Search results for ""Author Andrew Wild""

The first James Bond film, Dr. No, was a gamble. In 1962, the 'Swinging Sixties' were about to begin and the aspirational lifestyle depicted by the Bond films were very much part of the art, music and fashion revolution that defined that decade. But no-one could have predicted that the first Bond film would spawn twenty-four sequels so far, including the most recent entry - No Time To Die. The remarkable success of the James Bond franchise can be attributed to many factors - the strength and imagination of Ian Fleming's original novels; the consistency of the creative and production teams; the skill and wit of the screenplays. The basic formula of the Bond film remains, essentially, the same. But, crucially, the main character - whilst still the ultimate male fantasy - has evolved, adapted and been re-invented by the actor of the moment. Connery: lithe, virile, charismatic, cocksure. Lazenby: physical, charming, handsome. Moore: wry, smart, self-mocking. Dalton: saturnine, professional, dangerous. Brosnan: smooth, shrewd, efficient. Craig: taciturn, tough, driven, dark. This book revisits and analyses all twenty-five official James Bond films, as well as the two attempts to steal some of that lucrative Bond audience and examines their place both in their contemporary timeline and how they stand up today. Every generation remembers going to the cinema to see their first James Bond film, their first James Bond actor, and the first time they saw the iconic opening 'gun barrel' sequence. What was yours?

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Of all of the 'classic' British rockers who came to prominence in the 1960s, only a very few have achieved significant, sustained success through to the present day. A list that comprises Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones should also include Eric Clapton. His critical and commercial accomplishments with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith and his first solo album between 1965 and 1970 was followed the inexplicable failure of the Layla album, released under the semi-pseudonym of Derek & The Dominos. Clapton withdrew into heroin addiction for several years. In 1974, his 'comeback' album, 461 Ocean Boulevard, returned him to the top three in both the UK and America. Always a strong concert draw, Clapton has released another sixteen top twenty albums since. Even 'Layla' returned to the charts in 1982. Eric Clapton Solo reviews and analyses all of Clapton's studio albums since 1974, as well as successful collaborations with BB King and JJ Cale. It's been a long, varied journey: the laid-back rocker of the 1970s; the commercial sheen of the 1980s; the polished, acoustic yuppie music and hard blues of the 1990s; the slick R & B stylings of the 2000s and the roots homages of the 2010s. All of this was underpinned by the skill and talent of Britain's greatest blues guitarist and a hugely underrated vocalist

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Pink Floyd Song by Song takes a fresh look at the songs which led to Pink Floyd becoming the third best-selling band of all time. From 'Arnold Layne' to 'Louder Than Words', Pink Floyd wrote about anger, isolation, regret, dismay, and fear. These themes, not always obvious starting points in popular music, were married to a rare dynamism in rock music. Pink Floyd's most successful period critically and musically-the eight albums from 1970 to 1983-combine the pithy lyrics of Roger Waters, the soulful voice and breath-taking guitar solos of David Gilmour and, until 1979, the jazz influenced piano and keyboard abilities of the late Richard Wright. These three together wrote the band's best work, usually in combinations of twos and threes but also individually. When working together as equals, the three principals of Pink Floyd were significantly more than the sum of their individual strengths.

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Music fans tend to divide into two camps at the mention of Fleetwood Mac. There are those who think of the multi-million-selling five-piece that formed in the mid-1970s and released Rumours, the biggest selling album of all time. But there are those who adopt a self-appointed 'cooler' stance, preferring the late-sixties blues band fronted by the virtuosic guitarist Peter Green. But that's not the whole story. Between May 1970, when Green left his own band to be replaced by the bass player's wife, to the beginning of 1975, when Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, there were five years of what can only be described as turmoil. One by one, talented musicians such as Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, Bob Weston and Bob Welch joined and left the band. While it's impossible to ignore the skill and longevity such classic songs as 'Rhiannon' and 'Don't Stop' and albums Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk, there are an equal number of half-forgotten classic songs from the first half of the 1970s and many deep album cuts that have been overlooked. Here is the story of Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s - the music, the people, the tours, the rumours, the failures and the successes.

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All author royalties andpublisher profits from the sale of this book will go to The Live Aid Trust. On Saturday, 13 July 1985, a blazing, cloudless summer day, millions of peoplesettled in front of the television. It was just before noon in London, 7 am inPhiladelphia, and around the world, it was time for Live Aid...

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* 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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The music of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and especially their 1969 self-titled debut album, exemplified the Woodstock generation – three men, three voices, one common view of freedom and justice. Their decision to recruit Neil Young before their first public performance fundamentally altered CSNY the band dynamic. Worldwide acclaim and success followed: their first three albums, released 1969-1971, have sold almost 30 million copies. In 1974 they embarked on the biggest stadium tour then attempted, playing baseball and football stadiums and racetracks across the US to thousands of fans. They were also pop stars, securing nine top 40 singles between 1969 and 1982. And yet, today, with Neil Young regarded as a musical legend with a classic back catalogue, his colleagues Crosby, Stills and Nash remain far less acclaimed. They comprised Crosby: the drug-addled hippy with weird songs and golden voice, Stills: the blues man and guitar genius and Nash: the hard-as-nails balladeer with a strong social conscience. Together, at their best, they were unbeatable. This book tells you why, aiming to set things straight, with an album by album analysis of CSN’s five studio albums, as well as the three they made with Neil Young.

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1979 was an amazing time for UK post-punk pop. t the end of March, a fresh new sound entered the British top 20. 'Sultans of Swing', a very wordy song with lots of driving guitar, a tight rhythm section and some killer musicianship. Dire Straits, unlikely pop stars led by a balding 29-year-old Geordie who could play guitar brilliantly, had finally arrived. Six years later, they were, for a time, the biggest band in the world. Brothers in Arms sold by the truckload, one of the first massive sellers on CD. Since then, however, their star has fallen. Over exposure as the safe, boring champions of the CD age, has resulted in Dire Straits becoming, to many, the embodiment of a certain sort of benign, homogenised music. Mark Knopfler, their singer, guitarist, producer and songwriter, became a caricature of the middle-aged rocker in the minds of many. Their music remains stubbornly unfashionable, but retains its huge fanbase. Dire Straits On Track revisits, re-evaluates and contextualises the band's six studio albums and two live albums, as well as EPs and archive releases. Seven ex-members of Dire Straits have been interviewed for this book, providing fresh perspective and insight. The band made a lot of good music. It's time we remembered why.

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In 1973, the Allman Brothers Band were one of the most popular in America: they headlined the Watkins Glen Summer Jam, attended by an estimated 600,000 people and their album Brothers and Sisters was a number one for five weeks on the Billboard listings that summer. The single 'Ramblin' Man' hit #2 in October. The group made the cover of Newsweek. Rolling Stone named them 'band of the year'. Their story can only be described as 'volatile'. Always a strong live draw since forming in 1969, in the two years prior to Watkins Glen they had released one of the greatest live albums of all time and lost two founding members in near-identical motorcycle accidents, including guitar genius 24-year-old Duane Allman. Increased drug use and a ruinous 1976 court case forced the band apart. A three-album reunion between 1978 and 1982 rekindled some of the old fire, but it was with their twentieth anniversary and second reformation in 1989 that provided a degree of stability and acclaim. The passing of founder members Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman in 2017 definitively ended the band's story. Their legacy of eleven studio albums, six contemporaneous live albums and several box sets includes classics such as their self-titled debut, the sophomore Idlewild South, their artistic and commercial breakthrough, the definitive live document At Fillmore East and astounding final album Hittin' The Note from 2003.

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Phil Collins was everywhere in the 1980s. He had more top forty singles in the US than any other artist during the 1980s: fourteen as a solo artist and eleven with Genesis, along with two number one albums. Add to this, twenty-five solo / group hit singles and eight number one albums in the UK. He also recorded with artists as diverse as Peter Gabriel, John Martyn, Frida, Robert Plant, Mike Oldfield, Marti Webb, Al Di Meola, Adam Ant, Eric Clapton, Phil Bailey, Band Aid, Marilyn Martin, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan and Tears For Fears - another thirty-five albums or standalone singles, some of which were massive global hits. He also found time, somehow, to tour with Plant and Clapton in addition to his extensive in-concert duties with Genesis and as a solo artist. And perform at Live Aid. At both concerts. That’s around six hundred live concerts in total between 1980 and 1989. There’s no doubt that the guy was busy in that period! Amidst the overwhelming commercial success and ahead of any other career plan Phil Collins was and is a musician. His ubiquity between 1980 and 1989 hides ten years of magnificent music and this book examines Phil Collins’ musical output through these ten tumultuous years.

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Since 1963 Eric Clapton has contributed to two hundred albums by other artists: from very famous to the obscure and the unexpected: Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, all four of the Beatles, Martha Veléz, Jonathan Kelly, Corey Hart, Stephen Bishop, Hawkwind, Ray Charles, Kate Bush, The Tony Rich Project, Toots and the Maytals and Mary J. Blige. If you’ve never heard (for instance) ‘Beat of the Night’ by Bob Geldof, ‘Sexual Revolution’ by Roger Waters or ‘I Wish It Would Rain Down’ by Phil Collins, this book tells you about Eric’s part in those recordings and many more, as well as his more notorious collaborations with the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan – and Ed Sheeran! Indeed, this book puts these into context across nearly sixty years of documented sessions. If you’ve never delved into Eric’s contributions to other artist’s recordings, then this is a handy guide to help the reader find his way into such a lengthy and successful second career. If his own albums are the main story, then these recordings run alongside: an alternative history of one of rock’s most prolific musicians

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