Richard Marx tells tales, Mary Gauthier gets saved, The Wu-Tang Clan saga is a twice-told tale, Bruce Springsteen says cheese and the rest of the new music tomes on your to-do list. Read all about ’em:
Stories to Tell: A Memoir
By Richard Marx
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Musician Richard Marx offers an enlightening, entertaining look at his life and career. One of the most accomplished singer-songwriters in the history of popular music, his self-titled 1987 album went triple platinum and made him the first male solo artist to have four singles from their debut crack the top three on the Billboard Hot 100. His followup, 1989’s Repeat Offender, was an even bigger smash, going quadruple platinum and landing two singles at No. 1. He has written 14 No. 1 songs, shared a Song of the Year Grammy with Luther Vandross, and collaborated with artists including NSYNC, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole and Keith Urban. Lately, he’s also become a Twitter celebrity thanks to his outspokenness on social issues and his ability to out-troll his trolls. In Stories to Tell, Marx uses this same engaging, straight-talking style to look back on his life and career. He writes of how Kenny Rogers changed a single line of a song he’d written for him then asked for a 50% cut — which inspired Marx to write one of his biggest hits. He tells the uncanny story of how he wound up curled up on the couch of Olivia Newton-John, his childhood crush, watching Xanadu. He shares the tribulations of working with the all-female hair metal band Vixen and appearing in their video. And he touches on greedy executives, gruelling tour schedules, and the joy of connecting with thousands of fans at sold-out shows. He also provides an illuminating look at how his personal life has inspired his work, including finding love with wife Daisy Fuentes and the mystery illness that recently struck him.”
Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting
By Mary Gauthier
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From the Grammy-nominated folk singer and songwriter, an inspiring exploration of creativity and the redemptive power of song. Mary Gauthier was 12 years old when she was given her Aunt Jenny’s old guitar and taught herself to play with a Mel Bay basic guitar workbook. Music offered her a window to a world where others felt the way she did. Songs became lifelines to her, and she longed to write her own, one day. Then, for a decade, while struggling with addiction, Gauthier put her dream away. It wasn’t until she got sober and went to an open mic with a friend that she realized she not only still wanted to write songs, she needed to. Part memoir, part philosophy of art, part nuts and bolts of songwriting, her book celebrates the redemptive power of song.”
From the Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga
By S. H. Fernando Jr.
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This definitive biography of rap supergroup Wu-Tang Clan features decades of unpublished interviews and unparalleled access to members of the group and their associates. Heralded as one of the most influential groups in modern music, Wu-Tang Clan created a rap dynasty on the strength of seven gold and platinum albums that launched the careers of RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, and more. During the 1990s, they ushered in a hip-hop renaissance, rescuing rap from the corporate suites and bringing it back to the gritty streets. In the process they changed the way business was conducted in an industry known for exploiting artists. S.H. Fernando Jr., a veteran music journalist who spent a significant amount of time with the group during their heyday, built up an archive that includes pages of unpublished interviews, videos of the group in the studio, and several notepads full of observations. The book provides unparalleled insights into what makes these nine men from the ghetto tick. While celebrating the myriad accomplishments of The Wu, the book doesn’t shy away from controversy — we’re also privy to stories from their childhoods in the crack-infested hallways of Staten Island housing projects, stints in jail for gun possession, and million-dollar contracts that led to recklessness and drug overdoses (including Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s untimely death). More than simply a history of a single group, this book tells the story of a musical and cultural shift that started on the streets of Shaolin (Staten Island) and spread around the world.”
Birth Of A Clan: The PopaWu Story
By Anthony Whyte and PopaWu
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “To every revolution there’s a spark. Progress is sometimes planned, but most times it’s not. Destiny often has a way of intervening. FreeDum Allah provided the energy which eventually sparked the growth of The Wu-Tang Clan. RZA orchestrated a revolutionary movement in music, a nine-man band that dominated the world of hip-hop for nearly a quarter century. Birth Of A Clan documents the band’s history from the perspective of their spiritual leader. PopaWu, aka Father of the Clan, answers many questions of family, loyalty, and drops jewels. He also sheds light on the ups and downs of a great movement in musical history, proving once again that Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothing to f**k with.”
Bruce Springsteen: Live in the Heartland
By Janet Macoska
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bruce would rip his heart out and give it to his audience,” says photographer Janet Macoska. “He put everything into his performance. He was all over the stage, and the whole rest of the band was in lockstep, complementing that energy. It was going out to the audience in bundles. We were sending it back, too, and that’s really electric. That energy, those visuals? Photographers love that. It’s perfect to have something like that to photograph.” Macoska’s photos cover five decades of rock ‘n’ roll. Five decades of poetic, authentic performances, political commentary, global tours and even a Broadway show. Springsteen hasn’t just left an impact on the surface of modern music, he helped shape its foundations. Macoska follows him through the ages. Through her lens we witness his enduring energy on the stage from 1974 to 2016. Here is Springsteen at his finest — a down-to-earth superstar whose powerful performances stand the test of time. ”
Why Marianne Faithfull Matters
By Tanya Pearson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “First as a doe-eyed ingénue with As Tears Go By, then as a gravel-voiced phoenix rising from the ashes of the 1960s with the landmark punk album Broken English, and finally as a genre-less icon, Marianne Faithfull carved her name into the rock history with a career spanning five decades. Here, author Tanya Pearson crafts a feminist account that explains Faithfull’s absence from the male-dominated history of the British Invasion and champions the eclectic late career that confirmed her redemption. A professional historian, Pearson writes about Faithfull as an avid fan, recovered addict, and queer musician at a crossroads. Whether exploring Faithfull’s rise to celebrity, her drug addiction and fall from grace as spurned muse or her reinvention as a sober, soulful chanteuse subverting all expectations for an aging woman in music, Pearson affirms the deep connections between listeners and creators.”
The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic: Revised and Expanded Edition
By Jessica Hopper
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “An acclaimed, career-spanning collection from a fiercely feminist and revered contemporary rock critic, reissued with new material. Throughout a career spanning more than two decades, Jessica Hopper has examined women recording and producing music, in all genres, through an intersectional feminist lens. This collection features oral histories of bands like Hole and Sleater Kinney, interviews with the women editors of 1970s-era Rolling Stone, and intimate conversations with iconic musicians such as Björk, Robyn and Lido Pimienta. Hopper journeys through the truths of Riot Grrrl’s empowering insurgence; decamps to Gary, Ind., on the eve of Michael Jackson’s death; explodes the grunge-era mythologies of Nirvana and Courtney Love; and examines the rise of emo. The collection also includes profiles and reviews of some of the most-loved, and most-loathed, women artists making music today: Fiona Apple, Kacey Musgraves, M.I.A., Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey. Published to acclaim in 2015, and reissued now with new material and an introduction by Samantha Irby, the book is a rallying cry for women-centered history and storytelling, and a groundbreaking, obsessive, razor-sharp panorama of music writing crafted by one of the most influential critics of her generation.”
Shiny and New: Ten Moments of Pop Genius that Defined the ’80s
By Dylan Jones
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New style, gender fluidity, gay pride, AIDS, cocaine, ecstasy, tabloid royalty, the rise of urban pop, and ultimately geopolitical chaos — the 1980s was about excess, ambition and transcendent moments of pop perfection. Dylan Jones frames the decade through some of its most important and popular hits, choosing records which either epitomized their time or ushered in a cultural shift. So we move from Rapper’s Delight and the genre-defining moment of hip-hop into The Specials’ spectral Ghost Town; from ABC and the apotheosis of new pop (The Look of Love) to Madonna’s breakthrough moment with Like A Virgin. Subjective and idiosyncratic, Shiny And New takes us from downtown New York to post-industrial Manchester, in the first widescreen attempt to weave together the stories, the songs and events that re-shaped music and society.”
Across the Border and Back: Music in the Big Bend
By Marcia Hatfield Daudistel
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the vast, sparsely populated area of West Texas known as the Big Bend, life takes place on a different scale. The nearest neighbour can be 40 miles away, perhaps located not just in another town but another country. In the small-town, bicultural atmosphere of the Big Bend, musicians from both sides of the Rio Grande come together, creating music that spans genre, culture, and international borders. From Ojinaga, Mexico, to Alpine, Texas, and most points in between, writer Marcia Hatfield Daudistel and photographer Bill Wright have gathered a trove of anecdotes, images, and personal recollections that explore what makes music — and musicians — unique in the Big Bend. Playing big-band music for a dance at Marfa Army Air Field and border polkas for a quinceanara the next night, these are the stories that demonstrate the cultural and musical versatility required for musicians in the Big Bend.”
Anthrax: Among The Living
By Z2 Comics
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1987, Anthrax unleashed a heavy metal & pop culture touchstone with the release of their historic Among the Living album! Now Anthrax & Z2 comics invite you to explore the album like never before with this original anthology graphic novel. Each song on the album is given an original story by an amazing creative team, along with extra content and the introduction of the new NOTMAN designed by Greg Nicetero (Walking Dead)!”
