Honky-tonk women, Kool dudes, Bowie‘s monsters, Pink‘s progress, ’90s Britpop, Slade’s ’70s and Aphex‘s index are all vying for space on your reading list. Get started now:
Parachute Women: Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and the Women Behind the Rolling Stones
By Elizabeth Winder
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Rolling Stones have long been considered one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll bands of all time. At the forefront of the British Invasion and heading up the counterculture movement of the 1960s, the Stones’ innovative music and iconic performances defined a generation, and 50 years later, they’re still performing to sold-out stadiums around the globe. Yet, as the saying goes, behind every great man is a greater woman, and behind these larger-than-life rockstars were four incredible women whose stories have yet to be fully unpacked… until now. In Parachute Women, Elizabeth Winder introduces us to the four women who inspired, styled, wrote for, remixed, and ultimately helped create the legend of The Rolling Stones. Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger and Anita Pallenberg put the glimmer in The Glimmer Twins and taught a group of straitlaced boys to be bad. They opened the doors to subterranean art and alternative lifestyles, turned them on to Russian literature, occult practices, and LSD. They connected them to cutting edge directors and writers, won them roles in art house films that renewed their appeal. They often acted as unpaid stylists, providing provocative looks from their personal wardrobes. They remixed tracks for chart-topping albums, and sometimes even wrote the actual songs. More hip to the times than the rockers themselves, they consciously (and unconsciously) kept the band current — and confident — with that mythic lasting power they still have today. Lush in detail and insight, and long overdue, Parachute Women is a group portrait of the four audacious women who transformed the Stones into international stars, but who were themselves marginalized by the male-dominated rock world of the late ’60s and early ’70s.It’s a story of lust and rivalries, friendships and betrayals, hope and degradation, and the birth of rock ’n’ roll.”
Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me
By George Brown
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Growing up around music, young George Brown was inspired to piece together a makeshift drum set and teach himself to play as he practised in the dark, dank basement of his run-down New Jersey row house. He soon joined forces with his friends to form a group called The Jazziacs which evolved into Kool & The Gang, a band that began playing clubs and charting hits while its members were still teens. By evolving their sound as musical tastes changed, the band were able to stay on the charts for decades, scoring 12 top-10 hits in funk, R&B, pop, and rock, and selling over 70 million albums while navigating the highs and lows of their career. In Too Hot, drummer, keyboardist, and primary songwriter Brown describes life in and out of the band, including a raucous life on the road as their popularity grew. He weathered the ups and downs of his musical career and navigated many challenges including prescription drug addiction, depression, and health issues. George shares how his recent cancer scare, and subsequent treatment, compelled him to share his story, warts and all, to give readers a glimpse into a band whose reputation was considered relatively tame, but in reality, it was exactly the opposite. George hopes to help others realize their own professional and personal dreams — life is a symphony, and we must all be our own conductor.”
Pink: Raise Your Glass
By Annie Zaleski
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From the R&B roots of her debut album Can’t Take Me Home to her most recent studio album Hurts 2B Human, her third consecutive album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Pink has remained prolific, popular and consistently phenomenal. Pink is one of the most trailblazing artists of our time. Her breakthrough album Missundaztood was released to critical acclaim in 2001 and showcased her unique, powerhouse pop vocals, as well as her rebellious style. In the two decades since, she has remained firmly in pop’ s upper echelons, despite her refusal to conform. She consistently out-sings her contemporaries with hit songs such as Get The Party Started, Just Like A Pill, So What, What About Us and Beautiful Trauma, while her willingness to speak frankly about difficult topics has made her a relatable role model. She is an outspoken animal rights activist, and has been vocal about women’ s rights, LGBT rights, and her support of same-sex marriage. Away from the studio, her live shows are nothing short of phenomenal; her jaw-dropping acrobatics mark her out as a truly spectacular performer. Loved by fans and revered by the music industry, Pink continues to enjoy global success and substantial airplay. Her accolades are numerous and include, three Grammys, a Daytime Emmy Award, seven MTV Video Music Awards and more. Pink: Raise Your Glass is a celebration of one of pop’s longest reigning rebels. Beautifully illustrated with essential images, this book is a fitting tribute to an undeniably, remarkable pop artist.”
Faster Than A Cannonball: 1995 and All That
By Dylan Jones
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Decades tend to crest halfway through, and 1995 was the year of the ’90S: peak Britpop (Oasis vs. Blur), peak New Lad (when Nick Hornby published High Fidelity, when James Brown’s Loaded detonated the publishing industry, and when pubs were finally allowed to stay open on a Sunday). It was the year of The Bends, the year Danny Boyle started filming Trainspotting, the year Richey Edwards went missing, the year Alex Garland wrote The Beach. Not only were the mid-’90s perhaps the last time that rock stars, music journalists and pop consumers held onto a belief in rock’s mystical power, it was a period of huge cultural upheaval — in art, literature, publishing and drugs. And it was a period of almost unparalleled hedonism, a time when many people thought they deserved to live the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, when a generation of narcotic omnivores thought they could all be rock stars just by buying a magazine and a copy of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Faster Than a Cannonball is a cultural swipe of the decade from loungecore to the rise of New Labour, teasing all the relevant artistic strands through interviews with all the major protagonists and exhaustive re-evaluations of the important records of the year — The Bends by Radiohead, Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub, Maxinquaye by Tricky, Different Class by Pulp, The Great Escape by Blur, It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah! by Black Grape, Exit Planet Dust by Chemical Brothers, I Should Coco by Supergrass, Elastica by Elastica, Pure Phase by Spiritualized, …I Care Because You Do by Aphex Twin and of course (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis, the most iconic album of the decade.”
Slade In The 1970s: Decades
By Darren Johnson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Slade were one of the biggest British bands of the 1970s. One of the early pioneers of glam, they enjoyed an incredible run of six No. 1 singles, four top-10 albums and a succession of sell-out tours. However, after a failed attempt at an American breakthrough in the mid-1970s, Slade returned to Britain and faced dwindling record sales, smaller concert halls and a music press that had lost interest in them. By the end of the decade, they were playing residencies in cabaret clubs and recorded a cover of a children’s novelty song. But then came a last-minute invitation to play the 1980 Reading Festival, setting into motion one of the most remarkable comebacks in rock history. As we come to the 50th anniversary of Slade’s 1973 annus mirabilis that saw Cum On Feel The Noize, Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me and Merry Xmas Everybody all enter the U.K. charts at No. 1, this book celebrates the music of Slade. From the band’s beginnings in the mid-1960s through each year of the decade that gave them their biggest successes, every album and single is examined, as well as their raucous live shows and colourful media profile.”
Silhouettes and Shadows: The Secret History of David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
By Adam Steiner
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “An avant-garde pop album rich with tension and fear, 1980’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) marked a pivotal point in David Bowie’s career. Standing at the bleeding edge of the new decade between the experimental Berlin Trilogy (Low, Heroes and Lodger) and 1983’s wildly successful Let’s Dance, it was here Bowie sought to bury the ghosts of his past and the golden decade of the 1970s to become a global superstar reaching millions of new fans. Featuring fresh insights and exclusive interviews with close collaborators, Adam Steiner’s Silhouettes and Shadows uncovers the studio stories, meanings behind, and secret history of Scary Monsters. Steiner gives a nuanced, memorable portrait of Bowie at a personal and professional crossroads, drawing on his own struggle with addiction, growing paranoia and political turmoil. Despite the album’s confrontational themes, it included the hit singles Fashion and Ashes to Ashes, with Bowie riding a new wave of inspiration, from the post-punk of Joy Division, The Specials’ two-tone revolution, and the stadium synth-pop of Gary Numan. Most importantly, it marked a final goodbye to Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust and The Thin White Duke, characters and personas that had defined his career: in this rare moment, David Bowie, the costumed clown of romance, suffering, and song, let his mask slip to reveal David Jones, the man within.”
Aphex Twin: Every Album, Every Song
By Beau Waddell
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “One of the true musical geniuses of the late 20th and early 21st century, Richard D. James has continued to be a pioneer in the electronic music landscape throughout his prolific, multi-faceted career. James, under his myriad of aliases, laid the foundation for ambient techno, drill ’n’ bass and dark ambient across the span of six phenomenal studio albums and a multitude of EPs and side projects. Alongside this, he crafted a unique visual identity, expressed through his iconic logo and video collaborations with Chris Cunningham. If that weren’t enough, he has become a figurehead for artists as diverse as Thom Yorke and Pharrell Williams. Year by year, the mythos surrounding him continues to grow, ensuring he remains as culturally prevalent as ever. With no new, officially released music since 2020, this book marks the perfect opportunity to track the course of James’ sizeable catalogue. From the well-known to the obscure, the rapid bursts of activity in the 1990s to the so-called ‘hiatus’ in the 2000s, every corner of this formidable discography is examined in vivid detail, providing insight and an impetus to discover to new listeners and hardcore fans in equal measure.”
