Are you ready to read? What’s that? I can’t hear you! I said: ARRRRE! YOOOOU! READYYYYY! TOOOO! REEEEAD???? Well, you better get ready — there are a ton of new books hitting the shelves next week. Including these:
Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors
By Robby Krieger & Jeff Alulis
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Few bands are as shrouded in the murky haze of rock mythology as The Doors, and parsing fact from fiction has been a virtually impossible task. But now, after 50 years, The Doors’ notoriously quiet guitarist is finally breaking his silence to set the record straight. Through a series of vignettes, Robby Krieger takes readers back to where it all happened: the pawn shop where he bought his first guitar; the jail cell he was tossed into after a teenage drug bust; his parents’ living room where his first songwriting sessions with Jim Morrison took place; the empty bars and backyard parties where The Doors played their first awkward gigs; the studios where their iconic songs were recorded; and the many concert venues that erupted into historic riots. Set The Night On Fire is packed with never-before-told stories from The Doors’ most vital years, and offers a fresh perspective on the most infamous moments of the band’s career. Krieger also goes into heartbreaking detail about his life’s most difficult struggles, ranging from drug addiction to cancer, but he balances out the sorrow with humorous anecdotes about run-ins with unstable fans, famous musicians, and one really angry monk. Set The Night On Fire is at once an insightful time capsule of the ‘60s counterculture, a moving reflection on what it means to find oneself as a musician, and a touching tale of a life lived non-traditionally. It’s not only a must-read for Doors fans, but an essential volume of American pop culture history.”
The Beatles: Get Back
By The Beatles & John Harris
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The most anticipated book in more than a decade by the legendary band, The Beatles: Get Back is the official account of the creation of their final album Let It Be, told in The Beatles’ own words, illustrated with hundreds of previously unpublished images, including photos by Ethan A. Russell and Linda McCartney. Half a century after the 1970 Let It Be album and film, this milestone book coincides with the global release of Peter Jackson’s documentary feature, The Beatles: Get Back. The book opens in January 1969, the beginning of The Beatles’ last year as a band. The White Album is at No. 1 in the charts and the foursome gather in London for a new project. Over 21 days, first at Twickenham Film Studios and then at their own brand-new Apple Studios, with cameras and tape recorders documenting every day’s work and conversations, the band rehearse a huge number of songs, culminating in their final concert, which famously takes place on the rooftop of their own office building, bringing central London to a halt. The Beatles: Get Back tells the story of those sessions through transcripts of the band’s candid conversations. Drawing on over 120 hours of sound recordings, leading music writer John Harris edits the richly captivating text to give us a fly-on-the-wall experience of being there in the studios. These sessions come vividly to life through hundreds of unpublished, extraordinary images by two photographers who had special access to their sessions ― Ethan A. Russell and Linda Eastman (who married Paul McCartney two months later). Also included are many unseen high-resolution film frames, selected from the 55 hours of restored footage from which Peter Jackson’s documentary is also drawn. Legend has it that these sessions were a grim time for a band falling apart. However, as acclaimed novelist Hanif Kureishi writes in his introduction, “In fact this was a productive time for them, when they created some of their best work. And it is here that we have the privilege of witnessing their early drafts, the mistakes, the drift and digressions, the boredom, the excitement, joyous jamming and sudden breakthroughs that led to the work we now know and admire.” Half a century after their final performance, this book completes the story of the creative genius, timeless music, and inspiring legacy of The Beatles.”
The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine
By Bruce Spizer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine is the latest installment in the Beatles Album Series by Beatles historian Bruce Spizer. The book covers the songs and projects undertaken by the band shortly after completion of their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in April 1967. In following 10 months, the group wrote and recorded the song All You Need Is Love for the Our World TV program that was broadcast by satellite throughout the world, wrote the songs for and filmed the TV spectacular Magical Mystery Tour, wrote the songs for their feature-length cartoon film Yellow Submarine, and recorded the songs Lady Madonna and Across The Universe before heading to India to study transcendental meditation in mid-February 1968. The book covers these remarkable achievements from the British, American, and Canadian perspectives, and includes chapters on the packaging of the albums and the writing and recording of the songs. It also has chapters on how The Beatles influenced our world, the friendly rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, The Beatles’ Saturday morning cartoons, dozens of fan recollections, and more. The book has over 150 images.”
The Rolling Stones: Unzipped
By The Rolling Stones
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For almost 60 years, The Rolling Stones have helped shape popular culture around the world. Unzipped traces their impact and influence on rock music, art, design, fashion, photography, and filmmaking. Packed with evocative archive photos, artworks, outtakes, and memorabilia, this stunning book immerses readers in the world of the Stones. Peppered throughout with insightful new commentary by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, this volume also features a compelling introduction by Anthony De Curtis, as well as essays by Buddy Guy, Don Was, Anna Sui, John Varvatos, Martin Scorsese, Shephard Fairey, Patrick Woodroffe and Willie Williams. In addition to stills from films, videos, and documentary footage, vivid photographic sections showcase the Stones’ musical instruments, their stage clothing, album cover designs, notebooks with lyrics, and tape boxes from the original recording sessions. Bold, glamorous, and captivating, Unzipped is the perfect showcase for “the greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world.”
Let it Lizzo!: 50 Reasons Why Lizzo is Perfection
By Billie Oliver
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This hilarious unofficial scrapbook is a love letter to Lizzo, the queen of self-affirmation, soulful pop bangers, and, of course, the red carpet. To many, it seemed as though Lizzo shot to fame overnight. But longtime fans, like author Billie Oliver, know this is hardly the case. Lizzo’s story is one of tireless persistence, in an industry and media landscape where she was often made to feel like she didn’t belong. Well, you better believe that never stopped Lizzo. Lizzobangers, her debut album, dropped in 2014 and piqued interest. But it was from 2016 onwards, as Lizzo’s hilarious online presence grew in step with her status as a self-love advocate, that her ascent to global stardom began. All the while, Lizzo maintained her brand of I-don’t-give-a-f **k sincerity that many of us now aspire to. Or at least enjoy watching. How many other artists can claim to have twerked on stages around the world while playing classical flute? This book offers 50 pieces of Lizzo’s story, as a tribute to an icon who truly shines.”
The Cure FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Most Heartbreakingly Excellent Rock Band the World Has Ever Known
By Christian Gerard
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Led by the iconic frontman Robert Smith, The Cure remain one of the most beloved and influential bands in the history of alternative rock. Thanks in part to classic singles like Just Like Heaven, Boys Don’t Cry, Lovesong, In Between Days and many others, The Cure have sold millions of records worldwide and have performed in front of countless fans in every corner of the globe. Albums like Disintegration, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and The Head on the Door are universally hailed as landmarks of the genre. For the first time, The Cure FAQ covers the band’s 40-plus year career while offering fresh insight into each song in The Cure’s vast canon. Each album is dissected and reviewed with candid commentary and extensive research. With their March 2019 entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame firmly establishing The Cure’s place in the musical stratosphere, the timing for a career overview is perfect and The Cure FAQ delivers.”
Miles Davis, and Jazz as Religion: The Politics of Social Music Culture
By Earnest N. Bracey
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This book about Miles Davis is more psychologically driven than a straight biography; but it does cover his musical career, as well his spirituality as a jazz musician. Davis rocketed to jazz fame as a trumpeter, making a plethora of jazz recordings during his life time; and his music kept the “jazz world” on edge for almost fifty years. This book also discusses Davis’s religion, politics, civil rights activism, and his personal struggles as a Black man in the United States. Miles Davis and Jazz as Religion: The Politics of Social Music also shows how Miles Davis made a political statement, as he challenged racial stereotypes in jazz or “social music.” Artistically, Davis was able to integrate rock, jazz, classical music, rap and blues, in his music, as he had a passion for changing his “social music.” In this regard, Miles Davis’s music was important to him intellectually, spiritually, and psychologically, because he wanted to make his musical contributions count.”
Western Rock Artists, Madame Butterfly, and the Allure of Japan: Dancing in an Eastern Dream
By Christopher T. Keaveney
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Using the framework of Edward Said’s Orientalism, this work examines how Western rock and pop artists — particularly during the age of album rock from the 1970s through the 1990s — perpetuated long-held stereotypes of Japan in their direct encounters with the country and in songs and music videos with Japanese content.”
Musics Lost and Found: Song Collectors and the Life and Death of Folk Tradition
By Michael Church
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This groundbreaking book is the first-ever study of the role played in musical history by song collectors. It examines their often extraordinary lives, how they set about their task, and the music they collected. In detailing the pressures which have driven them to travel and explore, it reflects movements in cultural and political history. This book is a musicological and biographical study by a man who has worked as a song collector himself; his aim is to address a general readership, as well as an academic one. In some respects this is the sequel to his previous book The Other Classical Musics, published to critical acclaim in 2015. In this new book, Michael Church begins with an overview of song collecting’s development, from pencil-and-paper in the seventeenth century through to the age of recording. He devotes major chapters to Komitas, Cecil Sharp, Percy Grainger, and Bela Bartok, and to John and Alan Lomax, who collected songs in Mississippi penitentiaries; he examines the history of field-recording in Russia, Central Asia, and China. One of his most colourful chapters looks at throat-singing in Tuva; another follows the trail of gamelan in Bali, while yet another investigates song collecting among the Pygmy communities of Central Africa.”
Sea Shanties: The Lyrics and History of Sailor Songs
By Karen Dolby
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pull up anchor, set sail, and hit the open water with this wonderful collection of sea shanties and their fascinating history. Over four centuries since the first folk song was sung, sea shanties still fascinate and entertain. Composed and performed by sailors on sailing ships to ensure the rhythmic operation of the hauling and heaving that was a mainstay of a lot of their work aboard these huge merchant vessels, they were also about camaraderie, positivity and motivation. Life as sea was harsh and relentless, and these songs injected some much-needed humour into maritime life. This gorgeous books brings together 50 of the best-loved ballads and their fascinating history, alongside stunning black and white illustrations.”
Roadrunner
By Joshua Clover
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers’ 1972 song Roadrunner captures the freedom and wonder of cruising down the highway late at night with the radio on. Although the song circles Boston’s beltway, its significance reaches far beyond Richman’s deceptively simple declarations of love for modern moonlight, the made world, and rock ’n’ roll. In Roadrunner, cultural theorist and poet Joshua Clover charts both the song’s emotional power and its elaborate history, tracing its place in popular music from Chuck Berry to M.I.A. He also locates Roadrunner at the intersection of car culture, industrialization, consumption, mobility, and politics. Like the song itself, Clover tells a story about a particular time and place — the American era that rock ’n’ roll signifies — that becomes a story about love and the modern world.”
Codex Metallum: The Secret Art of Metal – The Hidden Meanings Behind Metal’s Greatest Album Covers
By Maxwell & Alt236
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “More than any other genre of music, metal is steeped in a rich world of symbolism. From death and the devil to mythology and fantasy, its record covers are awash with iconography that carries a complex deeper meaning. In Codex Metallum, more than 80 of these visual themes are explored and explained, accompanied by 300 of metal’s most incredible album covers, including Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Rammstein and more. With bespoke illustrations from Rammstein collaborators Førtifem, this unique guide decodes the genre’s imagery, ranging from serpents and demons to sigils, castles, zombies, dragons and more. Packaged in a stunning leather-effect case with foil finishes, Codex Metallum is a beautiful object in its own right, and essential reading for any metalhead.”
The Art of Rush: Serving A Life Sentence
By Hugh Syme & Stephen Humphries
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Containing original illustrations, paintings, photography, and the incredible stories behind each album that Hugh Syme has designed with the band since 1975. The book’s narration was written by music journalist Stephen Humphries and includes in-depth interviews with each Rush band member and the artist. The Art of Rush also contains entertaining anecdotes and commentary from a wide array of notable musicians, actors, athletes, writers, radio personalities, and Rush insiders about their favorite Rush album covers, which clearly reveals how vital and impactful the visual representation of their music has been through the years. One of the hallmarks of Rush releases is the considerable care and consideration that goes into each one — including the conceptual artwork. Readers may be surprised to discover just how much effort went into each concept and the execution for every album cover! Some of the regaled stories include furtively crossing the border for a guerilla-style shoot for A Farewell to Kings, trying to herd a warren of rabbits for the cover of Presto, descending into the depths of an autopsy lab to find a brain for Hemispheres, and a stunt involving fire, whiskey, and photographer Deborah Samuel for Moving Pictures. But no history of the band’s art would be complete without the story of the creation of arguably the band’s most iconic image, The Starman from 2112. “From the first time Hugh and I met, we shared a level of communication that would sustain us through all the years of discussing art by long distance,” says Rush’s Neil Peart. The Art Of Rush is a must for fans of Rush, art, and music everywhere.”
