Search results for ""Red Planet Publishing""

Critics have called The Smiths one of the most important bands to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 80s. Based on the songwriting partnership of vocalist Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, the group released four hugely influential albums via Rough Trade Records between 1984 and 1987. This easy to read guide covers everything Smiths, from their formation in 1982, through their breakup, solo careers, and on to the present day.

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Back in 1979, pop was getting dull again. Everyone said it was time for a new dance. No-one expected it to come from Coventry. The Two-Tone revolution, led by the Specials, took the pop world by surprise with their infectious mix of Ska rhythms and punk attitude. Madness and The Selecter followed close on their heels. Within a matter of moments the 2-tone bands had stolen our hearts and conquered the charts with a non-stop procession of unforgettable hits; 'Gangsters', 'A Message To You Rudy', Too Much Too Young', 'The Prince', 'One Step Beyond', 'My Girl', 'Too Much Pressure'... And the bands kept coming - Bad Manners, The Beat, The Bodysnatchers. Even Judge Dread came back. Garry Bushell, who wrote the original Dance Craze magazine, was the first rock writer to see the Specials live, the first to interview madness and the first to watch the bands attempt to export their magic to the USA.

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When Dylan came off the 1966 tour he was completely exhausted. The world thought he had the answers but Dylan was lost, crushed by the weight of expectations. The next 13 years saw Dylan trying to find his direction home. He found it when someone threw a Bible on stage and he found Christianity.

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Rock Atlas is more than just a guide to 650 music locations across the USA. You can visit many of the places by following the books detailed instructions or simply just enjoy reading the fascinating fact-filled stories behind each entry. Seek out the quirky record stores, find the iconic recording studios, make a pilgrimage to the memorials and statues, check out the best festivals and visit the exact spot where your favourite album cover was photographed. Rock Atlas USA will be your guide. Providing a different insight into musicians' lives and songs through the places linked to them, Rock Atlas USA includes stories featuring artists as diverse as The Beatles, Lady Gaga, Muddy Waters, Bruce Springsteen, Kings of Leon, and Otis Redding. Illustrated with hundreds of rare, unseen, and iconic colour and black and white photographs, Rock Atlas USA is a must for anyone with an emotional tie to contemporary music and the important places associated with it.

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An updated reissue of what, along with England's Dreaming, has become the acknowledged seminal work on punk. Cain was at every major gig and interviewed all of the acts at the time. He was viewed as an 'insider' and his access was unrivalled. This book is a vibrant and fast-paced trip through an extraordinary year. Includes major new interviews with Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten, Strangler Hugh Cornwell and Rat Scabies of The Damned.

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A book of more than 700 great music locations throughout the UK and Ireland and the stories behind them. Featuring landmark album cover locations, gravestones, plaques, recording locations, statues, and sites of famous and infamous gigs. Rock Atlas features hundreds of stories, which deliver a fresh, new insight into the lives and times of our most famous rock and pop stars. Where were they born? Why does a particular movement inspire them? Rock Atlas has all the answers. This fact-filled look at rock and pop, from an entirely different perspective, throws up many new revelations about our favourite musicians. When you ve finished reading the stories, you can visit the places.

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A collection of true stories, gossip and details of 500 of the singles that failed to dent the Top 10, but which are still worthy of inclusion in a volume such as this. This book demonstrates just how much a melting pot of talent, creativity and energy the decade really was. It s not just in the groove, but between the grooves that you'll find the magic. Nuggets of information and connections between the artists, producers and songwriters offer a unique insight into the careers and development of key (and not so key) performers. The idea behind this book is simple to gather together a fantastic selection of 60s pop releases that are not nearly as well-known as they deserve to be. Packed full of beautiful glossy pictures of each and every disc featured, it is a colourful and quirky guide to records that you may never have heard of, but you will certainly want to listen to when you've finished.

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It all started with The Jam logo... Well actually it all started many years before that, 1966 to be exact when I was 15 years old and not only discovered how much music meant to me but how much the album covers meant too. The Beatles Revolver album had some great pop tracks including one of my favourite songs - For No One - my first love began and ended that summer while I played that song constantly. The album also had a great sleeve by Klaus Voormann which, I found intriguing, with its line drawn portraits mixed with a photo-collage of the band. I was hooked and knew even then that I wanted to be part of this - I was never going to be a brilliant musician but maybe I could be involved with creating the images that went with the music. I spent so many happy hours in my local record store with headphones on in a booth, listening to the latest releases like Neil Young's After the Gold Rush album, studying the covers, reading the lyric sheets. I loved the stories, the unlimited possibilities to link pop and culture. The fact that it would always be there on the shelf for as long as the particular album was listened to and even longer when stored in a dusty cellar years after the record was no longer on the turntable. From that point on all roads led to Polydor Records and the first Jam album cover in 1977. During the 70's and 80's a number of new graphic designers found their way into the music business, Barney Bubbles' brilliant work for Stiff Records, Storm Thorgesen's Hipgnosis Pink Floyd covers, Malcolm Garrett's Buzzcocks sleeves, Stylorouge and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Form Design amongst many others, all helping to create a paradigm of album cover design, I joined these serried ranks in 1976. I had been at Polydor for a year or so as Art Director creating covers for artists as diverse as Peggy Lee, The Who and George Benson, I hadn't yet reached my nirvana but Nevermind... along came The Jam. A new band with new music to share and me with a 12-inch blank canvas to fill with ideas. An Art Director is a really great job, you come up with ideas with an artist and then you find amazing people to collaborate with and in partnership you make those ideas come to life. I ended up doing 5 album covers and 16 single bags for The Jam between 1977 and 1980, 3 short years of joy. I left Polydor in 1978 and set up my own studio in what was basically a corridor in a fashion house on Great Marlborough Street in London's West End. From that little cubby-hole I started working with many different record companies and many different bands and artists. Album covers are permanent items, unlike much packaging which is thrown away once the product is removed, the album cover becomes a possession and has a value beyond just protection. They are a collaboration and a partnership between musician, designer and record company. There are arguments and compromises, certainly many fights but in the end, the cover wins out. There have been many great art directors and designers, artists, photographers and typographers all helping to create cardboard packaging for some black vinyl, creating great, mediocre or downright rubbish sleeves, but always interesting and exciting. Between 1976 and 2019 we worked with over 200 different bands and artists, creating many hundreds of covers, all with a story... the book covers (sorry) just some of them.

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PopMaster quiz has been enthralling listeners to the Ken Bruce Show for almost 20 years. Now you can play the quiz in your own time: at home, in the pub, and with your family and friends. Packed with over 1700 questions, this book will keep you entertained, amused and informed for hours. Written by the programme's expert quiz-setters Phil Swern and Neil Myners, this is a must for pop-trivia fans, music aficionados and quiz addicts alike!

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Garry Bushell was there when the new era of British Heavy Metal kicked off and his essays from the front line convey the excitement and fervour with the arrival of bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Rainbow, Saxon and Def Leopard. This is the first time these reports have been published in book form.

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Starting in 1985, Bob Dylan magazine contains a wealth of information on Bob Dylan by a range of authors - much of it not available anywhere else. This Anthology celebrates the 200th edition in the 34th year of continuous publication. Featuring a brand new selection of the latest and best articles, illustrations and photographs none of which have been available in book form before. This selection has been compiled by the magazine's founding editor, Derek Barker. The book covers Dylan's career that includes 36 studio albums, 13 live albums and 14 multi-disc collections in the bootleg series.

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Guns N' Roses, or GNR as they're known, is one of the biggest-selling rock bands of the past 30 years. Formed in 1985 their first album, Appetite for Destruction, followed two years later. With many star performers including Slash, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and later drummer Matt Sorum, the band has always been high-profile. Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, recorded simultaneously and released in 1991, debuted at number two and number one on the Billboard 200 respectively and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide. The band is currently on a massive world tour and, with talk of a new album, have never been more popular.

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This is the first ever biography of a band which had two remarkable careers. Their amazing run of three-part harmony hits came to an end when Graham Nash left for the US to form Crosby, Stills & Nash. But a second run of success was kick-started with a wave of classic singles that dominated charts and the airwaves in the 1970s. With exclusive guest interviews and contributions from band members including Graham Nash, The Hollies Story promises to re-evaluate their place in the history of popular music.

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This stunningly designed and illustrated book details the gardens that won Adam an astonishing seven gold medals at Chelsea Flower Show from his first self-financed garden 2007 to his Show Gardens for major sponsors such as Homebase. Recognised as the designers' designer Adam Frost combines a mixture of great design and brilliant planting. In this book he tells the story of the creation of each garden and reveals tips and information to allow readers to create their own great spaces. As a member of the regular presenting team on Gardeners' World, Adam is incredibly popular and draws large crowds wherever he appears.

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The True Performing Of It places the two writers side by side and examines the resultant analogies in their work that spring from this positioning. After a teasing prologue, the book begins by reflecting on the significance of Dylan's remarks on Shakespeare when accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature, before examining their shared Bardic qualities, and their position of being feted for their undoubted literary qualities despite both being primarily artists of live performances of drama and music. The movement from 'low' to 'high' art is traced and its implications explored in depth and detail, as is the fierce opposition that the parallel theatrical and musical transitions from communal folk art to professional entertainment engendered. The parallels in their approaches to performing art, use of language and source material form core chapters of the book. The last section of the book is an in-depth focus on The Tempest and Tempest as specific examples of the theories and generalitie

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The punk movement created a revolution in the music industry with its anarchic approach and DIY = ethos. It was the antidote to a bloated record business that had become moribund and prog bands which had become hugely self-indulgent. Punk grew out of the politics of the Seventies in the UK and from bands like Dr Feelgood. With the Sex Pistols as torch bearers the movement provoked strong reactions amongst music fans and industry alike.

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Radio 2's PopMaster quiz has been thrilling listeners to the Ken Bruce Show for 20 years. Now you can enjoy the pop quiz in your own time at home, in the pub, or at a party with your family and friends. This new giant quiz-book is packed with over 3800 questions to keep you entertained, amused, and informed for hours. Written by PopMaster's expert quiz-setters Phil Swern and Neil Myners, this book is a must for pop trivia fans, music lovers and quiz addicts alike!

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Ska originated in Jamaica in the late Fifties and combined Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and r 'n' b. Ska developed in the Sixties with artists such as Prince Buster, Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, and Duke Reid who formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. Ska was popular with British mods and was later adopted by many skinheads. As music changed in the US, so did ska. In 1965 and 1966, when American soul music became slower and smoother, ska changed its sound accordingly and developed into rocksteady before evolving again from 1968 into reggae.

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Caught in a Trap draws back the veil of secrecy on the most dramatic event in the life of Elvis Presley. In October of 1975, Elvis was abducted and spirited away to a cabin in the Kentucky mountains where he was made to sing for his supper. After a week in captivity, a ransom was paid to ensure his release, a bizarre episode that was hushed up on orders from the White House, no less. This psychological thriller not only reveals the dramatic details of how Elvis was snatched but also delves into the innermost thoughts of the King of rock'n'roll. How does Elvis react when he is treated like an ordinary person, told to sweep floors and chop wood? How does he interact with his kidnappers? Will his songs grant him his freedom? And how do those close him, among them ex-wife Priscilla and manager Colonel Tom Parker, respond to the crisis? Caught in a Trap is so believable you'll be asking yourself why it has taken so long for the story to get out.

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Brand new and revised edition of the best selling guide to Bob Dylan. Includes bigraphy, full discography (inc Rough & Rowdy Ways)

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When Bob Dylan picked up a silver cross thrown on stage and found Christianity in the late Seventies, it ended a search that had begun when his life crashed to a halt in 1966. According to Dylan, the turning point came one night in late 1978 when he received a "vision and a feeling." Dylan later said, "Jesus put his hand on me. It was a physical thing. I felt it. I felt it all over me. I felt my whole body tremble. The glory of the Lord knocked me down and picked me up." That search makes sense of his John Wesley Harding album and the following 12 years.

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The first in our SNAP Music photography series. Having started out shooting Spandau Ballet in the early Eighties, Neil s numerous commissions from record companies and the music press saw him work with most of the headline acts of the Eighties and Nineties. Amongst artists featured in the book are: Paul Weller, Wham!, Sinead O Connor, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Charlatans, Simon Le Bon, Bananarama, Heaven 17, The Housemartins, Duran Duran, Status Quo, Madness, Kim Wide, The Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Orange Juice, The Bangles, The Cure, Go West, Level 42 and many more.

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The book contains fascinating facts about memorable hits from key Sixties artists, hard-to-find tracks, alongside many hidden gems. This is a comprehensive collection that music fans and hardened Sixties collectors will cherish. The book includes features on: Beatles covers / Double A Sides / Turntable Hits / The Psychedelic Era / The Big Ballads / Pop On The screen / Novelty Records / Instrumentals / TV and radio themes / Dance Crazes / They Sold a Million

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Offering a unique glimpse into the Gram Parsons legend that has never been offered before this book is the inside story by his bandmate and travelling partner from the The International Submarine Band. Set between September 1965 and June 1968 it follows Gram Parsons as he begins to create country rock and he and the band embark upon an exasperating upstream journey, swimming against a tide of opposition, rejection and astonishment from the establishment. With a cast of characters including Gram Parsons, David Crosby, Peter Fonda, Denis Hopper, Arthur Lee, and Hugh Masekela this is more than a music book, it's a vivid swirling trip across a vanished America.

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A must-have book for any fan of the Beatles. This book shows how the Fab Four were heavily influenced by music from America and many of their concerts were built around classic songs that had their roots in American R&B, soul, and rock 'n' roll.

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This is both the story of the 50-year battle for equal rights and deeply personal accounts from high profile politicians, comedians, actors and others in the public arena. The book features contributions from David Hockney, Stephen Fry, Julian Clary, Matt Lucas, Matthew Parrish, Simon Callow, Will Young, Sir Derek Jacobi, Tom Robinson, Marc Almond, Sir Elton John, Alain Judd, Simon Callow, Angela Eagle, Baroness Barker, Dan Gillespie Sells, Evan Davis, Jake Graf, Jason Prince, Jon Savage, Lee Tracy, Lord Browne, Lord Cashman, Lord Paddick, Lord Smith, Manny, Mark Mcadam, Mark Wardell, Mathew Todd, Olly Alexander, Paris Lee, Paul Gambaccini, Peter Tachell, QBoy, Shon Faye, Stephanie Hirst, Stephen Amos, Steve Blame, The Reverend Andrew Foreshew-Cain, Tris Penna, Yotan Ottolenhgi and Zoe Lyons and more.

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57 Varieties is an amazing page-turning journey through the music scene of the early 1980s featuring an exclusive collection of never-republished vintage interviews with some of the biggest names in music: including Queen, Bob Marley, AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Paul & Linda McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Damned, Marc Bolan, Malcolm McLaren, The Buzzcocks, Iggy Pop, The Who, X-Ray Spex, Blondie, The Stranglers, Dr Feelgood, Ian Dury, Spandau Ballet and many, many more.

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The book explores the Hendrix legend from the perspective of the extraordinary year he spent in England recording a string of hit singles and achieving the fame that had escaped him in his native country. The book contains a wealth of interviews and new material revealing the man behind the legend and exploring why he fitted so well in the swinging London of 1967. An intimate portrait that captures Hendrix as both a performer extrordinaire and as a person. The book begins with the story of how Hendrix was discovered in the US and invited to the UK and ends with his triumphant return to the USA at the Monterey festival.

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700 great music locations and the fascinating stories behind them.

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