Along with the usual assortment of rock-star memoirs and biographies, coffee-table photo collections and scholarly tomes, this week’s extensive list boasts a first: A musical cookbook! Feast your eyes:
Me
By Elton John
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of 23 he was performing his first gig in America, facing an astonished audience in his bright yellow dungarees, a star-spangled T-shirt, and boots with wings. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again. His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation to conquering Broadway with Aida, The Lion King, and Billy Elliot the Musical. All the while Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade. In Me, Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble, and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes. This is a story that will stay with you by a living legend.”
Mixtape Potluck Cookbook: A Dinner Party for Friends, Their Recipes, and the Songs They Inspire
By Questlove
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Questlove is best known for his achievements in the music world, but his interest in food runs a close second. He has hosted a series of renowned Food Salons and conversations with some of America’s most prominent chefs. Now he is turning his hand to creating a cookbook. In Mixtape Potluck Cookbook, Questlove imagines the ultimate potluck dinner party, inviting more than fifty chefs, entertainers, and musicians — such as Eric Ripert, Natalie Portman, and Q-Tip — and asking them to bring along their favourite recipes. He also pairs each cook with a song that he feels best captures their unique creative energy. The result is not only an accessible, entertaining cookbook, but also a collection of Questlove’s diverting musical commentaries as well as an illustration of the fascinating creative relationship between music and food. With Questlove’s unique style of hosting dinner parties and his love of music, food, and entertaining, this book will give readers unexpected insights into the relationship between culture and food.”
Phoenix: Liberté, Égalité, Phoenix!
By Phoenix
THE PRESS RELEASE: “With one foot in the French electronic music sound of the late 1990s and the other in the world of indie Rock, Phoenix have evolved from an edgy French band to one of the most influential and beloved indie acts of the last 20 years. The book draws on the band’s personal archives, including photography of everything from their instruments to the notebooks in which every lyric and chord change were carefully notated. Accompanying this is an oral history of the Phoenix’s journey in their own words. The book is a superfan’s chronicle of the evolution of a band. Published to coincide with a series of anniversaries for the band — thirty years since their formation as teenagers in 1989; 20 since the release of their debut record in 1999; and 10 since Grammy Award-winning Best Alternative Album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, in 2009 — and with original interviews conducted with the band throughout, this book is an intimate celebration of a group whose particular brand of indie rock has struck a chord on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Born for This: My Story in Music
By BeBe Winans
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Benjamin “BeBe” Winans always knew he was born to be a Gospel singer. Growing up watching his four older brothers perform fueled his dream to be on stage, and as teenagers, he and his younger sister CeCe were offered the opportunity to move from Detroit to North Carolina and join the Praise the Lord Singers for The PTL Club, hosted by the eccentric Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Under the Bakkers’ wings, BeBe and CeCe became the most popular televangical stars in America and soon found themselves choosing between their family values and the temptations of fame and fortune. Like a conversation with a lifelong friend, BeBe invites readers and loyal fans alike to share in never-before-revealed details about life in the crossfires between church, Gospel music, and the mainstream recording industry. He shares personal stories about his mentor Andraé Crouch and close friend Whitney Houston, who both had a major impact on his life. As he reflects on the obstacles, the disappointments, the victories, the surprises, the racism, and the love he has encountered, he realizes that when we understand our value before God, we can participate in a daily glory and peace for which we were all born.”
Girl in a Girl Band Hardcover
By Malia James
THE PRESS RELEASE: “In her twenties, Malia James moved to London on a whim, eventually spending most of her post-adolescent life living on the road — first as a photographer, then as the bassist of acclaimed bands like Dum Dum Girls and Marnie Stern. Girl in a Girl Band captures some of James’ most stirring and intimate compositions taken from the road alongside original, handwritten text in a collection sure to inspire and fascinate on every page.”
Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield’s Life in the Blues
By David Dann
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Named one of the world’s great blues-rock guitarists by Rolling Stone, Mike Bloomfield (1943–1981) remains beloved by fans nearly 40 years after his untimely death. Taking readers backstage, onstage, and into the recording studio with this legendary virtuoso, David Dann tells the riveting stories behind Bloomfield’s work in the seminal Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the mesmerizing Electric Flag, as well as the Super Session album with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, and soundtrack work with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. In vivid chapters drawn from meticulous research, including more than 70 interviews with the musician’s friends, relatives, and band members, music historian Dann brings to life Bloomfield’s worlds, from his comfortable upbringing in a Jewish family on Chicago’s North Shore to the gritty taverns and raucous nightclubs where this self-taught guitarist helped transform the sound of contemporary blues and rock music. With scenes that are as electrifying as Bloomfield’s music, this is the story of a life lived at full volume.”
Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop
By Paul Myers & S. W. Lauden
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Fun, bright, and playful, power pop is a sometimes adored, sometimes maligned, often misunderstood genre of music. From its heyday in the ’70s and ’80s to its resurgence in the ’90s and ’00s, power pop has meant many things to many people. In Go All The Way, today’s best and brightest writers go deep on what certain power pop bands and songs mean and have meant to them. Whether they love or hate it, Go All The Way is a dive into the Beatles-inspired pop rock of the last five decades.”
From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society
By Taylor Markarian & Nataha Van Duser
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Explore the cultural, social, and psychological factors surrounding the genres. Though songs can be timeless, music is often a result of the era in which it was created. The 2000s in music gave rise to indie, emo, and punk rock, carrying an emotional tone that has resonated with listeners ever since. Originally appealing to a small selection of music lovers, this music era now holds a significant place in the history of rock. If books such as Please Kill Me, American Hardcore, Meet Me in the Bathroom, and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs have rocked your world, then From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society should be your next read.”
Elton John: Fifty Years On: The Complete Guide to the Musical Genius of Elton John and Bernie Taupin
By Stephen Spignesi & Michael Lewis
THE PRESS RELEASE: “We can count on one hand the musical legends equal to Elton John (The Beatles and The Rolling Stones each get a finger). Elton John: Fifty Years On looks at the impact songwriting partners Elton John and Bernie Taupin have had on popular music and culture, and also discusses every song on all 30 albums, plus his work on Broadway, in movies, and elsewhere. Elton John: Fifty Years On was written for ultimate Elton John fans. A browsing book, a reading book, a treasure trove of facts, trivia, insights, and commentary, it’s the perfect companion to Elton leaving the Yellow Brick Road.”
Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles
By Kenneth Womack
THE PRESS RELEASE: “In February 1969, The Beatles began working on what became their final album together. Abbey Road introduced a number of new techniques and technologies to The Beatles’ sound, and included Come Together, Something and Here Comes the Sun, which all emerged as classics. Kenneth Womack’s colourful retelling of how this landmark album was written and recorded is a treat for fans of The Beatles. Solid State takes readers back to 1969 and into EMI’s Abbey Road Studio, which boasted an advanced solid state transistor mixing desk. Womack focuses on the dynamics between John, Paul, George, Ringo, and producer George Martin and his team of engineers, who set aside (for the most part) the tensions and conflicts that had arisen on previous albums to create a work with an innovative (and, among some fans and critics, controversial) studio-bound sound that prominently included the new Moog synthesizer, among other novelties. As Womack shows, Abbey Road was the culmination of the instrumental skills, recording equipment, and artistic vision that the band and Martin had developed since their early days in the same studio seven years earlier. A testament to the group’s creativity and their producer’s ingenuity, Solid State is required reading for all fans of the Beatles and the history of rock ‘n’ roll.”
Blues Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Chicago
By David Whiteis
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Chicago blues musicians parlayed a genius for innovation and emotional honesty into a music revered around the world. As the blues evolves, it continues to provide a soundtrack to, and a dynamic commentary on, the African American experience: The legacy of slavery; historic promises and betrayals; opportunity and disenfranchisement; the ongoing struggle for freedom. Through it all, the blues remains steeped in survivorship and triumph, a music that dares to stare down life in all its injustice and iniquity and still laugh — and dance — in its face. David Whiteis delves into how the current and upcoming Chicago blues generations carry on this legacy. Drawing on in-person interviews, Whiteis places the artists within the ongoing social and cultural reality their work reflects and helps create. Beginning with James Cotton, Eddie Shaw, and other bequeathers, he moves through an all-star council of elders like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy and on to inheritors and today’s heirs apparent like Ronnie Baker Brooks, Shemekia Copeland, and Nellie (Tiger) Travis. Insightful and wide-ranging, Blues Legacy reveals a constantly adapting art form that, whatever the challenges, maintains its links to a rich musical past.
Po’ Monkey’s: Portrait of a Juke Joint
By Will Jacks
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Outside of Merigold, Miss., off an unmarked dirt road, stands Po’ Monkey’s, perhaps the most famous house in Mississippi and the last rural juke joint in the state, now closed to the public. Before the death of the lounge’s owner, Willie Seaberry, in 2016, it was a mandatory stop on the constant blues pilgrimage that flows through the Delta. Seaberry ran Po’ Monkey’s Lounge for more than 50 years, opening his juke joint in the 1960s. A hand-built tenant home located on the plantation where Seaberry worked, Po’ Monkey’s was a place to listen to music and drink beer — a place to relax where everyone was welcomed by Seaberry’s infectious charm. In Po’ Monkey’s: Portrait of a Juke Joint, photographer Will Jacks captures the juke joint he spent a decade patronizing. The 70-plus black-and-white photographs featured in this volume reflect 10 years of weekly visits to the lounge as a regular — a journal of Jacks’s encounters with other customers, tourists, and Seaberry himself. An essay by award-winning writer Boyce Upholt on the cultural significance of the lounge accompanies the images. This volume explores the difficulties of preservation, historical context, community relations, and cultural tourism. Now that Seaberry is gone, the uncertainty of the future of his juke joint highlights the need for a historical record.”
Cheap Shots: A Photographic Look at Underground Bands Through the 80s and Beyond
By Chris Barrows
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Since 1981, Chris Barrows has taken pictures of bands at their concerts, backstage, and behind the scenes. From U2 during their first tour in 1982 to Captain Sensible of The Damned on his knees in an alley licking a dominatrix’s thigh high vinyl boots, or Lee Ving standing on railroad tracks at night, Barrows’ intimate and stirring portraits of bands stripped down and unguarded will be a wonderful addition to any music fan’s collection.”
Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music
By Kyle Devine
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Music is seen as the most immaterial of the arts, and recorded music as a progress of dematerialization ― an evolution from physical discs to invisible digits. In Decomposed, Kyle Devine offers another perspective. He shows that recorded music has always been a significant exploiter of both natural and human resources, and that its reliance on these resources is more problematic today than ever before. Devine uncovers the hidden history of recorded music ― what recordings are made of and what happens to them when they are disposed of. Devine’s story focuses on three forms of materiality. Before 1950, 78 rpm records were made of shellac, a bug-based resin. Between 1950 and 2000, formats such as LPs, cassettes, and CDs were all made of petroleum-based plastic. Today, recordings exist as data-based audio files. Devine describes the people who harvest and process these materials, from women and children in the Global South to scientists and industrialists in the Global North. He reminds us that vinyl records are oil products, and that the so-called vinyl revival is part of petrocapitalism. The supposed immateriality of music as data is belied by the energy required to power the internet and the devices required to access music online. We tend to think of the recordings we buy as finished products. Devine offers an essential backstory. He reveals how a range of apparently peripheral people and processes are actually central to what music is, how it works, and why it matters.”
Music: A Subversive History
By Ted Gioia
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, historian Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs. Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval. He shows how social outcasts have repeatedly become trailblazers of musical expression: slaves and their descendants, for instance, have repeatedly reinvented music, from ancient times all the way to the jazz, reggae, and hip-hop sounds of the current day. Music: A Subversive History is essential reading for anyone interested in the meaning of music, from Sappho to The Sex Pistols to Spotify.”
