Search results for ""Author Sean Egan""

For some, Rod Stewart embodies all of the conceit and narcissism that susceptible egos are prone to once they make it big in the music industry. Even if that were true, however, that wouldn’t change the fact that he is responsible for some of the greatest recordings ever made. A great number of those songs were recorded for the Mercury label between 1969 and 1975, spread across Stewart’s solo output as well as his side gig as front man for the band Faces. Even when the records were likable more often than they were classic, Stewart was still one of the greatest live attractions in the world, whether on his own or with the band.Rod Stewart: The Classic Years gives an precedented in-depth look at this crucial phase of Stewart’s career. Author Sean Egan brings together interviews with musicians Mick Waller, Pete Sears, and Ray Jackson, engineer Mike Bobak, manager Billy Gaff, Stewart’s then-girlfriend and muse Dee Harrington, his publicist Jonathan Rowlands, and many other key individuals in orbit around Stewart, including a brand-new interview with the man himself for a first-hand account of the Mercury years. Egan offers a striking portrait of big egos, plenty of decadence, and solid-gold rock ‘n’ roll amidst the long post-‘60s hangover.

Read more less

The iconic life and career of the famed guitarist of the Rolling Stones is detailed in this compilation of interviews that spans the last 50 years. Featuring articles from GQ, Melody Maker, and Rolling Stone, as well as interviews that have never previously appeared in print, it charts Keith Richards’s journey from gauche, young pretender and swaggering epitome of the zeitgeist to beloved elder statesman of rock. Initially overshadowed by band mates Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, Richards gained popularity as half of the second-most important songwriting team of the 1960s, and in 1967 the drug bust at his house and his subsequent trial and imprisonment made him a household name. His interviews match his outlaw image: free of banality and euphemism, they revel in frank stories of drugs and debauchery. Yet they also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate, and honest man. This collection amply illustrates the magic and charm of Keith Richards.

Read more less

The iconic life and career of the famed guitarist of the Rolling Stones is detailed in this compilation of interviews that spans the last 50 years. Featuring articles from GQ, Melody Maker, and Rolling Stone, as well as interviews that have never previously appeared in print, it charts Keith Richards's journey from gauche, young pretender and swaggering epitome of the zeitgeist to beloved elder statesman of rock. Initially overshadowed by band mates Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, Richards gained popularity as half of the second-most important songwriting team of the 1960s, and in 1967 the drug bust at his house and his subsequent trial and imprisonment made him a household name. His interviews match his outlaw image: free of banality and euphemism, they revel in frank stories of drugs and debauchery. Yet they also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate, and honest man. This collection amply illustrates the magic and charm of Keith Richards.

Read more less

Bob 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.

Read more less

A revealing, impartial, exhaustive and definitive account, Longs Agos and Worlds Apart lays to rest several myths about the Small Faces while at the same time seeking to redress the lack of credit accorded a truly great band.

Read more less

Planet of the Apes was a concept that started life in 1963 as a quirky work by French literary novelist Pierre (The Bridge on the River Kwai) Boulle. His concept of a world where humans are ruled over by apes proceeded to become one of the biggest multi-media sensations in history. The 1968 Charlton Heston motion-picture adaptation of Boulle's book was celebrated and successful but was just the beginning. By 1973, said picture had spawned four sequels. It then spun off a live-action TV series, which in turn spun off the animated TV show Return to the Planet of the Apes. What with this, comic books, novelizations, and a tsunami of merchandising, the late sixties and first half of the seventies had a distinctly simian flavor. A new generation was introduced to the concept when, in 2001, Tim Burton's updating of the series appeared in cinemas. This itself was rebooted a decade later in the form of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and its two sequels. Despite all the fantasy (and money-chasing), however, the series has always been marked by thoughtfulness, exploring serious themes alien to most franchises. Planet of the Apes explores every aspect of this media phenomenon---from books to films to comic books to television shows to video games to merchandise---to provide an overview of Planet of the Apes that is truly definitive. With the help of new and exclusive interviews, it examines the contributions of producers, directors, writers, actors, and makeup artists in an attempt to gain an understanding of how this media property has changed the world.

Read more less

Over 30 landmark interviews, accounts, and memoirs of The Beatles and their entourage, recording how they inadvertently became counter-culture's figureheads and changed society.The pieces include Paul Johnson's 'The Menace of Beatlism', Maureen Cleave's 'Beatles Bigger than Christ' feature, the News of the World feature suggesting The Beatles were spent forces - just before they unleashed Sergeant Pepper on the world - interviews with their entourage and main loves; plus latter-day contributions from the likes of Paul Gambacinni, Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus.Also included is a chronological tracing of each Beatles album and single, and analysis of all Beatles movie releases and television appearances.

Read more less

David Bowie needs no introduction. An immense star whose music and writing transcended generations he was one of the most articulate influencers of modern music. Over fifty years his singles and albums slid up and down the bestseller charts, adapting to the changing times, exploring new musical themes, always pushing at boundaries in a desperate desire to seek out the new and the different. This fantastic new, unofficial biography covers his life, music, art and movies.

Read more less

Pink Floyd are one of the world's most successful rock bands of all time. After their breakthrough record, "The Dark Side Of The Moon", brought prog rock to the masses, they have never looked back, and their influence continues today in rock, ambient and techno music. "Pink Floyd: Glorious Torment" is an unofficial, intriguing review of their path to mega success, tracking too the dismay of Syd Barrett's decline and the battles and the glory of their music. Covering all the major events in their long career this great new book is accompanied by revealing and evocative images of the band.

Read more less