Courageously frank, utterly moving...Price tells us, with breathtaking honesty and courage, her story to achieve a sustainable career as a singer-songwriter. Through all manner of struggles, humiliations, disappointments, and personal tragedies, Price maintains her perseverance despite being tested to the core. * The Current *Compelling, honest, and powerful...Maybe We’ll Make It should be required reading for anyone thinking about how music is made in the 2020’s. That applies not only to artists, but also (perhaps especially) to club owners, journalists, or record company executives. * Americana Highways *[A] stunning, emotional, inspiring new memoir…In her authentic, no-nonsense voice, Price shares the stories that became songs, and the small acts of love and camaraderie it takes to survive in a music industry that is often unkind to women. * Our Quad Cities *A rough, rowdy, and brutally honest story of dreams and frustrations, good and bad choices, pain and joy...Price’s willingness to be open and honest about her experiences and mistakes is one of the most fascinating aspects of the book. She also avoids the twin traps common to memoirists, neither amping up her tales for exploitative shock value nor casting her past in self-pitying justification. Instead, she presents her stories of substance abuse, bad choices, and infidelity as simple facts...While Price’s personal journey centers the book, a larger story unfolds alongside it. Price’s encounters with the 21st-century mainstream Nashville music-biz complex are informative, entertaining, and, at times, unsettling. * The Nashvillian *[Maybe We'll Make It] begins with Price’s childhood in rural Illinois and ends with her April 2016 appearance on 'Saturday Night Live.' Most of her fans have followed the music she’s made since then, but Maybe We’ll Make It sheds light on the long road that got her there. * Austin American-Statesman *Margo Price's memoir of grit and resilience is one of our favorites to come out on University of Texas Press's consistently quality American Music Series. The Nashville-based, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter relates the twenty years since she dropped out of college to become a musician with a keenly illustrative narrative voice and invokes a storyteller who 'quit trying to change the past' in order to share the lessons for 'the recent future.' * Rough Trade, "US Books of the Year 2022" *[Price’s] new memoir, which covers her childhood and her years struggling to start her career in Nashville, proves that she’s just as talented at penning prose as she is at writing songs – which is to say, really damn good. Reading this book feels like hanging out with one of your smartest, liveliest friends. * NPR, "2022 Books We Love" *Maybe We’ll Make It is a beautiful, soul-bearing memoir…Despite her elegant prose, Price does not hold back any of the ugly details of her starving artist lifestyle…Her unabashed commentary on the sexist undertones of the country music industry, and the grueling need to prove herself to record labels that are only too eager to cast her aside, reveal her fighter spirit...Even in her darkest moments, Price writes with crushing honesty and humility. Her story serves as a poignant reflection on finding courage in chaos and leaning on a support system when life is too difficult to shoulder alone. * SPIN, "9 Can’t-Put-Down Music Memoirs Of 2022" *[An] unflinching memoir...Price paints a vivid portrait of a musician who moves to Nashville with big dreams. * The Boot, "10 Best Country Music Books of 2022" *Maybe We’ll Make It never becomes a morality tale, which would be out of character for the artist and a poor interpretation of her life. Price’s early years become part of the complexity of who she is, not just as an artist but as a person...It might be unusual for an artist to pen a memoir so early in her career, but Price has never done things the normal way, and in this case, the choice to write was an excellent decision. * Spectrum Culture *[Maybe We'll Make It leaves] you hankering for a sequel this sharply remembered, keenly written and marvelously self-perceptive. * Variety, "Best Music Books of 2022" *Price is a forthright and spirited raconteur with a quick turn of phrase. Her affable, earnest nature draws in the reader, despite her occasional transgressions (and, at times, maybe even because of them). * Relix *This is the best music memoir of the year. As she does in her music, Price lays her soul bare here, pulling no punches in revealing her highs and lows, including her struggles with addiction and the faltering early days of her marriage, with bright candor. Price knows well how tell a story and draws us easily into the shadows and light of her life and music. * No Depression, "2022's Most Memorable Music Books" *[An] excellent memoir. * Rolling Stone *It would be an understatement to call her poignant, pulverizing memoir, ... Maybe We’ll Make It, soul-baring. Price practically plops her heart, spleen, and a couple of kidneys onto the page. * Jezebel *A riveting, often shocking read. * Clash Music *In terms of heartbreaking honesty, [Maybe We'll Make It] gives Prince Harry a run for his money. * The Irish Times *Much like [Price's] music, her memoir is written with an authentic, singular voice. She opens up more about loss, motherhood, drinking, her songs, and much more. * The Bluegrass Situation *[Maybe We'll Make It] offers a beautifully wrought narrative of cheerleading, waitressing, poverty, substance abuse, drunk tanks and grievous personal loss as she was rebuffed by the music business for over a decade. * The Telegraph *The writer and woman we find in the memoir is the same person we find in [Price's] music: candid and vulnerable with the ability to make you laugh with one line and make you cry with the next. Maybe We’ll Make It explores the balance of art and life, the ups and downs of 'making it,' profound love, and profound loss. Price’s writing is conversational, lyrical, and above all, human. You can hear the person behind the prose. * Literary Hub *[An] outstanding and unflinching memoir. * Nashville Scene *Price has to be praised for writing such an open and honest account of her early life as a musician, struggling to ‘make it’ in the modern day music business. Reading this book, you can’t help but think that every wannabe music star should be sat down and forced to read this before they embark on their first gig, because this is an incredibly honest account of just how difficult it can be to even get on the bottom rung of that long climb to the top...This book is every bit as compelling as her songs...[Maybe We'll Make It] is, quite simply, a great read. * Americana UK *'Singing is not a real job,' a guidance counselor once told a teenage Margo Price. What she shows us in her moving memoir is what a heck of a lot of work it is...Here, you sense, is someone who has fought every day for what she wants to do—and a reminder of how much unseen toil goes into a creative life. * Wall Street Journal, "Five Best Books on Country Music" *The story of [Price's] development as an artist—and a person—who, by almost any means necessary, is making it by sticking to her beliefs and doing it her way, makes for a interesting read. * Ft.Myers Magazine *Price’s music is the soundtrack to her courageous story in progress. In the best possible way, this book reads like the liner notes: honest, heartfelt, and profound. * Shepherd *She has never lost that early hunger, or her rebellious streak. Hers is a tale of committed endurance punctuated by euphoria, and gives insight into several unlikely influences – the Kinks and Sylvia Plath among them – on her irrepressible music. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of Contents Prologue Chapter 1. The Unpaved Road Chapter 2. Rearview Mirror Chapter 3. Fifty-Seven Dollars Chapter 4. Strays Chapter 5. Lay Around with the Dogs Chapter 6. This Town Gets Around (and Around and Around) Chapter 7. Black Water Chapter 8. Stealing from Thieves Chapter 9. Floating Chapter 10. Pearls to Swine Chapter 11. Hell in the Heartland Chapter 12. Everywhere Chapter 13. Mesa Boogie Chapter 14. C for California Chapter 15. Aimless Fate Chapter 16. Ball and Unchained Chapter 17. New Mama Chapter 18. Ezra and Judah Chapter 19. Drowning Chapter 20. Uppers, Downers, Out-of-Towners Chapter 21. Burn Whatever’s Left Chapter 22. Treading Water Chapter 23. Weekender Chapter 24. A Band of My Own Chapter 25. Midwest Farmer’s Daughter Chapter 26. One Dark Horse Chapter 27. The Recent Future Epilogue Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisA full-length study of two of Berlioz's most unique works, which combine the highest goals of both symphony and opera and incorporate two of the greatest classics of Western literature into a total fusion of the arts. This work studies two works that are among the most challenging of the entire Romantic Movement, not least because they assault the notion of genre: they take place in a sort of limbo between symphony and opera, and try to fulfillthe highest goals of each simultaneously. Berlioz was a composer who strenuously resisted any impediments that stood in the way of complete compositional freedom. Most of his large-scale works nevertheless obey the strictures of some preexistent form, whether opera or symphony or mass or cantata; it is chiefly in these two experiments that Berlioz allowed himself to be Berlioz. One of the central characteristics of Romanticism is the belief that all arts are one, that literature, painting, and music have a common origin and a common goal; and this book tries to show that Berlioz achieved a Gesamtkunstwerk, a fusion of arts, in a manner even more impressive (in certain respects) than that of Wagner, in that Berlioz implicated into his total-art-work texts by two of the greatest poets of Western literature, Shakespeare and Goethe. The method of this book is unusual in that it pays equally close attention to the original text [Romeo and Juliet and Faust] as well as to the musical adaptation; furthermore, it suggests many analogues in the operatic world which Berlioz knew -- the world of Gluck, Mozart, Mehul, Spontini, Cherubini -- in order to show exactly how Berlioz followed or flouted the dramatic conventions of his age. This book aims to contribute to Berlioz studies, to studies of the Romantic Movement, and to the rapidly growing field of comparative arts. Daniel Albright is Richard L. Turner Professor in the Humanities at the University of Rochester.Trade ReviewAlbright has written a literary essay of great originality and charm, appealing to undergraduates through faculty, general readers, and professionals in both music and the humanitites. * CHOICE *Albright's work will inform and entertain admirers of Shakespeare, Goethe, and Berlioz alike. -- Julian Rushton, West Riding Professor of Music, University of LeedsThe rhetoric is comfortable, modern, familiar. . . 132 affable, inviting pages. . . of its originality there can be no doubt. * OPERA QUARTERLY *The originality of Albright's work lies in his unusual capacity to read texts and listen to music with a similar degree of sensitivity and insight and to detect the deeper resonance in structure and signification between the two without compromising their individuality. * THE EUROPEAN ROMANTIC REVIEW, December 2003 *This is a wonderful, concise, and compact discussion of two interesting and complex musical works of the Romantic period, exploring the historical and dramatic backgrounds of two of the more popular literary stories in human history. While written from the scholarly perspective, this book is easy to read and not overly technical in its presentation. -- Dr. Brad Eden * OPERATODAY.COM *Table of ContentsShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet From Shakespeare to Berlioz Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette Goethe's Faust From Goethe to Berlioz Berlioz's La damnation de Faust

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Book SynopsisThe third volume in Alan Walker's magisterial biography of Franz Liszt.Trade Review"Alan Walker's biography of Liszt ... has been widely hailed as a groundbreaking work of scholarship... Not only did his dogged research correct numerous, mostly damaging preconceptions about Liszt, but his cogent musical analyses made the case for the importance of the music... Love him or hate him as a saint or a sinner, Liszt still has the capacity to stir great passions ... and Mr. Walker has done a great service in correcting many misconceptions and thus raising the question about the true character of Liszt."-Johanna Keller, The New York Times. January 14, 2001 "A conscientious scholar passionate about his subject. Mr. Walker makes the man and his age come to life. These three volumes will be the definitive work to which all subsequent Liszt biographies will aspire."-Harold C. Schonberg, Wall Street Journal "What distinguishes Walker from Liszt's dozens of earlier biographers is that he is equally strong on the music and the life. A formidable musicologist with a lively polemical style, he discusses the composer's works with greater understanding and clarity than any previous biographer. And whereas many have recycled the same erroneous, often damaging information, Walker has relied on his own prodigious, globe-trotting research, a project spanning twenty-five years. The result is a textured portrait of Liszt and his times without rival."-Elliot Ravetz, Time "You can't help but keep turning the pages, wondering how it will all turn out: and Walker's accumulated readings of Liszt's music have to be taken seriously indeed."-D. Kern Holoman, New York Review of Books "The prose is so lively that the reader is often swept along by the narrative... This three-part work ... is now the definitive work on Liszt in English and belongs in all music collections."-Library Journal

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Book Synopsis''I see my story as a suite of songs that have a magical connection. I never understood that connection until I sat down to write. It was then that the magic started to flow.''Let Love Rule is a work of deep reflection. Lenny Kravitz looks back at his life with candor, self-scrutiny, and humour. ''My life is all about opposites,'' he writes. ''Black and white. Jewish and Christian. The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. I accepted my Gemini soul. I owned it. I adored it. Yins and yangs mingled in various parts of my heart and mind, giving me balance and fueling my curiosity and comfort.''Let Love Rule covers a vast canvas stretching from Manhattan''s Upper East Side, Brooklyn''s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Los Angeles''s Baldwin Hills, Beverly Hills, and finally to France, England and Germany. It''s the story of a wildly creative kid who, despite tough struggles at school and extreme tension at home, finds salvation in music. We see him grow as a musici

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Book SynopsisIn September 1998, a completely unknown band from London performed in the corner of a cafe in Manchester to an audience of fewer than ten people. One of these people was Debs Wild, a record company talent scout who immediately knew she'd seen the future. To celebrate the band's twentieth anniversary, Debs Wild – the discoverer of Coldplay – and Malcolm Croft look back on the band's phenomenal rise to glory. Life In Technicolor: A Celebration of Coldplay charts the band's extraordinary history from the very first rehearsal right through to the conclusion of their record-breaking A Head Full of Dreams Tour. With a unique insider's perspective and never-before-seen photos, this book will delight Coldplay's legions of fans across the globe. Table of ContentsIntroduction • The Early Years • The Safety EP & Brothers and Sisters EP • Parachutes • A Rush of Blood to the Head • X & Y • Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends • Mylo Xyloto • Ghost Stories • A Head Full of Dreams • The Future • Chronology of Performances • Discography.

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Book SynopsisChairman at the Board is an intimate, funny, and absorbing look at the music business by an insider who has recorded a host of the greatest musical artists of the twentieth century. Bill Schnee takes the reader inside the studiobehind the curtainand through the decades with a cavalcade of famous artists as he helped them to realize their vision. After his high school band was dropped by Decca Records, Schnee began his quest to learn everything he could about making records. Mentored by recording legend Richie Podolor at his American Recording Studio and mastering guru Doug Sax, he immediately began recording the top acts of the day as a freelance engineer/producer in Hollywood. Clive Davis soon hired him to work for CBS where he partnered with famed music producer Richard Perry. Schnee went on to record and/or mix most of Perry''s biggest albums of the ''70s and ''80s, including those by Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, Art Garfunkel, and the Pointer

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Book SynopsisCelebrate the 30th anniversary of the Backstreet Boys with the ultimate tribute book—filled with amazing tour photography, band-member profiles, fan memories, and more. Since breaking into the scene in 1993, the Backstreet Boys have sold over 100 million records around the globe making them one of the world’s best-selling music artists, and giving them the title of best-selling boy band of all time. They are the only boy band to have their first ten albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200, and the first group since Led Zeppelin to do so. Celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band in April 2023, members AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, and Howie Dorough are still going strong and show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Featuring a powerhouse foreword by singer-songwriter, DJ, author, activist, and one-fifth of the megastar girl group the Spice Girls Melanie Chisholm (akaTrade Review"This is a must have book for any Backstreet Boys fan, both past and present (they are still making music today)." * She Scribes *Table of ContentsForeword: Say You’ll Be There Introduction: Just Want You to Know 1 This Is Us 2 Let’s Have a Party 3 Feels Like Home 4 Larger Than Life 5 Black & Blue 6 Drowning 7 Never Gone 8 In Pieces 9 Show ’Em (What You’re Made Of) 10 We’ve Got It Goin’ On 11 Backstreet’s Back 12 Weird World 13 I Want It That Way 14 No Place 15 Soldier Backstreet Facts—All Right! Timeline Group Discography Compilation Solo Discographies Filmographies Awards & Nominations Dedication & Acknowledgments About the Authors Photo Credits Index

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Book Synopsis* The first book to analyse every Queen song - giving equal weight to album tracks alongside the hits . * Includes analysis of about 20 classic songs using the original 24 track master tapes. * Queen remain ever popular and active, and continue to tour despite the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991. This book examines Queen's music, album by album, track by track, in detail. Where possible, recourse to the original multi-track master tapes has provided extra insight. Those familiar hits are revisited, but those classic album cuts - like `Liar', `March of the Black Queen', `Death on Two Legs', and `Dragon Attack', `are given equal precedence. The book also examines the changes that these same four musicians went through - from heavy and pomp rock to pop as the chart hits began to flow - with a keen and unbiased eye. Whether as a fan your preference is for the albums `A Night at the Opera', `Jazz' or `Innuendo' this detailed and definitive guide will tell you all you need to know. Queen had strength in depth. These are the songs on which a legend was built.

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Book SynopsisFollowing hard on the explosion of British punk, in 1979 Gang of Four produced post-punk’s smartest record, Entertainment! For the first time, a band wedded punk’s angry energy to funk’s propulsive beats—and used that music to put across lyrics that brought a heady mixture of Marxist theory and situationism to exposing the cultural politics of everyday life. But for an American college student from the suburbs—and, one expects, for many, many others, including British youth—Jon King’s and Andy Gill’s mumbled lyrics were often all but unintelligible. Political rock ‘n’ roll is always something of an oxymoron: rock audiences by and large don’t tune in to be lectured to. But what can it mean that a band that made pop songs as political theory actively resisted making that theory legible? Coming to terms with the impact of Entertainment! requires us to take the mondegreen—the misunderstood lyric—seriously. The old joke has it that the title of R.E.M.’s debut album should have been not Murmur, but Mumble: true, so far as it goes. But that’s the title, too, of rock ‘n’ roll’s Greatest Hits compilation—and that strategic inarticulateness itself, which creates such an important role for the listener, has an important politics.Trade ReviewKevin Dettmar, having been an American college student in the '70s, is-in an odd way-the ideal author to write the 33 1/3 series volume #91 about British post-punk band Gang of Four's album Entertainment! (1979). In addition to being well-versed to discuss the cultural and musical implications of such a band steeped in leftist and “Situationist” political theory, in the book's introduction, he also proclaims the band to be his “favorite of all time.” This is the kind of mixture of knowledge and fervor that has made the series a great addition to the literature about pop music. Dettmar tends to beat us over the head with the Marxism and Situationism in the British band's lyrics and approach, the way their lyrics make sharp social commentary in counterpoint to their equally jagged yet seductive dance rhythms. It's a bit of a stretch, the case he makes for each of the songs as a “think piece,” but it may help the casual listener to give the band another spin to listen for what is hidden subversively in their sound. * SLUG Magazine *There are not many great Marxist/feminist rock bands, but Gang of Four have a strong claim of being among them. Entertainment was their first album, released in 1979, is innovative both musically and with its lyrics; it was a time of many great albums … Kevin Dettmar aims to address the power of the Gang of Four in his short book on their album Entertainment … The text refers to many different figures and ideas, including Emerson, Don Delillo, James Joyce and Engels. Mostly, his approach is plausible and clever, although he is occasionally eccentric … this book is worthwhile. -- Christian Perring, Dowling College, USA * Metapsychology Online Reviews 19:8 *Words are at the very heart of Kevin Dettmar’s affectionate retrospective of the Leeds quartet’s first and best-known album, 1979’s Entertainment! - not only because Dettmar is a professor of English but because Gang of Four’s debut is a veritable treasure trove of punning, word play and semantic dissonance. -- Houman Barekat * The Quietus *Table of ContentsIntroduction Keywords Ideology Nature Theory Alienation Consumer Sex Back to the Gutters

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Book SynopsisFrom the award-winning country/pop star Shania Twain comes an in-depth look at her difficult childhood and rise to worldwide fame.

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Book SynopsisSympathy for the Drummer: Why Charlie Watts Matters is both a gonzo rushcapturing the bristling energy of the Rolling Stones and the times in which they livedand a wide-eyed reflection on why the Greatest Rock ''n'' Roll Band in the World needed the world''s greatest rock ''n'' roll drummer. Across five decades, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has had the best seat in the house. Charlie Watts, the anti-rock staran urbane jazz fan with a dry wit and little taste for the limelightwas witness to the most savage years in rock history, and emerged a hero, a warrior poet. With his easy swing and often loping, uneven fills, he found nuance in a music that often had little room for it, and along with his greatest ally, Keith Richards, he gave the Stones their swaggering beat. While others battled their drums, Charlie played his modest kit with finesse and humility, and yet his relentless grooves on the nastiest hard-rock numbers of the era (Gimme Shelter, Street Fighting MaTrade Review“Charlie Watts lays it down, and the others follow. He is the Law. This book explains why.” — Clem Burke, Blondie“Required reading for any Stones fan.” — Bun E. Carlos“The most colorfully graphic and, arguably, the most accurate description extant of the Rolling Stones at the absolute pinnacle of their career.”— All About Jazz“[Edison] shoots from the hip from the first line to the last in this extremely entertaining celebration... Edison’s frenzied, gunned up prose repeatedly reminds one and all of exactly why Charlie Watts Matters... Stones fans and jazzers, bluesers and rockers alike all owe Mike Edison a massive thank you.” ★★★★ — Shindig“Sympathy thankfully is not a ponderous academic treatise, and while Edison occasionally leans into gonzo flights of fancy, he takes the reader on a grand tour of forty years of Watts’ contributions to the Rolling Stones... As Keith Richards has said, “No Charlie, no Stones,” and Edison wrote the book to prove it.”— Modern Drummer“Sympathy for the Drummer is so much more than an incisive appreciation of Charlie Watts, it is an effusively infectious tribute to art in all of its myriad forms. Edison’s insights into the Rolling Stones are backed up by a fluent scope of cultural historicity, and peppered with an array of no-nonsense broadsides. Compelling evidence to convince even the most non-partisan reader that Charlie is indeed the WORLD’S GREATEST ROCK’N’ROLL DRUMMER!” — Jim Sclavunos, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds“It’s not hard to fathom why a former editor of both Screw and High Times magazines would find writing about the Rolling Stones, one of the most dissolute champions of sex and drugs, right in his conceptual wheelhouse. But Edison takes a unique approach by focusing his investigation on Charlie Watts, the woefully underappreciated lynchpin of the Stones sound. This book is a delightful look at the Stones through the eyes and the beats of their most reticent member. Finally someone gave this drummer some.” — Larry “Ratso” Sloman, author On the Road with Bob Dylan“A great voice of authority and knowledge, dispensed with free-wheeling fluidity. Super entertaining, and right on.” — Katherine Turman, coauthor, Louder Than Hell: The Complete Oral History of Heavy Metal“A wild ride through six-plus decades of music history... An illuminating and massively entertaining book.” — Dan Epstein, author Big Hair and Plastic Grass“Mike Edison’s libertine prose swings and hits like Charlie Watt’s right hand.” — Meredith Ochs, author Rock-and-Roll Woman“Charlie Watts is the backbone of the Rolling Stones. In this affectionate yet unflinching biography, Mike Edison shows how integral his jazz sensibility makes them a true band: keeping time, creating space, and hitting the crash cymbal at just the right moment.” — Lenny Kaye, guitarist, author of You Call It Madness: the Sensuous Song of the Croon“An imaginative consideration of the Rolling Stones, one which will let you hear utterly familiar tracks with entirely fresh ears." — Ira Robbin“Rollicking ... highly engaging ... essential.” — Classic Rock“A marvelous snare-crack of a book.” — Hot Press (UK)“Exhilarating... magnificent insouciance... Edison writes like Charlie Watts drums: with panache.””— Planet Rock“A remarkable achievement... insightful, passionate, knowledgeable, funny, fresh and astute... Sympathy for the Drummer is hard to beat.” — International Times“Edison’s style captures the effortless nature of Watts’ drumming... you come away with new respect for the man behind the small kit, and I guarantee you’ll blast a Stones cut when done. Highly recommended.”— The Big Takeover“Fanf**kingtastic.”— Kenny Aranoff"The most fun and evocative Stones book since Keith Richard's Life." — Record Collector (UK)

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Book SynopsisBob Gendron is a longtime contributor to the Chicago Tribune and a veteran Music Editor. He co-authored Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History and has written for DownBeat, Rolling Stone, TONEAudio, and other outlets. In his spare time, he enjoys visiting craft breweries, playing hockey, and exploring neighborhoods. An avid fan of the White Sox and the Blackhawks, he lives in his hometown of Chicago with his wife and two dogs.Trade Review"In the absence of love, there is loneliness, sorrow and desperation. And that's where I come in."--Greg Dulli, introducing "When We Two Parted" onstage in San Francisco It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for whom Exile on Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as significant and worthy of study as The Catcher in the Rye or Middlemarch...The series, which now comprises 29 titles with more in the words, is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebration--The New York Times Book Review Ideal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just aren't enough--Rolling Stone One of the coolest publishing imprints on the planet - Bookslut These are for the insane collectors out there who appreciate fantastic design, well-executed thinking, and things that make your house look cool. Each volume in this series takes a seminal album and breaks it down in startling minutiae. We love these. We are huge nerds. - Vice A brilliant series...each one a word of real love - NME (UK) Passionate, obsessive, and smart - Nylon Religious tracts for the nock 'n' roll faithful - Uncut (UK) We...aren't naive enough to think that we're your only source for reading about music (but if we had our way...watch out). For those of you who really like to know everything there is to know about an album, you'd do well to check out Continuum's "33 1/3" series of books." - Pitchfork"

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Book SynopsisBob Dylan's impact on popular music has been incalculable. Having transformed staid folk music into a vehicle for coruscating social commentary, he then swept away the romantic platitudes of rock 'n' roll with his searing intellect.From the zeitgeist-encapsulating protest of 'Blowin' in the Wind' to the streetwise venom of 'Like a Rolling Stone', and from the stunning mid-sixties trilogy of albums - Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde - to Time Out of Mind, his stunning if world-weary comeback at the age of 56, Dylan's genius has endured, underpinned by the dazzling turn of phrase that has made him the pre-eminent poet of popular music.Because Dylan's achievements have no equal, his career is the most chronicled in rock history. Here, Sean Egan presents a selection of the best writing on Dylan, both praise and criticism. Interviews, essays, features and reviews from Dylan intimates and scholars such as John Bauldie, Michael Gray, Nat Hentoff and Jules Siegel are interspersed with new narrative and reviews of every single album to create a comprehensive picture of the artist whose chimes of freedom still resound.Trade ReviewManages to catch some of Dylan's magic. * Catholic Herald *Fascinating and hilarious anecdotes. * Jewish Chronicle *A great book ... as discursive and illuminating as any recent book on Dylan I've read. * Craig McGregor, author of 'Bob Dylan: A Retrospective' *

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Book SynopsisBest known for the challenging four-opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, Richard Wagner (1813-83) was a conductor, librettist, theater director, and essayist, in addition to being the composer of some of the most enduring operatic works in history, such as the Flying Dutchman. This book explores key ideas in Wagner's life and works.Trade Review"A fine biography.... This is the most balanced account of Schumann's life and work for more than a generation, one that makes us want to relisten to Schumann's music, knowing better the man behind it." -Wall Street Journal, on Robert Schumann"

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive and immersive survey of thirty-five Beethoven piano sonatas

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Book SynopsisAs an innovative and constantly inventive jazz pianist, Brad Mehldau has attracted a sizable following over the years, one that has grown to expect a singular, intense experience from his performances. With Formation, Brad seeks to extend that experience to the page, by sharing some of the deeply personal elements of his life, and how these came together for him to become the musician and person that he is today. For the first time, he offers an in-depth look at how he came to understand his adoption, survive sexual abuse, and overcome heroin addiction. The book creates a vibrantly-written portrait of the jazz world in New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s, showing how a generation of musicians met and sparked off one another to take the music in new directions, drawing on a wealth of influences but also keeping sight of tradition, including those rooted in both the jazz and classical worlds. The atmosphere of the clubs, the creative scene in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and Brad's early experiences of touring are brilliantly brought to life. The formation of the "Mood Swing" quartet with Joshua Redman is described, as is the growth of Brad's own groups, leading to his acclaimed Art of the Trio series of recordings with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. The trio's later life with Jeff Ballard joining in place of Rossy; Brad's solo ventures; and his explorations of other areas of music, are also covered. There is no holding back when it comes to Brad's period of heroin addiction - his painful personal decline and ultimate redemption make for compelling and often distressing reading. Yet throughout the book, his own reading and listening are a constant frame of reference and often inspiration, from the works of James Joyce and Thomas Mann to the sounds of Prog rock and Bob Dylan, not to mention critics from Harold Bloom to Terry Eagleton. The book can be read as a bildungsroman, but this coming-of-age is no novel, it is vividly lived personal experience. Intimate, vulnerable and profound, Formation is a rare look inside the mind of an artist at the top of his field, in his own words.

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Book SynopsisWhen one considers The Beatles' early history, there are several names that immediately come to mind, like Ivan Vaughan, Rod Davis, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best. However, the story of the evolution of The Beatles from The Quarrymen to The Fab Four is about more than just the musicians in those groups. Other people, like George Smith, Joe Ankrah, Red Carter, Zancs Logie, Ian James, Marie Maguire, Colin Manley and Arthur Pendleton are all important to the story as well. These one hundred and four friends, family and musicians get a long overdue credit for their contributions to the musical development of the greatest pop group of all time: The Beatles.

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Book SynopsisOver ten years after WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE EARTH, Mick Wall''s seminal biography of the band, comes this major and extensively researched revision, which provides an unflinching look at life inside one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time, and presents the definitive, final word on Led Zeppelin.They were ''the last great band of the sixties; the first great band of the seventies''; they rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time. Mick Wall, respected rock writer and former confidant of both Page and Plant, unflinchingly tells the story of the band that wrote the rulebook for on-the-road excess - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction and death. WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE EARTH reveals for the first time the true extent of band leader Jimmy Page''s longstanding interest in the occult, and goes behind the scenes to expose the truth

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Book SynopsisThis is a book not just for fans of the band: it sot just for fans of the band: it's for anyone interested in how culture can spark national conversations.

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Book SynopsisFrom the early days of The Rolling Stones, with a relatively baby-faced 'Keef' sporting a hounds-tooth jacket, to his heroic piratical look of the present day, rock's indestructible hero has been photographed by many people over half a century. Featuring more than 300 photographs in colour and black-and-white.Among those who took the pictures in this book are legendary photographers Jim Marshall, Terry O'Neill, Deborah Feingold, Neil Preston and Mark Seliger.If many of Keith Richards' adventures have passed into folklore, never before has there been quite such a comprehensive collection of portraits and candid shots collected to match the passing moments: police busts, global superstardom, a legendary Glastonbury set, a satisfying appearance in the Pirates Of The Caribbean movie franchise and an unlikely 2008 advertising stint as a lifestyle icon for Louis Vuitton, as photographed by Annie Leibowitz.Beautifully produced and elegantly designed, Keith Richards: A Life In Pictures is simply the must-have book of the year.

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Book SynopsisThe legendary Jimi Hendrix has had all kinds of superlatives bestowed on him since his incendiary debut in 1966, but Lou Reed's pithy summation beats the lot: '...he was such a bitching guitar player'. Jimi Hendrix On Track explores each thrilling song and album, drawing out exactly what made Hendrix not only a great guitarist but also a vocalist, arranger, interpreter, producer and songwriter of genius. Hendrix's revolutionary albums with The Experience and Band of Gypsys are discussed in detail, as are his posthumous releases from First Rays of the Rising Sun to Both Sides of the Sky. His early work as a session player for acts like The Isley Brothers, Little Richard and even Jayne Mansfield is considered, along with his later work as a guest star on albums by Stephen Stills, Robert Wyatt, and McGear and McGough; and not forgetting his blistering work as a producer for Eire Apparent. From psychedelic odysseys to progressive blues to proto-metal to funk-rock, Hendrix mastered them all. Jimi Hendrix On Track is an informative guide to some of the 20th century's most extraordinary recordings.

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Book SynopsisQuite simply, Martin Popoff’s Sabotage! Black Sabbath in the Seventies marks the most intensive analysis of Black Sabbath’s first eight albums ever attempted. This is a big book—129,000 words long, every song analysed in detail, loads of first-hand interview footage from close to 50 interrogations. In the baking, Popoff interviewed all of the principles—Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward—repeatedly, along with myriad other folks who are part of this remarkable tale. Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Vol 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, Never Say Die and Technical Ecstasy… these are the building blocks of heavy metal, and within these awesome audio chapters, Popoff breaks down each and every song on each of these reverberating and cannonating records, while Geezer offers explanation of the lyrics, Bill poetically explains why these songs resonate and Tony and Oz look on with their characteristic sense of bemusement. Also touched upon are the band’s torrid troubles with money and management and drugs and booze, as well as tour tales, album cover stories and production tips ‘n’ tricks. Also included are two four-page sections of colour plates. All told, it’s everything needed to send the reader back to the catalogue, headphones on, for a second listen of this landmark run of records spanning 1970’s self-titled debut to 1978’s Never Say Die, the shambling, controversial last gasp before Ozzy’s shocking ouster from the ranks.

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Book SynopsisRoger Daltrey is the voice of a generation.That generation was the first to rebel, to step out of the shadows of the Second World War... to invent the concept of the teenager.This is the story from his birth at the height of the Blitz, through tempestuous school days to his expulsion, age 15, for various crimes and misdemeanours within a strict school system. Thanks to Mr Kibblewhite, his authoritarian headmaster, it could all have ended there. The life of a factory worker beckoned.But then came rock and roll. He made his first guitar from factory off-cuts. He formed a band. The band became The Who - Maximum R&B - and, by luck and by sheer bloody-mindedness, Roger Daltrey became the frontman of one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.This is the story of My Generation, Tommy and Quadrophenia, of smashed guitars, exploding drums, cars in swimming pools, fights, arrests and redecorated hotel rooms.But it is also the story of how that post-war generation redefined the rules of youth. Out of that, the modern music industry was born - and it wasn't an easy birth. Money, drugs and youthful exuberance were a dangerous mix. This is as much a story of survival as it is of success.Four years in the making, this is the first time Roger Daltrey has told his story. It is not just his own hilarious and frank account of more than 50 wild years on the road. It is the definitive story of The Who and of the sweeping revolution that was British rock 'n' roll.

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Book SynopsisThe Suburbs is an incredibly sentimental and nostalgic album, which generally moved critics but was jarring to others. But it also made a heavy impact on fans and to the surprise of many won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards. This immensely visceral album triggers a sincere celebration of not formative years spent in a cookie-cutter development, but of feeling self-important, immortal, and desperate to escape. It examines youth and amplifies an innate sense of longing and remembrance.Eric Eidelstein's The Suburbs explores this weird, utopic recollection of youth by comparing the album to suburban scenes in film and television, such as Blue Velvet, Mad Men, The Americans, and Spike Jonze's Scenes from the Suburbs. Through the close examination of film and televised depictions of the suburbs, both past and present, Eidelstein delves into the societal factors and artistic depictions that make the suburbs such a fascinating cultural conTrade ReviewMusicians, music lovers and music educators in the post-secondary field are likely to find The Suburbs of interest. It leaves the reader wondering how comparative studies of other creative works in connection to a diversity of sociological factors might be beneficial. * Canadian Association of Music Libraries *Table of ContentsTrack Listing Introduction 1 — Who is Arcade Fire? 2 — What are the suburbs? 3 — Where do you kids live? 4 — What’s up dog? 5 — Why do I have these headaches? 6 — Why are there people like Frank? 7 — Why are you so profoundly sad? 8 — Surely expulsion is not the answer? 9 — Should I move past the feeling?

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Book SynopsisSympathy for the Drummer: Why Charlie Watts Matters is both a gonzo rushcapturing the bristling energy of the Rolling Stones and the times in which they livedand a wide-eyed reflection on why the Greatest Rock ''n'' Roll Band in the World needed the world''s greatest rock ''n'' roll drummer. Across five decades, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has had the best seat in the house. Charlie Watts, the anti-rock staran urbane jazz fan with a dry wit and little taste for the limelightwas witness to the most savage years in rock history, and emerged a hero, a warrior poet. With his easy swing and often loping, uneven fills, he found nuance in a music that often had little room for it, and along with his greatest ally, Keith Richards, he gave the Stones their swaggering beat. While others battled their drums, Charlie played his modest kit with finesse and humility, and yet his relentless grooves on the nastiest hard-rock numbers of the era (Gimme Shelter, Street Fighting Man, Brown Sugar,Trade ReviewCharlie Watts lays it down, and the others follow. He is the Law. This book explains why. Clem Burke, Blondie. Required reading for any Stones fan. Bun E. Carlos, Cheap Trick. The most colorfully graphic and, arguably, the most accurate description extant of the Rolling Stones at the absolute pinnacle of their career. All About Jazz. [Edison] shoots from the hip from the first line to the last in this extremely entertaining celebration... Edison s frenzied, gunned up prose repeatedly reminds one and all of exactly why Charlie Watts Matters... Stones fans and jazzers, bluesers and rockers alike all owe Mike Edison a massive thank you. ? ? ? ? Shindig Sympathy thankfully is not a ponderous academic treatise, and while Edison occasionally leans into gonzo flights of fancy, he takes the reader on a grand tour of forty years of Watts contributions to the Rolling Stones... As Keith Richards has said, No Charlie, no Stones, and Edison wrote the book to prove it. Modern Drummer. Sympathy for the Drummer is so much more than an incisive appreciation of Charlie Watts, it is an effusively infectious tribute to art in all of its myriad forms. Edison s insights into the Rolling Stones are backed up by a fluent scope of cultural historicity, and peppered with an array of no-nonsense broadsides. Compelling evidence to convince even the most non-partisan reader that Charlie is indeed the WORLD S GREATEST ROCK N ROLL DRUMMER! Jim Sclavunos, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. A great voice of authority and knowledge, dispensed with free-wheeling fluidity. Super entertaining, and right on. Katherine Turman, coauthor, Louder Than Hell: The Complete Oral History of Heavy Metal. A wild ride through six-plus decades of music history... An illuminating and massively entertaining book. Epstein, author Big Hair and Plastic Grass. Mike Edison s libertine prose swings and hits like Charlie Watt s right hand. Meredith Ochs, author Rock-and-Roll Woman. It s not hard to fathom why a former editor of both Screw and High Times magazines would find writing about the Rolling Stones, one of the most dissolute champions of sex and drugs, right in his conceptual wheelhouse. But Edison takes a unique approach by focusing his investigation on Charlie Watts, the woefully underappreciated lynchpin of the Stones sound. This book is a delightful look at the Stones through the eyes and the beats of their most reticent member. Finally someone gave this drummer some. Larry Ratso Sloman, author On the Road with Bob Dylan. Charlie Watts is the backbone of the Rolling Stones. In this affectionate yet unflinching biography, Mike Edison shows how integral his jazz sensibility makes them a true band: keeping time, creating space, and hitting the crash cymbal at just the right moment. Lenny Kaye, guitarist, author of You Call It Madness: the Sensuous Song of the Croon. An imaginative consideration of the Rolling Stones, one which will let you hear utterly familiar tracks with entirely fresh ears. Ira Robbin.

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Book SynopsisAlthough Exile in Guyville was celebrated as one of the year''s top records by Spin and the New York Times, it was also, to some, an abomination: a mockery of the Rolling Stones'' most revered record and a rare glimpse into the psyche of a shrewd, independent, strong young woman. For these crimes, Liz Phair was run out of her hometown of Chicago, enduring a flame war perpetrated by writers who accused her of being boring, inauthentic, and even a poor musician. With Exile in Guyville, Phair spoke for all the girls who loved the world of indie rock but felt deeply unwelcome there. Like all great works of art, Exile was a harbinger of the shape of things to come: Phair may have undermined the male ego, but she also unleashed a new female one. For the sake of all the female artists who have benefited from her workfrom Sleater-Kinney to Lana Del Rey and back againit''s high time we go back to Guyville.Trade ReviewI found this book to be, like Ms. Phair’s album, charming and brave and unexpectedly moving. The author is excellent on so many things, including how the power of Ms. Phair’s songs grows from their grainy details, quotidian observations that other rockers so rarely give us, about things like housework and roommates and 'what is was like to feel voiceless and powerless in a nightclub, on a road trip, or during sexual intercourse. -- Dwight Garner * The New York Times *Arnold is a wonderful writer: fearless, precise, full of doubt, never taking anything for granted. She’s one of the few people left on the planet who uses presently correctly, which can create its own thrill. Going back to Liz Phair’s once notorious, now often forgotten, absurdly in-your-face ambitious first album—'a story about a girl and a time and a place,' the indie-rock world of Wicker Park, in Chicago, in the early 1990s, but in Phair’s hands a story told with such heart that you need no such details to catch every shade of meaning and emotion—Arnold has written a book about the past ('when dinosaurs, as personified by Dinosaur Jr., ruled the earth'), its follies and crimes ('Every past is worth condemning,' Arnold quotes Nietzsche, and then puts the words to work), and the idea of an imagined community that the past leaves behind ('Often I think I am a better informed citizen of Middlemarch, Bartsetshire,' Arnold says, 'than I am of San Francisco'). And it’s about what it means for a young woman to simultaneously take on both everyone in her town and take down the album that sums up everything that everyone in her town would like to sound like, look like, act like, be—to take down a whole way of being in the world. -- Greil Marcus * The Believer *Writing at length about two themes – ‘third-wave feminism’ and the changing nature of indie music over the past twenty years - requires laborious research, cogent arguments, and logical grounding from start to finish. Doing so in the context of one record makes the task even more difficult. I can say, having reviewed many scholarly articles in my time, that Arnold passes the test with flying colors. The book is well cited, filled (but not overwrought) with pertinent facts, and her points are structured in a way that just make sense. In a word, the book is smart. * 2bit Monkey *Mentioned in Harper's Bazaar -- Hannah Morrill * Harper's Bazaar *Provocative in all the right places, persuasively argued and certainly among the most professional of the series. It reminds me how much my thinking about gender and sexuality has benefitted from reading women’s testimonials to the emotional power of Guyville. It also reminds me how, to this day, I would drink Liz Phair’s bathwater. -- Kirk Curnutt * Paste Magazine *Arnold’s book puts Phair in her proper place as the patron saint of f**k you. Because, in the end, Phair had the last laugh. Guyville is no more. It has been laid waste, in part, by the corporate interests that poached and commodified indie rock’s talent (Phair included), and finally blasted into oblivion by technology. The critic, like those denizens of Guyville, no longer needs to impress us with her encyclopedic knowledge of a musical act, or lay forth great truths and judgments for us to accept without question. Rather, she can engage in a more lyrical form of storytelling, picking apart at the edges of a work of art, and letting biography and theory bubble forth as need be, in order to reveal a particular, individual relationship. In this way, Arnold’s book not only documents a lost world. By presenting an engaging and enlightening example of criticism in the post-critical age, it also points a way forward. -- Brian Gresko * The Rumpus *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Written in my Seoul Chapter 1: Guvyille as Ghostworld Chapter 2: Sonic Pleasure and Narrative rock criticism Chapter 3: My Mixed Feelings Chapter 4: Exile State of Mind Works Cited

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Book SynopsisFirst substantial overview of the life and career of Pharrell Williams, the foremost producer of the modern era, and performer in his own right. It follows him from his days growing up in Virginia, his meeting with musical partner Chad Hugo and formation of The Neptunes, through his collaborations with the great and the good of pop, rap and R&B, including Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Nelly and Kelis. It assesses his ground-breaking work with the radical rap-rock-pop band N*E*R*D, and his emergence as a solo superstar via Daft Punk's Get Lucky, Robin Thicke's controversial Blurred Lines and global mega-hit Happy. It delves behind the immaculate facade to find out what makes Williams one of the most driven and inventive musicians of the last 20 years

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Book SynopsisArturo Toscanini (1867–1957) was famed for his dedication, photographic memory, explosive temper and impassioned performances. At times he dominated La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and the Bayreuth, Salzburg and Lucerne festivals. His reforms influenced generations of musicians, and his opposition to Nazism and Fascism made him a model for artists of conscience. With unprecedented access to the conductor’s archives, Harvey Sachs has written a new biography positioning Toscanini’s musical career and sometimes scandalous life against the currents of history. Set in Italy, across Europe, the Americas and in Palestine, with portraits of Verdi, Puccini, Caruso, Mussolini and others, Toscanini soars in its exploration of genius, music and moral courage.Trade Review"'Monumental’ is surely the mot juste to describe the book’s length... but equally the combination of thoroughness, clarity, psychological perspicacity and deep human feeling which distinguishes every page... for all its massiveness the book proves unputdownable." -- BBC Music Magazine"Harvey Sachs has written the definitive biography of this great, and colourful, character... [His] writing style is precise, fluent and gripping... As a study of the life and times of one of the greatest conductors of all time, this book will not soon be bettered." -- The Economist"It is without doubt the most engaging, the best-written and certainly the most comprehensive Toscanini biography yet to be published..." -- Gramophone"... magnificent biography... To read about him [Toscanini] at this length—and there will surely be no need for another biography—is to be simultaneously inspired and bewildered." -- The Spectator"This book of more than 900 pages, full of personal recollections and testimony... is vastly comprehensive, balanced and indispensable... Sachs’ own dedication to this force of nature has been fulfilled in a book which ranks among the best of 2017." -- Classical Music"Drawing on a wide range of new evidence, including unknown letters and the archives of many of the opera houses that Arturo Toscanini worked with, including La Scala, Harvey Sachs has written a weighty and highly enjoyable account of one of the greatest conductors, a man still renowned for his pursuit of perfection." -- Books of the Year 2017 - The Economist"Harvey Sachs has provided a compendious chronicle of Toscanini's astonishing achievement across almost a century, and it makes for compelling reading." -- Times Literary Supplement"I am currently reading two excellent books: the new Harvey Sachs biography of one of the finest conductors of all time – Arturo Toscanini..." -- Something For The Weekend - Finghin Collins' Cultural Picks - RTÉ"...marvellously researched and continually fascinating...[a] superb book..." -- Stephen Walsh - The Oldie

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments I The Musical Language of Bartok: Historical Backgrounds Folk- and Art-Music Sources Orientation toward French, Russian, and Folk-Music Sources: Nonfunctional Bases in Pentatonic, Modal, and Whole-Tone Constructions Use of Symmetrical Pitch Collections by Russian, French, and Hungarian Composers Russian Nationalists: Symmetrical Properties of the Dominant-Ninth Chord Russian Nationalists, Debussy, and Stravinsky: Symmetrical Properties of Nontraditional as Well as Traditional (Pentatonic and Modal) Pitch Constructions Russian Nationalists, Scriabin, and Kodaly: Symmetrical Partitions of the Octatonic Scale Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Germanic Influences: Symmetrical Organization of Chromatically Related Keys The Schoenberg School: Symmetrical Formations as the Basis of Progression in Free-Atonal Compositions Berg and Webern: Total Systematization of the Concepts of the Interval Cycle and Inversional Symmetry in Dodecaphonic Serial Compositions II Harmonization of Authentic Folk Tunes III Symmetrical Transformations of the Folk Modes IV Basic Principles of Symmetrical Pitch Construction V Construction, Development, and Interaction of lntervallic Cells VI Tonal Centricity Based on Axes of Symmetry Including the Concepts of: Symmetrical Organization around an Axis; Use of Symmetrical Cells in Establishing Axes; Interaction of Traditional Tonal Centers and Axes VII Interaction of Diatonic, Octatonic, and Whole-Tone Formations VIII Generation of the Interval Cycles IX Conclusion Chronological List of Cited Bartok Compositions Works Cited Index to Basic Terms, Definitions, and Concepts Index to Compositions General Index

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Book SynopsisWhat does a rock star do after leaving the band? If you're David Lee Roth, you have a Las Vegas residency, write a memoir, become a radio host, start a YouTube series, star in a Japanese-language short film, launch a tattoo skincare line, and release a digital comic. And then you rejoin the band.The first book focused on Roth in twenty-five years, DLR Book is an intimate look at an epic career. From his start with Van Halen to his highly publicized departure from the band and his triumphant return, entertainment industry expert Darren Paltrowitz covers the highs and lows of Roth's journey. The fruit of nearly one hundred exclusive interviews, the book also delves into Diamond Dave's many extracurricular activities, including his unclassifiable video series The Roth Show, the rise and fall of his syndicated radio program, and his training as an EMT. Included here are conversations with some of Roth's most popular collaborators (among them Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan, Travis Tritt) and contributions from members of rock's all-time biggest bands, such as Korn's Ray Luzier, Bon Jovi's Phil X, and Heart's Ann Wilson. Filled with countless photographs never published in book form, DLR Book is a front-row seat to one of the wildest and most unpredictable shows in rock history.

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Book SynopsisCharles Mingus is one of the most important - and most mythologized-composers and performers in jazz history. Classically trained and of mixed race, he was an outspoken innovator as well as a bandleader, composer, producer, and record-label owner. This book tells his story.Trade Review"Will likely long stand as the definitive account of the genius, and enigma, that was this great bassist, bandleader, and composer. Certainly no one has heretofore delved as deeply and thoroughly into what made him tick." W. Royal Stokes Blog "'Better Git It In Your Soul draws the reader to listening to its subject's productions. If already familiar with Mingus' music, a reader may return to favorites with fresh ears and deeper insights... Gabbard's greatest personal contribution to understanding Mingus is his contextualization of events through his own broad, well-informed perspective." DownBeat "Offers several lenses through which to view Mingus and his music-the milieu in which he lived, wrote and played; literary life; closest musical associations; and as a coda his experience in film... There is much in Better Git It In Your Soul to limn one's understanding of and approach to Mingus' tremendous body of work as well as the challenges he faced and orchestrated as a black artist in America." The New York City Jazz Record "This is a wonderful book! This book completely absorbed me... You really took me in with your own emotional palette." NPR/On Point with Tom Ashbrook "An important contribution to not only the study of Charles Mingus but also of the evolution of postwar jazz."-STARRED REVIEW Library Journal "A solid addition to the literature of jazz." Booklist "This isn't simply a new telling of Mingus' life story, although Gabbard does an excellent job of that in just under 100 concise and nicely paced pages. Gabbard also takes a deep dive into specific aspects of Mingus' output. Most notably, he performs forensic work in exploring how Beneath the Underdog came to be." PopMatters "Gabbard examines the musical career of one of the giants of Jazz, Charles Mingus, offering a look at the man beyond his sensationalized musical career and personal mythology." Publishers Weekly "Krin Gabbard uses his own unique perspective to illustrate the famous musician's life and genius." -- Darcy Peters Smooth Jazz News "14 of the Best Gifts for a Music Snob Who's Heard Everything: Krin Gabbard's bio is as idiosyncratic as the great jazz bassist and composer that is its subject. There aren't many places you can go to read comparisons between Mingus and Philip Roth as well as detailed musical analysis of his epochal and hard-swinging compositions." New York Magazine, The Strategist "Gabbard's careful attention to new and underutilized resources and dedication to placing the many dimensions of Mingus's existence in their larger contexts should indeed enhance readers' appreciation of Mingus as a musician, composer, arranger, writer, poet, and bandleader." NotesTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION. Charles Mingus Changed My Life PART I. A Circus in a Bathtub PART II. Autobiography, Autofiction, and Some Poetry PART III. Third Stream Music and the Rest of Jazz History PART IV. On and Off the Bandstand with Richmond, Dolphy, and Knepper EPILOGUE. Mingus in the Movies Acknowledgments Discography Notes Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis213 performances, 58 countries, 15 months. James Blunt''s ''All the Lost Souls'' international tour was one of the greatest pop marathons of all time.Journalist and family friend Peter Hardy joined James and his band on their exhilarating and exhausting journey around the world, hoping to discover the man behind the music. From the tour bus to the dressing rooms, from the stage to the after-show parties, travelling with James gave ''Weird Uncle Peter'' an access-all-areas pass to his life on tour.A warts-and-all account of lost guitars, adoring fans, ludicrous bar bills and very, very late nights, this is an honest, amusing and insightful look at the mad world of celebrity and the inside story of James himself, both in front of the crowds and behind closed doors.DIFFERENT COUNTRY, SAME STATE is a frank exploration of one man''s journey, his passion for music and his passion for life.Trade Review'This uproarious account by the grizzled former foreign correspondent and old family friend...will raise a few eyebrows' * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisBruce Springsteen might be the quintessential American rock musician but his songs have resonated with fans from all walks of life and from all over the world. This unique collection features reflections from a diverse array of writers who explain what Springsteen means to them and describe how they have been moved, shaped, and challenged by his music. Contributors to Long Walk Home include novelists like Richard Russo, rock critics like Greil Marcus and Gillian Gaar, and other noted Springsteen scholars and fans such as A. O. Scott, Peter Ames Carlin, and Paul Muldoon. They reveal how Springsteen’s albums served as the soundtrack to their lives while also exploring the meaning of his music and the lessons it offers its listeners. The stories in this collection range from the tale of how “Growin’ Up” helped a lonely Indian girl adjust to life in the American South to the saga of a group of young Australians who turned to Born to Run to cope with their country’s 1975 constitutional crisis. These essays examine the big questions at the heart of Springsteen’s music, demonstrating the ways his songs have resonated for millions of listeners for nearly five decades. Commemorating the Boss’s seventieth birthday, Long Walk Home explores Springsteen’s legacy and provides a stirring set of testimonials that illustrate why his music matters.Trade ReviewContributor Lou Maser interview on "One-on-One with Steve Adubato" http://steveadubato.org/bruce-springsteen-s-impact-on-music-history.html— One-on-One with Steve Adubato "E Street Radio" SiriusXM interview with contributors Daniel Wolff Lauren Onkey— E Street Radio - SiriusXM "Local Leaders Never Stop Reading" by Amanda Capps http://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/2020/03/05/299879/local-leaders-never-stop-reading— Greenville Business Magazine "Springsteen at Seventy," by Wesley Stace https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/09/21/springsteen-at-seventy/— New York Review of Books "Long Walk Home endeavors to examine the impact the art and the artist have had on individual people around the world. The book fulfills this mission admirably. Individual contributions are of uniformly high quality. The collection as a whole is an engaging read that will interest scholars and fans alike." — Prudence Jones, BOSS: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies "Rutgers Univ. Press to celebrate Springsteen’s birthday with ‘Long Walk Home’ book," by Jay Lustig— NJ Arts "Relatable passages and...excellent writing."— Newark Star-Ledger "Growing Up With Bruce Springsteen: I wouldn’t be the man I am without him," by Eric Alterman http://www.publicseminar.org/essays/growing-up-with-bruce-springsteen/— Public Seminar "Dermot Bolger: 'As Bruce turns 70, I thank him for giving voice to my world,'" excerpt from Long Walk Home https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/dermot-bolger-as-bruce-turns-70-i-thank-him-for-giving-voice-to-my-world-38496573.html— Irish Independent “Long Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen at 70 offers a comprehensive, timely overview of Springsteen’s life and work. The eminently qualified essayists in Sawyers and Cohen’s anthology astutely address Springsteen’s achievement in terms of the artist’s evolving legacy, with a valuable accent upon exploring his lasting contributions to twentieth- and twenty-first- century popular music and culture.”— Kenneth Womack, author of Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles "That’s the greatest joy of Long Walk Home—the little details from fan’s lives, intersecting with moments of historical and artistic significance."— Third Coast Review "Why Bruce Springsteen is the soundtrack of the 2020 primary," by Jonathan D. Cohen https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/09/23/why-bruce-springsteen-is-soundtrack-primary/— Washington Post "A killer collection of Boss studies and stories, as varied as Springsteen's own body of work and a fitting tribute to the man — at 70, both an American legend and an artist as vital as ever."— Christopher Phillips, Editor of Backstreets.com "Long Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen did something I wouldn’t have thought possible: it deepened my appreciation for the artist by broadening my understanding of his relevance and influence. I’d long known that Bruce had wide, diverse, international appeal. Now I have a better understanding of why. Highly recommended."— E Street Shuffle "Springsteen at 70: Remembering When The Boss Rocked New Brunswick" by TAP into New Brunswick https://www.tapinto.net/towns/east-brunswick/articles/springsteen-at-70-remembering-when-the-boss-rocked-new-brunswick-8— TAP into New Brunswick "Celebrating Bruce at 70," by Tammy La Gorce— New Jersey Monthly "The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen And The Wide Divide," excerpted from A.O. Scott's piece in Long Walk Home https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/762803629/the-ties-that-bind-bruce-springsteen-and-the-wide-divide— NPR Books "The expanding field of Springsteen Studies is fascinating, and includes stellar volumes written by many of the contributors to this collection. Kudos to co-editors Jonathan D. Cohen (managing editor of “'BOSS: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies') and June Skinner Sawyers (editor of “Racing in the Streets: The Bruce Springsteen Reader”) for giving Springsteen fans an extraordinary new addition to that canon. Long Walk Home is worthy of its subject and a timely reminder of Springsteen’s promise in the 1999 anthem 'Land of Hope and Dreams' that 'dreams will not be thwarted/ faith will be rewarded.'”— Charleston Post & Courier "Bruce Springsteen Is Jew-ish: He may be Catholic, but to many fans—including this one—his lyrics speak to a different creed," by Eric Alterman https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/bruce-springsteen-almost-jewish/599146/— The Atlantic "In a collection as carefully compiled as a Springsteen album, Cohen and Booklist contributor Sawyers celebrate the Boss at 70....For more than four decades, Springsteen’s music has been part of our popular music and culture and will continue to be, long after his final album is released. As this compilation illustrates, his 'Glory Days' are far from over."— Booklist "The book nods to Springsteen’s international, intercultural popularity and success....The most thought-provoking essays in Long Walk Home are by writers who are not from the stereotypical Springsteen fan base."— Times Literary Supplement "Taken together, the 26 essays in Long Walk Home give readers a rich understanding of why the Boss matters so profoundly to his audience; how each of us has been moved, challenged, and shaped by Springsteen's music."— Roxanne Harde, co-editor of Walking the Line: Country Music Lyricists and American Culture "Rutgers Professor Reflects on Springsteen's Legacy ahead of ''The Boss's'' 70th Birthday," by Cynthia Medina https://news.rutgers.edu/qa/rutgers-professor-reflects-springsteens-legacy-ahead-bosss-70th-birthday/20190730#.XVavqehKiUm— Rutgers Today "Rutgers Professor Reflects on Springsteen's Legacy for ''The Boss's' 70th Birthday," by Cynthia Medina https://news.rutgers.edu/qa/rutgers-professor-reflects-springsteens-legacy-ahead-bosss-70th-birthday/20190730?utm_source=newsletterutm_medium=emailutm_campaign=rutgerstoday#.XYmJOOdKjq0— Rutgers TodayTable of ContentsIntroduction: Why Springsteen? Jonathan D. Cohen and June Skinner Sawyers Part I Springsteen Stories 1 Growing Up with Bruce Springsteen Eric Alterman 2 How Bruce Springsteen Made a Middle-Aged Woman Believe in the Magic of Rock and Roll Nancy S. Bishop 3 From the Backstreets to the Badlands: My Springsteen Journey Deepa Iyer 4 The Ripple Effect Frank Stefanko Part II Springsteen, Politics, and American Society 5 The Role of the Popular Artist in a Democratic Society Jefferson Cowie and Joel Dinerstein 6 Starting a Fire: Bruce Springsteen’s Political Journey from “Born in the U.S.A.” to “American Skin (41 Shots)” Gillian G. Gaar 7 Springsteen’s American Dream Louis P. Masur 8 At the River Paul Muldoon 9 The Ties That Bind A. O. Scott Part III Springsteen Live 10 Live at the Roxy Greil Marcus 11 The Magic Circle Wesley Stace 12 Twist and Shout David L. Ulin Part IV Springsteen the Artist 13 Brilliant Disguise: The Completely True Fictional Adventures of Bruce Springsteen Peter Ames Carlin 14 Interview with Martyn Joseph by Irwin H. Streight 15 This Train: Bruce Springsteen as Public Artist Colleen J. Sheehy 16 Born to Write: Bruce Springsteen, Flannery O’Connor, and the Songstory Irwin H. Streight 17 Ten Great Springsteen Moments (and Five Iconic Concerts) Kenneth Womack Part V Springsteen, Sex, Race, and Gender 18 Our Butch Mother, Bruce Springsteen Natalie Adler 19 Springsteen’s Women: Tougher Than the Rest Gina Barreca 20 Shackled and Drawn Lauren Onkey 21 American Skin: Springsteen and Blackness Elijah Wald Part VI Springsteen and Aging 22 Summer’s Fall: Springsteen in Senescence Jim Cullen 23 Work and Play: Mid-Life Music Daniel Wolff Part VII Springsteen beyond Borders 24 Bruce Springsteen’s River in Dublin Dermot Bolger 25 The Boss in Bulgaria Richard Russo 26 We Take Care of Our Own Wayne Swan Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTony Tost is a scholar and poet who lives in Seattle, Washington. The author of two poetry collections, he was the recipient of the Walt Whitman Award in 2003. He is currently completing a dissertation on myth, technology and the poetic imagination at Duke University.Trade ReviewIt's a terrific, illuminating read that I'd recommend to anyone who loves Johnny Cash, and that record in particular. * No Depression Magazine *Tost cores the Cash mythology with the reverence it deserves, and in so doing gets to the very logic of reckoning. * Miami Sun Post *In a dynamically sequenced succession of short-burst essays, Tost matches driving, energized prose against the titanic scale of the image that Cash created through his public life and career. Writing about a man who contained multitudes, Tost is a poet in his own right. * Nashville City Paper *Like the best work on Cash, it makes no attempt to disentangle myth from history or biography. Tost is an American mythologist in the vein of Greil Marcus, and there are numerous moments in the book where the reader is put in mind of Marcus writing on Dylan (or Cash for that matter). * Tiny Mix Tapes *Tost is like a foster son of Greil Marcus, beating his own path into old, weird America through the life of the Man in Black. * Milwaukee Express *Table of ContentsPreface; Permanence (1); Permanence (2). Americana (1); Independence Day; The Gift; Americana (2); Delia; Let the Train Blow the Whistle; The Beast in Me; Drive On; Why Me, Lord; Bad Luck Wind; Cowboy Prayers; Precedence; To Be Free; He Had the Nerve and He Had the BloodWhere Are Your Guts?; Where the Train Goes Slow; Redemption; Like a SoldierPermanence (3); The Man Who Couldn't Cry; The Old, Weird American.

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Book SynopsisThe long-awaited memoir from Will Sergeant, guitarist and founder member of the influential band Echo and the Bunnymen.Trade ReviewWith his dry, droll, vivid storytelling, Will Sergeant makes very clear the factors that shaped him, and therefore his band, into such a unique force . . . Sergeant sharply evokes the neurotic importance of music and clothes, his relief at seeing light alter so much darkness especially palpable in the aftermath of his new band's first gig -- Keith Cameron * Mojo *Sergeant's acerbic sense of humour in the telling of these tales means the memoir sometimes reads as if you're in the pub with him . . . Bunnyman manages to do what Echo & the Bunnymen did so brilliantly: be part of a wider story but create an autonomous enclave within it, subject to almost magical laws and precedents * Louder Than War *Engagingly down-to-earth . . . fondly nostalgic picture of 1960s and 70s Merseyside * Classic Rock *Evocative * Irish Times *Wonderfully vivid . . . brings to life an ordinary suburban existence and how music can offer new dreams and visions . . . fascinating . . . His pre-Bunnymen musical experiences are hilarious and self-deprecating * Caught By The River *An engaging coming-of-age story -- Ian Rankin * New Statesman *Wonderful . . . an evocative ride through childhood and teenage years . . . Sergeant writes with such atmosphere you can practically smell the chimney smoke and hear the rattle of glass bottles on milk floats . . . It's all recounted with generous helpings of the author's dry wit, as sharp and seductive as the innovative guitar lines he's contributed to so many great records * Record Collector *Will's story is peppered with evocative detail of growing up in the 60s and 70s . . . a strikingly honest journey . . . Bunnyman is an enthralling and funny book which, simply by coming from an insider's perspective (probably THE insider), throws new light on the birth of the Bunnymen * Manic Pop Thrills *Sergeant's memoir takes an earthy stroll through his early years, unafraid to tell it like it was * Mail on Sunday *A fine, keenly observed memoir that offers moments of pure joy * Times Literary Supplement *

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