Search results for ""author pete townshend""

He is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter and lead guitarist for The Who, it would be unjust to define Pete Townshend’s life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey, Moon and Entwistle. Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a fifty-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments, but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture. An avid student of his profession, during his career he has been credited with the creation of the concept album, worked as a literary editor, developed scripts for television and the stage, and written songs that have defined a generation. The thinking man’s rock star with a dedication to his craft unlike any other in the business, he continues to inspire new generations of performers and writers with a continuing commitment to his art. Now, in one of the most eagerly awaited autobiographies of recent times, this icon tells about his incredible life and elaborates on the turbulences of time spent as one of the world’s most respected musicians – being in one of rock’s greatest ever bands, and wanting to give it all up. Incredibly, as a man who has achieved so much, this truly unique story of ambition, relentless perfectionism and rock and roll excess will be regarded as one of his greatest achievements.

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The Age of Anxiety is a great rock novel, but that is one of the less important things about it. The narrator is a brilliant creation - cultured, witty and unreliable. The novel captures the craziness of the music business and displays Pete Townshend's sly sense of humour and sharp ear for dialogue. First conceived as an opera, The Age of Anxiety deals with mythic and operatic themes including a maze, divine madness and long-lost children. Hallucinations and soundscapes haunt this novel, which on one level is an extended meditation on manic genius and the dark art of creativity.

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Virginia Astley has been a much admired songwriter and musician since the 1980s, known for her engaging lyrics as well as for her melodious style. Now her other two passions take centre stage in this book: poetry and the River Thames. She grew up by the river's upper reaches, knew the old lock-keepers and was familiar with all aspects of the Thames and its hinterland: both the natural world and the people whose lives are intimately connected with the river. In recent years, she has returned to the Thames, working for a summer as an assistant lock-keeper, and walking its length to record and respond to its landscapes, river life and river folk as a poet and photographer. Her pamphlet The Curative Harp won Ireland's Fool for Poetry chapbook competition in 2015 and was published by Southword. The English River is her first book-length poetry collection, showing many new sides to this multi-talented artist: as poet, nature writer, storyteller and photographer. The foreword is by Peter Townshend. `Virginia's story is about the river and the people who work on it, especially those who man the locks. She captures a view of the upper reaches of the River Thames that is entirely fresh. There are glimpsed moments of the claustrophobic beauty of the wooded parts that contrast with the open expanses of uplifting countryside where the river meanders through woodland and farmland. Focussing on the professionals who work on the river, and who manage the locks and the flood plains around them, Virginia suggests - as she works as a lock-keeper's assistant - that they become almost addicted to the peace and beauty of their place of work. She herself becomes enchanted, that is certain. She makes herself vulnerable in the most romantic way, working and writing and evoking everything she sees and feels as both a storyteller and poet, and as photographer.' - Pete Townshend, musician

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A major figure in American blues and folk music, Big Bill Broonzy (1903-58) left his Arkansas Delta home after World War I, headed north, and became the leading Chicago blues-man of the 1930s. His success came as he fused traditional rural blues with the electrified sound that was beginning to emerge in Chicago. This, however, was just one step in his remarkable journey: Big Bill was constantly reinventing himself, both in reality and in his retellings of it. Bob Riesman's groundbreaking biography tells the compelling life story of a lost figure from the annals of music history. "I Feel So Good" traces Big Bill's career from his rise as a nationally prominent blues star, including his historic 1938 appearance at Carnegie Hall, to his influential role in the post-World War II folk revival, when he sang about racial injustice alongside Pete Seeger and Studs Terkel. Riesman's account brings the reader into the jazz clubs and concert halls of Europe, as Big Bill's overseas tours in the 1950s ignited the British blues-rock explosion of the 1960s. Interviews with Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Ray Davies reveal Broonzy's profound impact on the British rockers who would follow him and change the course of popular music. Along the way, Riesman details Big Bill's complicated and poignant personal saga: he was married three times and became a father at the very end of his life to a child half a world away. He also brings to light Big Bill's final years, when he lost first his voice, then his life, to cancer, just as his international reputation was reaching its peak. Featuring many rarely seen photos, "I Feel So Good" will be the definitive account of Big Bill Broonzy's life and music.

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A major figure in American blues and folk music, Big Bill Broonzy (1903-58) left his Arkansas Delta home after World War I, headed north, and became the leading Chicago bluesman of the 1930s. His success came as he fused traditional rural blues with the electrified sound that was beginning to emerge in Chicago. This, however, was just one step in his remarkable journey: Big Bill was constantly reinventing himself, both in reality and in his retellings of it. Bob Riesman's groundbreaking biography tells the compelling life story of a lost figure from the annals of music history. "I Feel So Good" traces Big Bill's career from his rise as a nationally prominent blues star, including his historic 1938 appearance at Carnegie Hall, to his influential role in the post-World War II folk revival, when he sang about racial injustice alongside Pete Seeger and Studs Terkel. Riesman's account brings the reader into the jazz clubs and concert halls of Europe, as Big Bill's overseas tours in the 1950s ignited the British blues-rock explosion of the 1960s. Interviews with Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Ray Davies reveal Broonzy's profound impact on the British rockers who would follow him and change the course of popular music. Along the way, Riesman details Big Bill's complicated and poignant personal saga: he was married three times and became a father at the very end of his life to a child half a world away. He also brings to light Big Bill's final years, when he lost first his voice, then his life, to cancer, just as his international reputation was reaching its peak. Featuring many rarely seen photos, as well as a foreword by the celebrated music writer and historian Peter Guralnick, "I Feel So Good" will be the definitive account of Big Bill Broonzy's life and music.

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This updated and expanded edition of Tommy at Fifty is the definitive illustrated companion to the album that made the Who one of the greatest and most influential bands of the rock era. Written by two leading experts on, and close associates of, the group—journalist and author Chris Charlesworth and original album cover designer Mike McInnerney—it considers the album from four distinct angles, examining the mood of its creation, the origins of its music, the look of the artwork and its subsequent film adaptation, and its enduring legacy. With a foreword by Pete Townshend and cover art created exclusively for this book by McInnerney, Tommy at Fifty offers an unparalleled window into the Who’s finest hour. With the exception perhaps of My Generation, Tommy remains the work with which the Who are most closely associated. It’s the album that turned Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon into millionaire superstars, and, like its Messiah figure title character, it casts a long shadow over both their subsequent work together and the canon of 20th‐century rock music.

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An original graphic novel based on rock music legend Pete Townshend's 1970 screenplay of the same name, which inspired The Who’s 1971 globally bestselling and universally beloved album, Who’s Next. Set in a Dystopian future where music has been outlawed, Life House follows a small band of rebels who stage an underground concert in an effort to undermine a tyrannical leader... and free Britain and all of humanity. This graphic novelization is co-written by Doom Patrol's James Harvey and Spider-Man Noir's David Hine with art by both Harvey and Australian visual artist Max Prentis, lettering by Michah Myers, and inks by Eisner Award winning artist Mick Gray. It is edited by the former Editor-in-Chief of Bleeding Cool, Hannah Means-Shannon, and features a massive Vinyl LP format (12.25" x 12.25"). This is a must-have for any serious music collectors, rock fans, and pop culture aficionados! Originally envisioned as a sci-fi rock epic to follow-up The Who's chart-topping song, “Tommy,” and put aside 50 years ago—in favor of Who’s Next songs like “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and “Behind Blue Eyes”—Life House will finally take center stage.

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An original graphic novel based on rock music legend Pete Townshend's 1970 screenplay of the same name, which inspired The Who’s 1971 globally bestselling and universally beloved album, Who’s Next. Set in a Dystopian future where music has been outlawed, Life House follows a small band of rebels who stage an underground concert in an effort to undermine a tyrannical leader... and free Britain and all of humanity. This graphic novelization is co-written by Doom Patrol's James Harvey and Spider-Man Noir's David Hine with art by both Harvey and Australian visual artist Max Prentis, lettering by Michah Myers, and inks by Eisner Award winning artist Mick Gray. It is edited by the former Editor-in-Chief of Bleeding Cool, Hannah Means-Shannon, and features a massive Vinyl LP format (12.25" x 12.25"). This is a must-have for any serious music collectors, rock fans, and pop culture aficionados! Originally envisioned as a sci-fi rock epic to follow-up The Who's chart-topping song, “Tommy,” and put aside 50 years ago—in favor of Who’s Next songs like “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and “Behind Blue Eyes”—Life House will finally take center stage. Features a Vegan Leather-bound Slipcase

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