Search results for ""author martin popoff""

The first book ever on the classic British rock band UFO. Based around the author's many interviews with all the key players such as Phil Mogg, Pete Way & Michael Schenker. Noted author Martin Popoff takes you through the Schenker era in great detail; album-by-album, song by song along with touring anecdotes and of course, tales revolving around the wild and excessive behaviour that was very much a part of the band. Rounding if off is a full discography.

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Author Martin Popoff assembles a panel of experts to roll through the records one by one, no stone unturned, no songs left unaddressed. There's been little written about Plant's journey from solo icon of the '80s through to his repeated deep-dives into Americana, world music, tributes to other writers, and the singular symphony of sounds that results when he mixes these parts. This book deconstructs each of Plant's 11 thought-provoking albums. It's hoped that the reader emerges with a new and nuanced appreciation for what Robert's been trying to achieve over the decades.

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If any band deserves to have homage paid to them with a lavish, limited edition photographic book, look no further than Thin Lizzy. With their origins going back to the late sixties, by 1971 with the first album release, Lizzy’s journey really began. Incredibly no one has published a visual biography before, but now that has been rectified. Drawing on several thousand images and items of memorabilia this large format 240-page book is a treasure trove for Thin Lizzy devotees — crammed full of live and off-stage shots that portray the band’s journey through the decades. It also includes loads of super cool memorabilia including backstage passes, gig posters, media adverts and much more, all reproduced on high quality art paper. This is one future collector’s item that every self-respecting Lizzy fan will want to own. Rounding it off, Thin Lizzy: A Visual Biography is topped and tailed with 20,000 words by Lizzy biographer and world-renowned rock author Martin Popoff. This lavish book will prove to be a valuable addition to any fan’s collection.

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This new tome by the hugely prolific Canadian author Martin Popoff is a detailed re-write and expanded edition of his 2005 publication English Castle Magic. In fact the book is 50% bigger, a whopping 120,000 words and 318 pages including two swell colour photo sections. Sensitive To Light is without doubt the most comprehensive Rainbow biography to date and is based around multiple interviews the author has conducted with most of the key band members over many years including Ritchie Blackmore, as well as Roger Glover, Tony Carey, Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner, along with those who are sadly no longer with us, namely Cozy Powell Ronnie James Dio, Jimmy Bain and Craig Gruber. Loads more research has also gone into this new publication which is brought bang up to date with the Ronnie Romero era live shows and new songs, following Blackmore’s decision to rejuvenate Rainbow in 2016, almost twenty years on from the last incarnation that had concluded in 1997. From the raw and fiery Dio years, through the criminally under-rated Down to Earth album, the smooth crooning Joe Lynn Turner era and into one final somewhat forgotten record fronted by Doogie White, it’s all examined here, track by track, fascinating tale by trick. Ritchie Blackmore and his reputation is legion. But is it warranted? This is the book you should read to find out why as we look at the man’s career as reigning lord over the constantly evolving consortium of monster talents known as Rainbow.

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In Dominance and Submission: The Blue Oyster Cult Canon, three-time BOC book author Martin Popoff turns the microphone away from himself to moderate a gathered and esteemed panel of Cult experts for deep-dive discussions on every Blue Oyster Cult studio album. No stone is left unturned, as we look at the personalities in the band, every song, every album cover, the band's highly regarded lyrics as poetry, their music as ground-breaking and genre-defying. Dominance and Submission is set-up in Q&A format, allowing for pure and piercing prose that is also conversational and easy-access. In the end, the author is confident that the wise words from this cabal of music authorities-with Popoff not pulling any punches either, joining in the fun when the door is opened-will have you playing the band's "canon" with a renewed appreciation as to the complexity laced throughout such albums as Tyranny and Mutation, Agents of Fortune-with its career defining hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"-Spectres, Fire of Unknown Origin and the daunting Imaginos. But have no fear, Martin and his team have taken us right up to the band's effusively received comeback album, The Symbol Remains, bringing band and fan full circle-umlauts included, of course. Finally, augmenting the learning (and listening) experience, Dominance and Submission provides a plethora of images that make these essays on the band's fifteen albums that much more visceral. Bottom line: if you thought Martin had covered everything you need to know in his definitive Agents of Fortune: The Blue Oyster Cult Story, think again-the analysis proffered by his panel even sent Popoff back to the sacred texts for a rock 'n' roll re-imagining. If he's been made smarter by what these guys have to say, you will be too.

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Megadeth's run of thrash classics from the mid eighties through to the nineties continue to be celebrated in the metal community long after leader Dave Mustaine's band mates have been discarded to the sands of time-save one, Dave "Jr" Ellefson. Along the way there's Mustaine's pathology with his ex-friends in Metallica but also a hell of a lot of killer metal as the band works its way up through Peace Sells and So Far, So Good... So What! through to the superlative metal classics, namely Rust In Peace and Countdown To Extinction. Later came Cryptic Writings and Risk that threatened to kill the band but the reconstitution of Megadeth after its demoralising decline and then deflating dispersal at the destructive hand of Mustaine is a story untold... until now. But it's a tale worth telling for its instructiveness on how to rebuild and maintain a career. Quite simply the recent Megadeth story spanning the albums The World Needs A Hero through to Super Collider includes some of the beast and heaviest Megadeth ever committed to record. Celebrate Mustaine's vision track-by-track with top author Martin Popoff. With over sixty books to his name, Popoff applies his tried and tested methodology to a head-crunching canon of work that is truly as strong at the recent end of the spectrum as it is with the classics you all know and love.

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Explore the extraordinary history of Van Halen through the groundbreaking band’s 50 most important moments, brought to vivid life with photos and memorabilia. Formed in Southern California in 1974, Van Halen became one of the best-selling bands in rock history and one of the highest-grossing tour acts with their rock-solid rhythm section, the histrionics of outrageous frontman David Lee Roth, and the wildly inventive and until-then unimaginable guitar heroics of Eddie Van Halen. In Van Halen at 50, prolific rock journalist Martin Popoff pays tribute to the band on the occasion of their 50th anniversary by curating 50 significant milestones, from their formation in 1974 to the passing of Eddie Van Halen in 2020. This volume features: Stunning concert and candid offstage photography Images of memorabilia, including gig posters, vinyl record sleeves, ticket stubs, period ads, and more Gatefold Van Halen timeline

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In this second part of Genesis on Record, Popoff's panel of progressive pronouncers are at your service. Indeed, Martin is confident that after you read what these guys have to say, you'll be scurrying back to the albums looking for any number of the hundreds of details celebrated in these Q&A chapters of yummy music talk.

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If you saw Queen, then Queen Live! will serve as the ultimate tour program-type memento of those magic days. And if you didn't, this book goes a long way toward putting you in that hallowed space, watching one of the most talented bands night after night, year after year until the bitter end on this most eminent of British institutions.

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Renowned rock author Martin Popoff's exhaustive and detailed timeline of Deep Purple milestones from 1980 - 2011, including some similar bands, influences, cultural milieu, tour stuff, recording sessions, charts, singles, certification news, break-ups, personal stuff, trivia for miles, and lots and lots of artist quotes to add to the entries, turning the book into a quasi-oral history loaded with factual matter. But as this is about family the text weaves in and out of the story of Purple proper, the dastardly diaries of Rainbow, Whitesnake, Gillan, Blackmore's Night, all the solo projects, guest slots, Gary Moore, Black Sabbath and Black Country Communion, always with contextual explanation plus rare and very cool archival advertisements of shows and records.

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Having written the first book ever on UFO, 2005’s long out-of-print Shoot Out the Lights, Martin Popoff, author of over seventy rock books, has now greatly expanded and rewritten the later years material from that title, bringing us now Lettin’ Go: UFO in the `80s & `90s. Popoff brings to the project new interviews with the key members throughout the decades, along with a substantial amount of new research to offer what is now the only book to focus on the eighties and nineties era of the band that saw huge turbulence amongst the ranks. Utilising his celebrated one album per chapter method, Popoff analyses the complete catalogue from the period of the band where initially Paul Chapman takes over from the departed Michael Schenker for the albums. No Place To Run, The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent, Mechanix and Making Contact. The journey takes us through the albums following the departure of Chapman and bassist Pete Way and concludes with 1995’s Walk On Water that sees the classic line-up reunited with Schenker back on guitar before he sensationally walked out on the band after just four shows of the supporting tour. In and around Popoff’s famed meticulous analysis of the catalogue, look for lots of tour talk, revealing nightmares surrounding the band’s business, and warnings about how the twin demons of drugs and alcohol can slow a band’s progress on the way to the top.

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Take a deep dive into one of the best-selling albums ever on the 50th anniversary of its release with this beautifully produced and authoritatively written slipcased edition. Veteran rock critic Martin Popoff leaves no stone unturned in taking apart The Who’s generation-spanning masterpiece, Quadrophenia, while exploring each of the album’s 17 tracks and their themes of identity, anxiety, and mental health. Chapters cover: The state of The Who as of 1973, including their role in Mod culture The recording sessions at famed Olympic Studios and the band’s own Battersea location, including techniques used Song-by-song studies of each album side, including analyses of lyrics and the guitars, drums, keyboards, and synthesizers employed by members Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon The 1979 motion picture based on the album’s song cycle The continent-hopping tours that supported the album The rock group’s trajectory post-Quadrophenia, including notable albums and tours Popoff also takes you on side journeys examining each band member, mod vs. rocker culture, the album’s famous graphic design, manager/producers Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert, Quadrophenia collectibles, and more. There’s even a brief discography and complete LP tour dates. Presented in a 10" × 10" slipcased book, The Who & Quadrophenia is illustrated with stunning performance and candid off-stage photography as well as rare memorabilia. The result is a richly presented celebration and your ultimate tribute to the rock opera masterpiece.

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One of the world’s most prolific bands is being broken down track by track, album by album—and you have tickets to the details, facts, and secrets in Led Zeppelin​. Formed by the unlikely alliance of two ace London studio musicians and two bar-band bumpkins, Led Zeppelin went on to create the template for the marauding modern rock ’n’ roll band. Often described as “heavy,” any true fan will tell you that the band’s 9 studio albums and 81 tracks thereon are actually a complex amalgam of blues, psychedelia, rock, folk, and country that reveal the influences of Led Zeppelin’s four members. Veteran music journalist Martin Popoff picks apart each of these 81 tracks in exquisite detail, and for the first time ever, you can come along for the ride. Popoff analyzes the circumstances that led to their creation, the recording processes, the historical contexts, and more. Offstage and performance photography, as well as images of rare memorabilia, bring the band’s story to vivid life. Included as a special bonus, he also offers an introductory essay on each of the band’s nine studio albums, and sidebar features that explore influences on the band as well as song details, such as running time, instruments played, engineers, and studios.

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A unique and beautifully produced celebration of the iconic and beloved rock star, Bowie at 75 features a slipcased hardcover with a gatefold timeline, gatefold artwork, frameable pull-out gig poster, and a pull-out photo print! Hendrix, Joplin, Mercury…few rock artists garner as much adulation after passing as they did in life. In Bowie at 75, veteran rock journalist Martin Popoff examines David Bowie’s extraordinary life through the lens of 75 significant career achievements and life events, guiding you through all 27 studio albums, as well as a curated selection of earworm singles. But Popoff delves deeper to reveal the events that helped chart the course of Bowie’s career: Guest appearances with artists like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Tina Turner, and Queen Key performances such as Live Aid Collaborations with an incredible roster of guitarists that included Mick Ronson, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nile Rodgers, and Earl Slick Film and television roles Romance…and more. From his eponymous 1967 debut LP and ending with Blackstar, released just two days before his death, Bowie is regarded as one of the most influential musicians and performers of the previous five decades, during which he constantly redefined himself. In examining 75 touchstones, Popoff gives you a unique view of Bowie’s career arc from folkie to the breakthrough single “Space Oddity” to his flamboyant glam rock alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, and beyond. Illustrated with live concert and candid offstage photography as well as memorabilia including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, and more, this incredible package also includes a gatefold timeline, a gatefold painting depicting “A Party of Bowies,” a previously unpublished 8×10-inch glossy print, and a pullout poster by famed gig poster artist Frank Kozik. The result is a stunning tribute to one of the most influential and admired stars in rock history—in a milestone year.

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Find out what 20 rock journalists and writers have to say about Rush's 20 studio albums.Formed in Toronto in 1968, the rock trio Rush has gone on to multiplatinum success behind the distinctive high register and virtuosic bass-playing of frontman Geddy Lee, the legendary drumming and lyric-writing of Neil Peart, and the guitar heroics of Alex Lifeson. Despite having just four chart-topping singles since the release of their debut LP in 1974, Rush has nonetheless sold more than 25 million albums in the U.S. and more than 40 million worldwide. Indeed, the Canadian trio may be the definition of an "album band," and this new book from prolific rock journalist and acknowledged Rush authority Martin Popoff pays tribute to the band's discography by moderating in-depth, frank, and entertaining conversations about all 20 of Rush's studio albums. Inside, the author gathers 20 rock journalists and authors who offer insights, opinions, and anecdotes about every release. Together, the conversations comprise a unique historical overview of the band, as well as a handsome discography. Popoff also includes loads of sidebars that provide complete track listings, details on album personnel, information on where and when the albums were recorded, and sidebar facts about the albums, their songs, and the band.

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An updated version of Loud 'n' Proud: Fifty Years of Nazareth, drawing on copious images and items of memorabilia, this large format 240-page book is a treasure trove for Nazareth devotees — crammed full of live and off stage shots that portray the band’s journey through the decades. It also includes loads of super cool memorabilia including backstage passes, gig posters, media adverts and much more, all reproduced on high quality art paper. From the early days of the seventies through to the current day, nestling alongside the wonderful imagery, the band’s whole career is documented by esteemed rock writer Martin Popoff who was assisted through the whole narrative by Nazareth’s founder and only remaining original member Pete Agnew. Popoff also interviewed Agnew for the book in addition to previous interviews the author has conducted, not only with the bass player extraordinaire but with many other band members past and present, all neatly laid out in a timeline, making this the essential go to Nazareth book.

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Denim and Leather is 260 pages of biker metal hail after hail, with two four-page photo sections, loads of fresh interview content, all the facts and dates and even some of the hot disputes. As the back cover crows... Stand Up and Be Counted! Now that there's no more Motorhead, it's up to Iron Maiden and Saxon to uphold the fine tradition of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, something both bands have been doing for over 40 years now. Indeed, 2020 marked the 40th anniversary of Saxon's landmark Wheels of Steel album, a record we celebrate in this book with much reverence and many pints of ale clinked between headbangers clad in both denim and leather. Of course there's more than that but not everything! Indeed, Denim and Leather: Saxon's First Ten Years focuses on the band's golden era, Saxon's prodigious first decade of output. Saxon, Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law, Denim and Leather, Power & the Glory, Crusader, Innocence Is No Excuse, Rock the Nations and Destiny each are dedicated stand-alone chapters, inside of which Popoff deconstructs every song across both sides of the original vinyl, while not forgetting bonus tracks and B-sides, as well as the live material along the way, including the beloved The Eagle Has Landed album. It's a glory-bound Saxon-fest that is long overdue, and it is the hope of the author that at the end of this sometimes critical examination that the reader returns to these records with new reflections on the NWOBHM and some of the detrimental things that came after for many bands, the heroes of our story included.

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Quite 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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Martin Popoff assembles a panel of interested interviewees in celebration of Ritchie Blackmore's legendary band Rainbow, one album at a time, every song considered with Martin serving as pull-no-punches moderator and presenting the panel's arguments in easy-to-read Q&A format.

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A comprehensive timeline celebrating Alice Cooper's entire career - full of new revelations and interviews turning up page after page.

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Meticulous, detailed reference-styled timelines, charting the history of this esteemed UK institution, from its inception to the band's posthumous last album, Coda, issued in 1982. This elegant coffee table book charts the explosive live stage history of the band, along with the iconic albums. Memorabilia adds a visual feast to the book.

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ÊKickstart My Heart: A Mêtley Crðe Day-by-DayÊ is an exciting chronology that celebrates in innovative form ä through the use of day-by-day entries and supporting band quotes mostly collected firsthand by the author as well as memorabilia shots and photography ä the crazy lives lived by Vince Mick Nikki and Tommy at the booze-drenched apex of the rock-'n'-roll food chain. Augmented with entries that help place the band in a wider rock context Popoff presents a swift-moving action-packed symphony of text and visuals that reprises his collaboration with Backbeat on similarly structured titles about Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne. With very few Mêtley Crðe-related books on the market ÊKickstart My HeartÊ will likely serve for years to come as the most complete ä and completely party-hardy ä celebration of this band now 35 years on and in the midst of completing its final tour ever.

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Dublin's Thin Lizzy have become one of the most revered cult acts of all time, studious and discerning fans of hard rock the world over revelling in the storytelling acumen of the legendary Phil Lynott and the craft and class of his band. Through numerous interviews with most of the principals involved and a mountain of painstaking research Emerald; Thin Lizzy's Golden Era examines the band's career up to 1976 culminating in the superlative and sparkling Jailbreak, home of such hits as 'Cowboy Song', 'Emerald', 'Jailbreak' and 'The Boys Are Back In Town' and followed by Johnny The Fox that included the hit single 'Don't Believe A Word'. Along the way, alcohol and drugs wreaked havoc between band members, producers and managers, but despite line-up changes and a mostly grinding, rock scrabble existence, Ireland's favourite sons persevered, finally achieving the smash hit record they'd deserved for so long. Immerse yourself in Popoff's celebrated record-by-record methodology and emerge a rejuvenated Lizzy fan, newly appreciative of the deep album tracks hiding within this singular band's often forgotten early years. A revised and expanded version of Popoff's previous Dublin To Jailbreak Emerald; Thin Lizzy's Golden Era is based on interviews the author conducted specifically for the book with band members Eric Bell, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, Gary Moore and Brian Robertson; managers Terry O'Neill and Ted Carroll; producers Nick Tauber and Ron Nevison; Nigel Grange from Vertigo; road manager Frank Murray and cover artist Jim Fitzpatrick. Revealing Phil Lynott in all his dastardly guises Emerald; Thin Lizzy's Golden Era, is an essential read for the devoted Lizzy fans.

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They were the envy of all the more "earthly" rock acts scrambling to make it in the world of '70s hard rock, each and all aspiring to the success levels of Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult, Styx and Angel label mates Kiss. But the story of Angel is of a band out of time, playing regal progressive heavy metal and then changing to try reach radio, in either guise, not quite clicking with enough Kiss fans-Kiss were the devils in black and Angel were the good guys in white-nor the fans of progressive rock or, later, those more inclined to Foreigner, Journey and Cheap Trick. Along the way, the band went first class, with the best gear, a killer stage show and tons of promotion from Neil Bogart and Casablanca until they had racked up a million dollars of debt by the end of their blessed run, the guys often oblivious to what lesser bands had to go through. Indeed, this is a story of a band hailed as rock stars and indeed often headlining like rock stars, without the record sales to justify the crazy spending that a believing Bogart threw at the band. Then it was all over and we heard virtually nothing from any of them (save for keyboardist Gregg) after 1981 until... well, both Punky Meadows and Frank DiMino stormed back with solo albums. And then, appearing outta nowhere like they did in their famous stage show, Angel returned in 2019 with a blindingly white and quite sprightly new album called Risen. Come celebrate what it was like to live as the alter-ego to Kiss as we examine the band's five studio albums of the original run, the crushing concert album, Live Without a Net, as well as where it all went wrong and the inspiring return of Frank and Punky through the spirited hard rocker that is Risen.

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Yes: A Visual Biography I: 1968 - 1981 documents the progressive rock pioneer's first twelve years from the release of their eponymous debut album through to 1980's Drama: A suitable name for a band whose career has been full of drama as documented in Popoff's narrative that charts Yes's ups and downs as the band glided out of the sixties with a full-on assault on the seventies music scene that saw them become one of the biggest global acts-selling out venues around the world from New York's Madison Square Garden to London's Wembley Arena. Popoff takes you on a journey from the early days of the band with original members Chris Squire, Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks and Tony Kaye; to the hugely successful seventies when the likes of Steve Howe, Patrick Moraz, Rick Wakeman and Alan White all added their individual stamps on the band's identity. Then the surprise union with The Buggles that saw Yes enter the eighties a world apart from the way they had entered the seventies but continuing to delight their legion of fans.

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Taking cue from the do-it-yourself attitude of their country’s punk movement, Britain’s up-and-coming heavy metal bands that comprised the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) were not content to wait for record labels to come knocking. Instead, they took to issuing their own music, typically in the form of 7 inch singles but also 12s and full-length album, many indie, some on small labels, and some on the major labels smart enough to get on board (essentially EMI and MCA). Martin Popoff, writer of more record reviews than anybody in history across all genres), has undertaken the task of documenting virtually every record large and small from heavy metal’s most fabled period (beginning essentially in `79 with a hard stop at 1983) providing catalogue information, mini reviews as only he can do, plus a gob of thumbnails of those wonderful 7” picture sleeves and LP covers. Additional features: * Includes hundreds of rare 45 picture sleeve and album cover images. * Every record rated out of 10. * Layout designed so that LPs are distinguished from 7”, 10” and 12” singles/EPs. * Label, year of release and catalogue number for almost every entry. * Two appendices, displaying all 9’s and 10’s for singles as opposed to LPs.

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Rock City, Narita, Fire Down Under, Restless Breed, Born in America... These are the pioneering, superlative heavy metal records that represent the classic first decade of Brooklyn’s Riot’s, before the band would break up, eventually storming back with Thundersteel and The Privilege of Power, existing to this day as Riot V after the shocking death from Crohn’s disease of guitarist and leader Mark Reale. Riot’s is a tale of opportunities missed, of a band ahead of the curve, and of a band from which both its classic era lead singers — Guy Speranza and Rhett Forrester — are now dead, as is, of course, Mark Reale, a quiet man who, fatefully, wanted to leave the business to others and just play his heavy metal. But this book is not just about the ’75 to ’85 period of the band that spawned one of the finest metal records of all time, 1981’s Fire Down Under. Even if the classics framed by those ten years get the full, dedicated chapter, track-by-track Popoff treatment, the subsequent rich and substantial catalogue of the band is discussed as well, right up to the present day where Riot shines on. But still, the focus is on songs like `Warrior’, `49er’, `Road Racin’’, `Outlaw’, `Don’t Hold Back’, `Altar of the King’, `Violent Crimes’, `Vigilante Killer’ and of course the insanely anthemic `Swords and Tequila’, as we celebrate a New York institution that is perhaps the shining example of the term, “honorary New Wave of British Heavy Metal” band.

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A beautifully produced, photo-packed celebration of the ultimate rock band, AC/DC at 50 examines the extraordinary history of the Australian rockers through the lens of 50 milestone events and an illustrated gatefold timeline. Formed in Australia in 1973, AC/DC became one of the most popular and best-selling bands in rock history with their loud, heavy, sweat-drenched, blues-based rock. This richly illustrated book from prolific rock journalist Martin Popoff pays tribute to the band on the occasion of their 50th anniversary by curating and examining the 50 most significant milestones. Popoff covers everything down through the decades: The role played by the Angus and Malcolm Young’s older brother, George The songwriting, legendary antics, and tragic death of vocalist Bon Scott The mega tours undertaken in support of the LPs The debut of singer Brian Johnson on the band’s mega breakthrough, Back in Black The band’s fallow 1980s and 1990s resurgence Later difficulties, such as Malcolm’s onset of dementia and passing and the legal problems of drummer Phil Rudd And, of course, each of the landmark studio LPs In examining 50 touchstones, Popoff provides a unique presentation of AC/DC’s career arc from Sydney pub band to international mega-platinum stadium fillers. Every page is illustrated with stunning concert and candid offstage photography, including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, ticket stubs, and more. The result is an epic tribute to one of the most influential and admired bands in rock history—in a milestone year.

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In 1974, Alice Cooper shocked the rock world, scooped up his makeup kit and went solo. Consummated by a legal name change from Vincent Furnier to Alice Cooper, “the man behind the mask” never looked back, writing and recording fully 21 studio albums across a roller-coaster career that is now nearly 60 years on in the business, with almost 50 of that on his own, calling the shots as a man and brand with a plan, often guided by manager Shep Gordon, one of the best in the biz. Feed My Frankenstein: Alice Cooper, the Solo Years charts this action-packed era for Alice, beginning with the smash success of the Welcome to My Nightmare album and tour and hitting a nadir with the blackout years of the early ‘80s, where Alice nearly died from booze and hard drugs before being brought back by his faith in God and by the good graces of his wife Sheryl. Next came Alice’s third wave of major success with Trash and Hey Stoopid, followed by a settling into regular record-making and touring duties, culminating in some of his best work quite recently, with Dirty Diamonds, Along Came a Spider and 2021’s Detroit Stories. All of this is celebrated in Feed My Frankenstein, meticulously charted with timeline entries that are extensively explained and corroborated by a gallery of Alice’s band members throughout the decades. Helping bring the story to life is a smorgasbord of imagery, from live photography through to all manner of memorabilia, underscoring how visceral the visual has always been for this legendary showman. Get on board and get a sense of how each and every one of Alice’s 21 solo albums work, along with an understanding of how absolutely and insanely jam-packed life has been for Alice since 1974 when he and Shep rolled the dice, pooled all their resources and took us on an all-guns-blazing tour of Alice’s sleeping brain. Indeed, once rolling, it just never stopped. Next station was Hell, followed by a visit to the asylum and then, down the road apiece, Brutal Planet, Dragontown and finally Michigan for some Detroit Stories. It’s all here in red, black and blue — bring your camera.

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The Damned are forever in the history books as the first UK punk band to get an album out. Damned Damned Damned was a flamethrower of a record, led by the incendiary violence of “New Rose” (first UK punk single as well) and “Neat Neat Neat,” two shocking punk anthems that defined the golden era of the new wave more purely pogo-mad than anything outta The Clash or the Sex Pistols. And the mayhem never let up, with the band already breaking up and reforming (another first!) by 1979 for one of the greatest punk albums of all time, Machine Gun Etiquette (by the way, The Damned were also the first UK punk band to tour America). More punch-ups and gratuitous vandalism ensued as the band expanded its palette through the years. Popoff has wanted to write Lively Arts: The Damned Deconstructed for decades, and now that it’s finished, he’s been all over video and radio calling it his favourite and best book he’s ever done. For in it, Popoff got to analyse monastically — headphones and repeat button at the ready — every damned Damned song across all the albums and every EP and single. This herculean task represented a joy of an exercise from a penmanship point of view, but it was most satisfying in a proselytizing sense — Martin wants everybody joining him in poring over The Damned catalogue in minute detail. Let this long-suffering band of scrapping, scratching cats in a sack know how important and beloved they are before they’re all dead!

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A grinding celebration of the metal gods Judas Priest in all their sumptuous glory. A photo-stuffed coffee table book with the entire fifty plus year history in meticulous timeline order - a rock-hard reference book, with the facts presented mostly soberly and efficiently. This book contains all manner of facts that also takes a detailed look at offshoot bands and side-projects throughout the visually stunning pages.

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In the follow-up to his Judas Priest: Decade of Domination book, which looked at the band's career from inception through the Defenders of the Faith album of 1984, Martin Popoff now tackles the band's incendiary "hair metal" years through to the triumphant return to form of 2018's Firepower. In between, Popoff tackles the live albums, Glenn Tipton's solo excursion, Fight, Two and Halford... all that good stuff that resulted from the Metal God's split with the band before his celebrated return to the throne. Turbo, Ram It Down, Painkiller, Jugulator, Demolition, Angel of Retribution, Nostradamus, Redeemer of Souls, Firepower... this is the story of nine records all quite different from each other, and all the details and tales in between. What results is the story of more than thirty years of Priest history, including the making of 1990's Painkiller, a record considered by a younger generation of Priest fans to be the greatest slammin' collection of metal anthems the band ever concocted and rocked. Judas Priest: Turbo 'til Now includes extensive colour commentary from Popoff's many chats over the decades with those who were there, including Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing, Ian Hill, Scott Travis, Ripper Owens and Richie Faulkner, along with producers Tom Allom, Chris Tsangarides and Roy Z. The result is the most in-depth examination of Judas Priest's late '80s to present-day output ever attempted.

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A thoughtfully curated and gloriously illustrated retrospective of the band’s studio releases, Queen, comes just in time for the 45th anniversary of their debut LP and biopic. Formed in 1970, Queen went on to become one of the most popular—and most successful—rock bands of all time. Even following the untimely death of beloved and magnetic frontman Freddie Mercury, and nearly 50 years after their formation, interest in the band has continued, evidenced by scores of reissues, arena tours with surviving members, and a feature-film biopic. In this new installment in Voyageur Press’s Album by Album series, rock journo Martin Popoff convenes a cast of 19 Queen experts and superfans to discuss all 15 of the band’s studio albums (including their soundtrack for the 1980 film Flash Gordon). Panelists include Queen experts, rock journalists, musicians, and record industry figures. The results are freewheeling discussions delving into the individual songs, the circumstances that surrounded the recording of each album, the band and contemporary rock contexts into which they were released, and more. The engaging text of this beautifully designed book is illustrated throughout with rare live performance and candid offstage photography, as well as scads of rare Queen ephemera. The Album by Album series is a unique approach to the rock bio, injecting the varied voices of several contributors. The results have even the most diehard fans rushing back to their MP3 players (or turntables) to confirm the details and opinions expressed!

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