When I began compiling these roundups a thousand years ago (or so it feels), I quickly realized that The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones were (and are) the four biggest names in the music-book game by a mile — nary a week goes by without a new title about at least one of them. But now, I see that I need to add a fifth musical icon to that list. Who? I’ll give you one hint: Their name starts and ends with T, and has an aylorswif in the middle. Congrats to her, I guess. Though the real winner is anyone who can’t get enough of her — and all the authors and publishers cashing in on that. As for the rest of us: Well, we’ll just have to make do with titles about Radiohead, Iron & Wine, Depeche Mode, CBGB, disco, jazz, reggae and (of course) the always-dependable Beatles. So be it:
How to Disappear: A Photographic Portrait Of Radiohead
By Colin Greenwood
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “How to Disappear is bassist Colin Greenwood’s stunning portrait of Radiohead in his own photographs. Two decades in the making, he takes us on a journey into the heart of the 21st-century’s most influential band, a maverick collective who have vastly broadened our musical landscape while they dominate and distort it. On stage, backstage, in the rehearsal room, behind the scenes, on tour, at work and at play, Colin’s photographs, and the stories and memories they evoke for him in his accompanying text, form an intimate portrait of the musical and cultural iconoclasts as they travel through ‘our middle years: All the joy and doubt and confidence and uncertainty we would oscillate between’.”
Love and Some Verses: A Collection of Lyrics, Photos, Art, and Ephemera from Iron & Wine
By Sam Beam
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sam Beam, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter behind Iron & Wine, has captured the emotion and imagination of listeners with his distinctly cinematic songs. With this exquisite collection of lyrics and never-before-seen photos, paintings, and sketches, Sam invites you to experience his music in a whole new light. Discover the stories behind the songs through Sam’s own words, original artwork, and personal ephemera collected over two decades of recording and touring. Accompanied by commentary from Sam himself, Love and Some Verses compiles the lyrics of more than 160 iconic Iron & Wine songs, capturing a distinctive musical legacy. Whether you’re a devoted fan or a newcomer to the spellbinding world of Iron & Wine, within these pages you will form an intimate connection to the songs that have touched millions around the world.”
We Oughta Know: How Céline, Shania, Alanis, and Sarah Ruled the ’90s and Changed Music
By Andrea Warner
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In this of-the-moment essay collection, music journalist Andrea Warner explores the ways in which Céline Dion, Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan became bonafide global superstars while revolutionizing ’90s music. In an era when male-fronted musical acts dominated radio and were given serious critical consideration, these four women were reduced, mocked, and disparaged by the media and became pop culture jokes, even as their albums were topping the charts and demolishing sales records. With empathy, humor, and reflections on her own teenaged perceptions of Céline, Shania, Alanis, and Sarah, Andrea offers us a revised and expanded edition of her 2015 book, providing a new perspective on the legacies of the four Canadian women who dominated the ’90s airwaves and influenced an entire generation of current day popstars with their voices, fashion, and advocacy. As the world is now reconsidering the treatment and reputations of key women in ’90s entertainment, We Oughta Know is definitively entering the chat.”
The Beatles: Featuring a Collection of Memorabilia from the Lives of The Fab Four
By Richard Havers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “At one time the most famous pop band in the world, The Beatles still hold center stage. Anyone who lived through the 1960s remembers them, and the digital remastering of their output has ensured that younger generations know them too. How could they not? The songs will live forever and are regularly used in film or TV scores, on advertisements, and on radio channels everywhere. With such coverage and interest, how can there be anything new to say about the band? The Beatles manages to do so thanks to the remarkable collection of photographs housed in Mirrorpix, the library of the Daily Mirror, Britain’s premier popular daily. With so much interest in the band, photographers were always looking to cover not just the major events that all the media attended, but smaller, more intimate moments. And then, of course, there were the paparazzi: The Beatles were perfect targets for this new breed of photographer who didn’t ask for permission to take their photos and followed the band wherever they went.”
Depeche Mode: Live
By Dennis Burmeister & Sascha Lange
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Depeche Mode have been delighting fans all over the world for decades. From the first gigs in smoke-filled pubs in front of a dozen spectators to sold-out world tours in front of millions of fans — the enormous success of the band is due in large part to their incomparable live performances. Following the critically acclaimed Depeche Mode: Monument, Dennis Burmeister and Sascha Lange present another visually stunning book focused on the band’s live shows which continue to enthrall millions of people across the globe. Depeche Mode: Live traces the band’s growth from 1980 to 2023 and includes a plethora of previously unpublished photos, unseen material, and exclusive interviews.”
Into the Taylor-Verse: Taylor Swift’s Songwriting Eras
By Satu Hämeenaho-Fox
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Into the Taylor-Verse is an inventive, deeply detailed appreciation of Taylor Swift’s songwriting prowess, her incomparable live performances, and the themes of adolescence and adulthood she’s detailed so lovingly throughout the different eras of her career from her Fearless to Midnights. This book explores her prolific discography, as well as her worldwide tours, her phoenix-like rise from the ashes to reclaim her music publishing rights, and most importantly of all, her Swifties. In the way that Taylor’s music helps fans to understand their own emotional response to heartbreak and first love, this book seeks to help fans understand why Taylor’s music affects them more than any other artist. The story told through her work is the universal story of growing from a girl into a woman, the joy, heartbreak, demoralization, and finally, regrowth and maturity that every fan can relate to no matter their age. This book emulates the joy of Taylor’s music with creative sidebar content, such as a playlist of her songs that are NOT about boys, an all-important timeline of her hairstyles, biographies of her cats, a deep-dive into the significance of the number thirteen, and so much more. Into the Taylor-Verse is a must-have primer on Taylor for any new Swiftie, telling the stories behind her songs and guiding them to listen more deeply to her extensive back catalogue, while also being a lush examination of the meaning behind the songs that are so important to readers who are already dedicated fans.”
A Prodigy’s Calling: The Early Musical Biography of Cosmas Magaya, Zimbabwean Mbira Master
By Paul F. Berliner
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The coming-of-age story of a master musician in mid-20th century colonial Rhodesia as he learns his community’s most cherished art, all while navigating profound social transformation. Ethnomusicologist Paul F. Berliner has been studying Zimbabwean mbira for more than 50 years. When he first arrived in what was then Rhodesia after the nation declared independence from the United Kingdom, he met Cosmas Magaya, a mbira player who would become his teacher and lifelong collaborator. A Prodigy’s Calling chronicles the early years of Magaya’s life, documenting the master mbira player’s journey from child prodigy to established expert. As a child, Magaya was immersed in mbira music through his father’s work as a healer and spirit medium. As Magaya grew, so too did his world; his performances extended beyond the family compound as his skill and knowledge increased, bringing him into contact with a society fraught with decolonial conflict. Following Magaya’s childhood, readers will learn how his upbringing guided his journey through the community’s social networks and how his early sensibilities, proclivities, and talents shaped his development. At the same time, his deepening engagement with music and the ancestors was affected by overlapping tensions between Shona cosmology and Christian ideology, rural and urban lifestyles, and the escalating African nationalist struggle and the white supremacist state. While Magaya’s story reflects profound social changes in the nation, it is also a story of musical apprenticeship.”
This Ain’t No Disco: The Story of CBGB
By Roman Kozak
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Originally published in 1988 and out of print for decades, This Ain’t No Disco tells the real story of CBGB, the birthplace and incubator of American punk and new wave music. The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Talking Heads and many other rock greats all got their starts there. Written by a club regular well before the legend overtook the reality (while CBGB was still open and most of its principals alive), this is an honest, opinionated, outrageous, hilarious document of 15 years of late, loud nights at CBGB, with memories, stories and gossip from dozens of people who played, worked or just hung out in the long, dark club on the Bowery in New York City. This new edition adds a new foreword by Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, a new selection of photographs by the acclaimed Ebet Roberts and archival reporting by Ira Robbins about the club’s closing in 2006. It features exclusive interviews with Hilly Kristal (CBGB founder), Joey Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone, Clem Burke and Chris Stein (Blondie), David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jim Carroll, Willy DeVille (Mink DeVille), Annie Golden (Shirts), Richard Hell and Richard Lloyd (Television), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Handsome Dick Manitoba (Dictators), Wendy O. Williams (Plasmatics) and many others.”
Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania under the Mirror Ball
By Frank Decaro
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Half a century after the drug-fueled, DJ-driven, glamour-drenched musical phenomenon of disco was born at a New York City loft party, disco’s musical and fashion influences live on in popular culture. This is a frolicking, entertaining, yet serious tribute to the overlooked art form of disco, which has never been given its proper due, nor taken its true place in the historic struggle for LGBTQ+, gender, and racial equality. Painting a vivid portrait of this provocative era, Frank DeCaro explores the cultural importance of disco and how the music and dance that originated in queer Black and Latin clubs of the day became a mainstream phenomenon, changing our culture along the way. With glamorous photos from disco’s heyday up through today, DeCaro examines disco’s pervasive influence on pop culture over the last 50 years — exploring disco in film and television as well as in fashion and interior design. Through entertaining texts — as well as interviews with artists and celebrities of the era, such as Donna Summer and Grace Jones, among others — this book champions the diverse origins of disco while celebrating its influence on today’s groundbreaking artists such as Lady Gaga, Duo Lipa and Miley Cyrus. A must for all lovers of music, style, and pop culture.”
The Jazz Omnibus
Edited by David R. Adler, Howard Mandel & Patrick Hinely
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Jazz Omnibus: 21st-Century Photos and Writings by Members of the Jazz Journalists Association is a spectacular anthology of works by 90 international experts in jazz and related music. Their skill, wisdom, insight, and generosity converge to produce a timeless contribution to music criticism, history, and scholarship. The Jazz Omnibus captures the expansive breadth of jazz-its past present, and future-through the ears of its great artists and the pens and cameras of its most admired journalists. As jazz embarks on its second century, this book stands alone as a compendium of reportage and analysis of an art form offering pleasure and insights while building communities that celebrate creative individuality and ensemble play. The omnibus features Ted Panken on Sonny Rollins; Michael Jackson interviewing Keith Jarrett; Jordannah Elizabeth on Amina Claudine Myers; David R. Adler on Meshell Nedegeocello; Nate Chinen on Sun Ra; Debbie Burke on Jewish women songwriters; Willard Jenkins on becoming a jazz journalist; Rob Shepherd speaking with Mary Halvorson; Deanna Witkoswki on Mary Lou Williams; Ashley Kahn surveying the new American expatriates; Ted Gioia on Amy Winehouse; Howard Mandel at Ornette Coleman’s birthday party; Larry Blumenfeld on Arturo O’Farrill in Cuba; and Suzanne Lorge on Carla Bley.”
Pressure Drop: Reggae in the Seventies
By John Masouri
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pressure Drop chronicles reggae’s most tumultuous and influential decade. Beginning in 1970 and unfolding across the world, reggae flourished against a backdrop of political upheaval, gang warfare, Black Nationalism, racial and class discrimination and grinding poverty. The music that developed as rocksteady and early reggae gave birth to deejays, dub, rockers, lovers rock, early dancehall and 2 Tone was by turns brutal and revelatory. Including an extensive analysis of the decade’s major singles and albums, Pressure Drop includes eyewitness accounts and experiences of the decade from the likes of Burning Spear, Chris Blackwell, Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, U-Roy, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Augustus Pablo, Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, Sly & Robbie, Dennis Bovell, Don Letts and members of The Specials, as well as first-hand anecdotes of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.”
We Sing From the Heart: How The Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court
By Mia Wenjen & Victor Bizar Gómez
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Music is a way to transcend cultures and divides. Simon Tam used his band’s name, The Slants®, to make a powerful statement that racist insults could no longer be hurtful to Asian Americans. But then the U.S. Trade and Patent Office tries to stop him. In his eight-year battle to win trademark protection, Simon would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark case to rout out structural racism in our government systems. Mia Wenjen takes us back to Simon’s early days and the formation of the band, to the long battle to claim the name they chose to use. We learn of his motivations and the years-long struggle that leads ultimately to the top court. Told using lyrics from the band’s hit song about their trademark fight, this compelling story will keep readers riveted until the dramatic ending. We Sing From the Heart gives background and context to the significance of Simon’s quest, not just for him and his band, but for free speech rights for us all. Newcomer to children’s books, Victor Bizar Gómez, channels the indie music world with dynamic artwork that compliments the storytelling and is sure to draw in readers with his exciting graphic approach.”
