Nikki and Questlove. Bowie and The Beatles. Metallica and Joy Division. Sonny Rollins and Bill Evans. Northern soul and D.C. hardcore. Country women and Christian music. Whoever (or whatever) you’re into, there’s a book for you coming next week. Read all about ’em:
The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx
By Nikki Sixx
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nikki Sixx is one of the most respected, recognizable, and entrepreneurial icons in the music industry. As the founder of Mötley Crüe — and now in his 21st year of sobriety — Sixx is incredibly passionate about his craft and wonderfully open about his life in rock ’n’ roll and as a person of the world. Born Franklin Carlton Feranna on Dec. 11, 1958, young Frankie was abandoned by his father and partly raised by his mother, a woman who was ahead of her time but deeply troubled. Frankie ended up living with his grandparents, bouncing from farm to farm and state to state. He was an all-American kid — hunting, fishing, chasing girls, and playing football — but underneath it all, there was a burning desire for more, and that more was music. He eventually took a Greyhound bound for Hollywood. In Los Angeles, Frank lived with his aunt and his uncle — the president of Capitol Records — for a short time. But there was no easy path to the top. He was soon on his own. There were dead-end jobs: Dipping circuit boards, clerking at liquor and record stores, selling used light bulbs, and hustling to survive. But at night, Frank honed his craft, joining Sister, a band formed by fellow hard-rock veteran Blackie Lawless, and formed a group of his own: London, the precursor of Mötley Crüe. Turning down an offer to join Randy Rhoads’ band, Frank changed his name to Nikki London, Nikki Nine, and, finally, Nikki Sixx. Like Huck Finn with a stolen guitar, he had a vision: A group that combined punk, glam, and hard rock into the biggest, most theatrical and irresistible package the world had ever seen. With hard work, passion, and some luck, the vision manifested in reality — and this is a profound true story finding identity, of how Frank Feranna became Nikki Sixx. It’s also a road map to the ways you can overcome anything, and achieve all of your goals, if only you put your mind to it.”
We Could Be: Bowie & His Heroes
By Tom Hagler
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “David Bowie’s story has never been told quite like this. Tracing the star’s encounters with fellow icons throughout his life, We Could Be… offers a new history of Bowie, collecting 300 short stories that together paint a portrait of humour, humility, compassion, tragedy and more besides. He embarrasses himself in front of Lennon and Warhol. He saves the life of Nina Simone. He is hated by Bob Dylan. He teaches Michael Jackson the moonwalk. Individually astonishing, together these stories — including details never before revealed — build a new picture of Bowie, one which shows his vulnerability, his sense of humour, his inner diva. Exhaustively researched from thousands of sources by BBC reporter and Bowie obsessive Tom Hagler — with the guidance and memories of Bowie’s long-time producer Tony Visconti — We Could Be is fascinating, comic, compelling, and a history of Bowie unlike any that has come before.”
Bowie Quizpedia: The Ultimate Unofficial Book of Trivia
By Hannah Koelmeyer & Chantel de Sousa
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “How well do you really know David Bowie? These 450+ questions will test even the biggest Bowie fanatics’ knowledge of Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust, and The Thin White Duke. In what film did he play Andy Warhol? How did he meet Iman? Which of Iggy Pop’s albums did he help write while they lived in Berlin? This interactive trivia book is the ultimate chance to flex your knowledge of our Starman, David Bowie, covering his music, his movies, his personas, family, and friends. This book will separate the heroes from the super creeps.”
Times Remembered: The Final Years of the Bill Evans Trio
By Joe La Barbera & Charles Levin
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the late 1970s, legendary pianist Bill Evans was at the peak of his career. He revolutionized the jazz trio (bass, piano, drums) by giving each part equal emphasis in what jazz historian Ted Gioia called a “telepathic level” of interplay. It was an ideal opportunity for a sideman, and after auditioning in 1978, Joe La Barbera was ecstatic when he was offered the drum chair, completing the trio with Evans and bassist Marc Johnson. In Times Remembered, La Barbera and co-author Charles Levin provide an intimate fly-on-the-wall peek into Evans’s life, critical recording sessions, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes of life on the road. Joe regales the trio’s magical connection, a group that quickly gelled to play music on the deepest and purest level imaginable. He also watches his dream gig disappear, a casualty of Evans’s historical drug abuse when the pianist dies in a New York hospital emergency room in 1980. But La Barbera tells this story with love and respect, free of judgment, showing Evans’s humanity and uncanny ability to transcend physical weakness and deliver first-rate performances at nearly every show.”
The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics: 1963–1970
By Editors of Thunder Bay Press
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics includes the full lyrics of 178 songs by The Fab Four — covering all of their biggest hits from 1963 to 1970. The memorable words from The Beatles’ greatest songs are accompanied by full-color photos, memorabilia, and illustrations that add a special touch to the pages. And the introduction by British music writer Steven Turner provides historical anecdotes about the band and songs. This collection of nostalgia will appeal to Beatles fans across the generations.”
The Poetry and Lyrics of Jay Semko
By Jay Semko
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Jay Semko is a poet and songwriter from Saskatoon best known for his work as bassist/vocalist with The Northern Pikes and as an award-winning solo recording artist and music composer for film and television. He is also a recovering addict with bipolar disorder who openly shares his experiences with mental health and addiction challenges through his music, writing, and public speaking. From the hundreds of poems penned by Jay, this book is a selection of original poems and song lyrics exploring his experiences with addiction, recovery, bipolar disorder, faith, spirituality, love, relationships, and the abstract realm. Fans and followers of Jay’s work as a songwriter and composer will relate to his words and be drawn in to his world. Jay challenges the reader with a smile and a tear.”
Music Is History
By Questlove
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Music Is History combines Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past 50 years. Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapestry, whether investigating how the blaxploitation era reshaped Black identity or considering the way disco took an assembly-line approach to Black genius. And these critical inquiries are complemented by his own memories as a music fan, and the way his appetite for pop culture taught him about America. A history of the last half-century and an intimate conversation with one of music’s most influential and original voices, Music Is History is a singular look at contemporary America.”
God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War
By Kathleen E.R. Smith
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After Pearl Harbor, Tin Pan Alley songwriters rushed to write the Great American War Song — an Over There for World War II. The most popular songs, however, continued to be romantic ballads, escapist tunes, or novelty songs. To remedy the situation, the federal government created the National Wartime Music Committee, an advisory group of the Office of War Information, which outlined “proper” war songs, along with tips on how and what to write. The music business also formed its own Music War Committee to promote war songs. Neither group succeeded. The OWI hoped that Tin Pan Alley could be converted from manufacturing love songs to manufacturing war songs just as automobile plants had retooled to assemble planes and tanks. But the OWI failed to comprehend the large extent by which the war effort would be defined by advertisers and merchandisers. Selling merchandise was the first priority of Tin Pan Alley, and the OWI never swayed them from this course. Kathleen E.R. Smith concludes the government’s fears of faltering morale did not materialize. Americans did not need such war songs as Goodbye, Mama, I’m Off To Yokohama, There Are No Wings On a Foxhole, or even The Sun Will Soon Be Setting On The Land Of The Rising Sun to convince them to support the war. The crusade for a “proper” war song was misguided from the beginning, and the music business, then and now, continues to make huge profits selling love — not war — songs.”
Lived Through That: ’90s Musicians Today
By Mike Hipple
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The music of the 1990s shaped more than one generation. It was the music Generation X came of age listening to and the songs millennials cut their teeth on. In Lived Through That, professional photographer and music enthusiast Mike Hipple shares intimate and unique photographic portraits of dozens of the greatest artists from the ’90s. Accompanied by in-depth interviews throughout, this behind-the-scenes image-driven collection reveals details of each musician’s time in the limelight as well as where life has taken them. Their words and images are open, honest, inspiring, and personal, offering profound and humorous memories and gems of wisdom that will resonate with fans and music lovers alike. From Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic to indie icon Tanya Donelly to Arrested Development’s Speech, the portraits and stories featured in Lived Through That cover a wide range of rock, rap, and alternative stars. Whether they were chart-toppers or underground sensations, the artists in Hipple’s epic collection tell the story and reawaken the songs of a pivotal era.”
Minstrel of the Appalachians: The Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford
By Loyal Jones
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It is said that Bascom Lamar Lunsford would “cross hell on a rotten rail to get a folk song” — his Southern highlands folk-song compilations now constitute one of the largest collections of its kind in the Library of Congress — but he did much more than acquire songs. He preserved and promoted the Appalachian mountain tradition for generations of people, founding in 1928 the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville, N.C., an annual event that has shaped America’s festival movement. Loyal Jones pens a lively biography of a man considered to be Appalachian music royalty. He also includes a sampler of ballads, songs, hymns, tales, and anecdotes, plus a discography of his recordings.”
The Women of Country Music: A Reader
By Charles K. Wolfe & James E. Akenson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Women have been pivotal in the country music scene since its inception, as Charles K. Wolfe and James E. Akenson make clear in The Women of Country Music. Their groundbreaking volume presents the best current scholarship and writing on female country musicians. Beginning with the 1920s career of teenage guitar picker Roba Stanley, the contributors go on to discuss Polly Jenkins and Her Musical Plowboys, ’50s honky-tonker Rose Lee Maphis, superstar Faith Hill, the relationship between Emmylou Harris and poet Bronwen Wallace, the Louisiana Hayride’s Margaret Lewis Warwick, and more.”
Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music
By Jay R. Howard & John M. Streck
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Apostles of Rock is the first objective, comprehensive examination of the Contemporary Christian Music phenomenon. Some see CCM performers as ministers or musical missionaries, while others define them as entertainers or artists. This popular musical movement clearly evokes a variety of responses concerning the relationship between Christ and culture. The resulting tensions have splintered the genre and given rise to misunderstanding, conflict, and an obsessive focus on self-examination. As Christian stars Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, DC Talk and Sixpence None the Richer climb the mainstream charts, Jay Howard and John Streck talk about CCM as an important movement and show how this musical genre relates to a larger popular culture. They map the world of CCM by bringing together the perspectives of the people who perform, study, market, and listen to this music.”
Keeping The Faith: A History Of Northern Soul
By Keith Gildart & Stephen Catterall
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the 1970s, Northern soul held a pivotal position in British youth culture. Originating in the English North and Midlands in the late-1960s, by the mid-1970s it was attracting thousands of enthusiasts across the country. This book is a social history of Northern soul, examining the origins and development of this music scene, its clubs, publications and practices. Northern soul emerged in a period when working class communities were beginning to be transformed by deindustrialisation and the rise of new political movements around the politics of race, gender and locality. Locating Northern soul in these shifting economic and social contexts of the English North and Midlands in the 1970s, the authors argue that people kept the faith not just with music, but with a culture that was connected to wider aspects of work, home, relationships and social identities. Drawing on an expansive range of sources, including oral histories, magazines and fanzines, diaries and letters, this book offers a detailed and empathetic reading of a working class culture that was created and consumed by thousands of young people in the 1970s.”
Politics as Sound: The Washington, DC, Hardcore Scene, 1978-1983
By Shayna Maskell
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Uncompromising and innovative, hardcore punk in Washington, D.C., birthed a new sound and nurtured a vibrant subculture aimed at a specific segment of the city’s youth. Shayna L. Maskell explores D.C.’s hardcore scene during its short but storied peak. Led by bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat, hardcore in the nation’s capital unleashed music as angry and loud as it was fast and minimalistic. Maskell examines the music’s aesthetics and the unique impact of D.C.’s sociopolitical realities on the sound and the scene that emerged. As she shows, aspects of the music’s structure merged with how bands performed it to put across distinctive representations of race, class, and gender. But those representations could be as complicated and contradictory as they were explicit. A fascinating analysis of a punk rock hotbed, Politics as Sound tells the story of how a generation created music that produced — and resisted — politics and power.
Metallica: The Black Album in Black & White: Photographs
By Ross Halfin
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following its release in August 1991, Metallica’s landmark self-titled album — better known by fans as The Black Album — debuted at No. 1 in 10 countries and spent four consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200. It has since become one of the bestselling albums of all time, selling more than 35 million copies worldwide, spawning numerous singles and earning various industry accolades, including Grammy, MTV and American Music Awards. The tour that accompanied it was equally gargantuan, with the band clocking in nearly 300 shows in three years. Official photographer Ross Halfin was in the recording studio with the band and documented the tour that followed. Between 1991 and 1993, he shot thousands of film rolls of the hectic performing schedule and many unique portrait sessions, backstage documentary-style photography, rehearsals, interviews and band meetings. This official Metallica book features many previously unpublished images, with introductions by Ross Halfin, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo.”
Joy Division: Juvenes
By Kevin Cummins
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The definitive collection of the Joy Division photographs of Kevin Cummins, including new interviews with Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris. Originally published in 2007 in an ultra-limited run of just 226 copies, Juvenes is a book with legendary status among Joy Division devotees. The book consists of Kevin’s selection of pictures from his Joy Division archive, accompanied by short personal essays and memories from the band’s family, contemporaries and fans and from several writers including Ian Rankin, David Peace and Natalie Curtis. The foreword is by Rankin. Now comprehensively updated with new material and images that have never been published in a book before, this new edition will allow the band’s many die-hard fans to own it for the first time. Juvenes is a truly special celebration of the magic of Joy Division.”
Cover Stories: Five Decades of Album Art
By Bill Smith
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bill Smith and his studio have been designing record covers since 1976. In those five decades they have worked with over 200 bands and artists, creating hundreds of album covers, single bags and CD covers. Bill Smith Studio has worked with some of the world’s best photographers, illustrators and painters on covers for among others, The Jam, The Cure, Kate Bush, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, King Crimson and Mike Oldfield.”
Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge
By Gary Golio & James Ransome
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “James Ransome’s glorious art celebrates jazz icon Sonny Rollins and how he found an inspired spot to practice his saxophone when his neighbors complained. Sonny Rollins loved his saxophone. As a teenager, he was already playing with jazz stars and making a name for himself. But in 1959, at age 29, he took a break from performing — to work on being a better, not just famous, musician. Practicing in a city apartment didn’t please the neighbors, so Sonny found a surprising alternative — the Williamsburg Bridge. There, with his head in the clouds and foghorns for company, Sonny could play to his heart’s content and perfect his craft. It was a bold choice, for a bold young man and musician. Sonny’s passion for music comes alive in jazzy text and vivid, evocative paintings of New York City. His story celebrates striving to be your very best self, an inspiration to music lovers young and old.”
