Everybody loves Joni Mitchell. Everybody should love Alan Vega. And next week, everybody can love them both a little more, thanks to a pair of new biographies. Also on the reading list: Tomes on David Bowie, The Beatles, some pivotal years in music and more. Read all about ’em:
Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell
By Ann Powers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For decades, Joni Mitchell’s life and music have enraptured listeners. One of the most celebrated artists of her generation, Mitchell has inspired countless musicians — from peers like James Taylor to inheritors like Prince and Brandi Carlile — and authors, who have dissected her music and her life in their writing. At the same time, Mitchell has always been a force beckoning us still closer, as — with the other arm— s he pushes us away. Given this, music critic Ann Powers wondered if there was another way to draw insights from the life of this singular musician who never stops moving, never stops experimenting. In Traveling, Powers seeks to understand Mitchell through her myriad journeys. Through extensive interviews with Mitchell’s peers and deep archival research, she takes readers to rural Canada, mapping the singer’s childhood battle with polio. She charts the course of Mitchell’s musical evolution, ranging from early folk to jazz fusion to experimentation with pop synthetics. She follows the winding road of Mitchell’s collaborations with other greats, and the loves that emerged along the way, all the way through to the remarkable return of Mitchell to music-making after the 2015 aneurysm that nearly took her life. Along this journey, Powers’ wide-ranging musings on the artist’s life and career reconsider the biographer’s role and the way it twines against the reality of a fan. In doing so, Traveling illustrates the shifting nature of biography, and the ultimate contradiction of celebrity: That an icon cannot truly, completely be known to a fan. Kaleidoscopic in scope, and intimate in its detail, Traveling is a fresh and fascinating addition to the Mitchell canon.”
Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega
By Laura Davis-Chanin & Liz Lamere
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Best known for co-founding the early punk duo Suicide, Alan Vega lived a complex and labyrinthine life, driven by a desire to express himself uncompromisingly through art. From his first sketch in art class to the 2021 release of the album Mutator five years after his death, Vega continues to shock and inspire. This first-ever biography of Vega tells the story of the man’s life and art, beginning with his early attempts to live a “normal” life and his epiphanic encounter with Iggy Pop in 1969. Although becoming a performer on stage had been at the bottom of Vega’s list of lifetime ambitions, Iggy changed his mind: He needed music to truly express his vision. Infinite Dreams goes on to describe Vega’s many experiments across a variety of media, including the partnership with Marty Rev that became Suicide, which challenged audiences to look deep inside themselves and to not settle for distractions. A raw but engaging exploration of a man whose artwork, music, and philosophy inspired thousands, written by award-winning author Laura Davis-Chanin together with Liz Lamere, Vega’s wife and long-term creative collaborator.”
Bowie Odyssey 74
By Simon Goddard
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Simon Goddard’s electric ride through David Bowie’s greatest decade reaches the halfway mark with this fifth instalment. Wickedly funny and shockingly tragic, Bowie Odyssey 74 is the story of one man trying to find his soul in a world that’s gone to the devil. Darkness looms in 1974. It could be the winter energy crisis. It could be The Exorcist. Or it could be the shock that Britain’s biggest pop star, Bowie, is about to leave its shores for good. Bidding the corpse of glam, Ziggy’s haircut, and loyal Bowietania farewell, the plan is to storm North America with his highly theatrical Diamond Dogs tour. But by opening night he’s already wishing he was Barry White instead. Then there’s that nasty sniff he can’t get rid of. And that fly in his milk. And the suspicion that, much like every other teen idol named David, fame is driving him completely out of his mind.”
Ultimate Beatles Collection: Your Complete Guide to the World’s Greatest Band
By Joel McIver
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Find out all you need to know about how John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr became the most influential band of all time. Ultimate Beatles Collection charts The Fab Four’s musical evolution through the ’60s. Includes a fascinating biography of each member of the band, an introduction to the members’ early years as school kids with a love of American rock ’n’ roll, the wide variety of members of The Beatles before settling on The Fab Four, Beatlemania in the U.S., their films — Help!, A Hard Day’s Night, Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine — The White Album, the band’s split and their lives after The Beatles, including the murder of Lennon and the untimely death of Harrison. Also features a brief description and explanation for each song on the track for albums Please Please Me, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles for Sale, Help!, Revolver, and their alter-egos Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and more! Enjoy the immeasurable legacy of The Beatles as it lives on in their music and books.”
High Times and Misdemeanors: My Fifty Years In The Music Business
By Paul Peterson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fifty years in the music business includes years of concert promotions with artists like Paul McCartney. The story begins in Kansas City. It also includes years of experiences with management of Brewer and Shipley, The Ozark Mountains Daredevils and Danny Cox. There are stories of The Doors, It’s A Beautiful Day and Moby Grape, tales of music publishing as well as stories about being an extra in film and television. There are also stories directly from interviews with the likes of B.B. King, Dick Dale, Dr. John and Lieber and Stoller.”
On Record – Vol. 7: 1979: Images, Interviews & Insights From the Year in Music
By G. Brown
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vol. 7: 1979 of the comprehensive On Record series captures the resurgence of rock (My Sharona by The Knack; Pink Floyd’s release of The Wall, a concept album), the reign of disco on the pop charts (Bee Gees, Donna Summer) and the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit (Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight), as well as the year’s greatest releases from pop, R&B, country and jazz stars. The On Record series is a year-by-year, comprehensive look at the evolution of popular music from 1978 to 1998. Colorado Music Experience founding director and author G. Brown covered popular music at The Denver Post for 26 years, interviewing well over 3,200 musicians, including Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and Kurt Cobain, all of whom recounted their escapades and reminisced about what their time on the charts meant to them personally and musically. Over the decades, G. also amassed an archive of close to 15,000 rare promotional photos. Each volume of the On Record series presents nearly 200 rare archival images and 100 interviews with an array of performers, from the late Jerry Garcia and Dave Matthews to Bono and Santana. Beautifully crafted, these books belong in the library of every music fan and music institute.”
On Record – Vol. 8: 1986: Images, Interviews & Insights From the Year in Music
By G. Brown
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vol. 8: 1986 of the comprehensive On Record series captures the British synth-pop duos (Pet Shop Boys) and bombastic hard-rock acts (Europe’s The Final Countdown) making an impression on the charts, the sexiness of Madonna and Berlin, and seminal videos (Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al), as well as the year’s greatest releases from pop, R&B, country and jazz stars. The On Record series is a year-by-year, comprehensive look at the evolution of popular music from 1978 to 1998. Colorado Music Experience founding director and author G. Brown covered popular music at The Denver Post for 26 years, interviewing well over 3,200 musicians, including Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and Kurt Cobain, all of whom recounted their escapades and reminisced about what their time on the charts meant to them personally and musically. Over the decades, G. also amassed an archive of close to 15,000 rare promotional photos. Each volume of the On Record series presents nearly 200 rare archival images and 100 interviews with an array of performers, from the late Jerry Garcia and Dave Matthews to Bono and Santana. Beautifully crafted, these books belong in the library of every music fan and music institute.”
You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favourite Song: How Streaming Changes Music
By Glenn McDonald
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For the first time in history, almost every song ever recorded is available instantly. Everywhere. You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favourite Song charts what music’s dazzling digital revolution really means for fans and artists. As a former data guru at the world’s biggest streaming service, Spotify, Glenn McDonald reveals: What the tech giants know about you; how they serve up your next song; whether fans can cheat the algorithm; whether jazz is dead and ASMR is the new punk; your chances of becoming a rock star.; and more Having analysed the streams of 500 million people, McDonald explores what the data tells us about music and about ourselves, from the secrets of russelåter in Norway to Christmas in the Philippines. Statistically, you have not yet heard your lifetime’s favourite song. This book will take you on a voyage of discovery through music’s fast-flowing new waters.”
