The Move and Jesse Ed Davis get some much-deserved star time; Willie Nelson goes to pot in a whole new way; Metallica, Björk and Dead & Company hit the road; Judas Priest and Robbie Williams take it one song at a time; Taylor Swift breaks your heart — and much more. Read all about ’em:
Flowers In The Rain: The Untold Story Of The Move
By Jim McCarthy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the pantheon of rock history, The Move have been overlooked — but no longer. They were one of the greatest British bands to come out the 1960s beat boom, incorporating the hippest, pop rock and mod soul influences in a unique, dazzling fashion. Their residency at The Marquee in London marked them out as a formidable live outfit. Few (if any) bands on the fertile scene could follow an incendiary Move set. They also had an emerging uber-talent in songwriter Roy Wood. He wrote four top 10 hits for the five-piece band, along with a run of singles that charted until 1972. Like all great acts, the seeds of destruction may have been gestating from Day 1. The energy and talent spread across these five charismatic, young men proved an edgy, combustible combination. This overdue book examines their eventful career, including their crowning and most damning moment: Being sued by PM Harold Wilson after a careless publicity stunt by manager Tony Secunda, who pushed a “scandalous” postcard through the door of No. 10 Downing St. It brought the fury of the establishment down on The Move and led to a court case. Along with Rob Caiger, the main archivist of The Move and their history, Jim McCarthy provides a detailed and illuminating reading experience.”
Washita Love Child: The Rise Of Indigenous Rock Star Jesse Ed Davis
By Douglas K. Miller
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “No one played like Jesse Ed Davis. One of the most sought-after guitarists of the late 1960s and ’70s, Davis appeared alongside the era’s greatest stars — John Lennon and Mick Jagger, B.B. King and Bob Dylan — and contributed to dozens of major releases, including numerous Top 10 albums and singles, and records by artists as distinct as Johnny Cash, Taj Mahal and Cher. At a time when few other Indigenous artists appeared on concert stages, radio waves, or record store walls, Davis demonstrated new possibilities for Indigenous people. Weaving together more than a hundred interviews with bandmates, family members, friends and peers — including Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Robbie Robertson — Washita Love Child powerfully reconstructs Davis’s extraordinary life and career, taking us from his childhood in Oklahoma to his first major gig backing Conway Twitty, and from his dramatic performance at George Harrison’s 1971 Concert For Bangladesh to his years with John Trudell and the Grafitti Man band. In Davis’s story, a post-Beatles Lennon especially emerges as a kindred soul and creative partner. Yet Davis never fully recovered from Lennon’s passing, meeting his own tragic demise just eight years later.”
Willie and Annie Nelson’s Cannabis Cookbook
By Willie Nelson & Annie Nelson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Country icon, bestselling author, and living legend Willie Nelson pairs his gift for storytelling and herbal remedies with his wife Annie’s passion for home cooked meals in this cookbook of cannabis-infused delicacies. In the Nelson family’s first cookbook, we’re cooking with good vibes only. Drawn from their favorite meals on nationwide tours, at the ranch, at home, and in their favorite cities along the way, these recipes have stories to tell — and what better way to enjoy a good meal than with a high-flying tale and a relaxing buzz? Each recipe provides a cannabis kick to ease the mind as much as the body, making their cookbook an exciting, comforting, and lively way to dive into their story, as they draw from meals shared with family, friends, and fans alike.”
Saturday Night, Sunday Morning: Staying True to Myself From The Pews To The Stage
By PJ Morton
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, keyboardist for the mega pop band Maroon 5, and founder of Morton Records, PJ Morton details the inspiring journey that led to his unique sound and urges readers to follow their own dreams. The son of pastors and gospel artists, Morton grew up singing gospel music in church. As he was drawn to R&B and pop, PJ experimented in combining genres to create his own sound that record labels struggled to categorize. Despite the pressure to conform, he defied expectations and risked launching his own label, leading to 20 Grammy nominations and awards. Morton is the rare artist who has straddled the tensions of life, whether in music or faith expressions, or in racial and cultural identities, while staying true to his New Orleans and Christian roots. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning captures his powerful journey of combining his two worlds, showing readers how to overcome obstacles as they seek their own dreams.”
Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music
By Rob Sheffield
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A cultural phenomenon. A worldwide obsession. An agent of emotional chaos. There’s no parallel to Taylor Swift in history: A teenage girl who turns into the world’s favorite pop star, songwriter, storyteller, guitar hero, live performer, changing how music is made and heard. An all-time great on the level of The Beatles, Prince or David Bowie. Heartbreak Is The National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music is the first book that goes deep on the musical and cultural impact of Swift. Nobody can tell the story like Rob Sheffield, the bestselling and award-winning author of Dreaming The Beatles, On Bowie, and Love Is A Mix Tape. The legendary Rolling Stone journalist is the writer who has chronicled Taylor for every step of her long career, from her early days to the Eras Tour. Sheffield gets right to the heart of Swift and her music, her lyrics, her fan connection, her raw power. At once one of the most beloved music figures of the past two decades and one of the most criticized, Swift is known as much for her life beyond her music as she is for her hits — the most public of stars, yet also the weirdest and most mysterious.”
Cornucopia
By Björk & Santiageo Felipe
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This book documents my five-year tour Cornucopia, designed by M/M Paris, with images shot by photographer Santiago Felipe,” says Björk. “Before this tour, I spent a decade working with 360-degree sound and visual software in virtual reality and animation, creating Biophilia, the first app album, and later Vulnicura as a VR album. I was deeply inspired by the idea of a fully immersive experience, spending a spring in an Icelandic lighthouse, spreading Utopia into fully surround speakers. My intention was to bring what we had created for 21st-century VR into a 19th-century theatre — taking it from the headset to the stage. This vision was realized with 27 moving curtains that captured projections on different textures and LED screens, creating a digitally animated show: A modern lanterna magica for live music. I also wanted to feature bespoke instruments: A magnetic harp, an aluphone, a circular flute, and a reverb chamber, specially built with an audio architect to enhance the most intimate version of a performance — in a personal chapel. Throughout this tale, there is a subplot woven in: A second story of an avatar — a modern marionette who alchemically mutates, from puppet to puppet, from the injury of a heart wound to a fully healed state.”
Down On The Corner: Adventures In Busking & Street Music
By Cary Baker
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Down On The Corner is the story of music performed on the streets, in subways, in parks, in schoolyards, on the back of flatbed trucks, and beyond, from the 1920s to the present day. Drawing on years of interviews and eyewitness accounts, Down On The Corner introduces readers to a wide range of locations and a myriad of musical genres, from folk to rock ’n’ roll, the blues to bluegrass, doo-wop to indie rock. Some of the performers he features — Lucinda Williams, Billy Bragg, The Violent Femmes — went on to become international stars; others settled into the curbs, sidewalks, and Tube stations as their workplace for the duration of their careers. Anyone who has lived in or travelled through a city will have encountered street musicians of one kind or another. For the first time, veteran journalist and music-industry publicist Cary Baker tells the complete history of these musicians and the music they play, from tin cups and toonies to QR codes and PayPal.” Read an exclusive excerpt HERE.
The Endless Refrain: Memory, Nostalgia, And The Threat To New Music
By David Rowell
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A veteran music journalist argues that the rise of music streaming and the consolidation of digital platforms is decimating the musical landscape, with dire consequences for the future of our culture… In The Endless Refrain, David Rowell lays out how commercial and cultural forces have laid waste to the cultural ecosystems that have produced decades of great American music. From the scorched-earth demonetizing of artist revenue accomplished by Spotify and its ilk to the rise of dead artists “touring” via hologram, Rowell examines how a perfect storm of conditions have drained our shared musical landscape of vitality. Combining personal memoir, intimate on-the-ground reporting, industry research, and cultural criticism, Rowell’s book is a powerful indictment of a music culture gone awry, driven by conformity and subverted by the ways the internet and media influence what we listen to and how we listen to it.”
Dead & Company: Rainbow Full Of Sound 2015-2023, The Touring Years
By Jay Blakesberg
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rainbow Full Of Sound 2015-2023, The Touring Years is a captivating hardcover coffeetable book that encapsulates the journey of this iconic band during the years it was actively touring. Through the lens of Grateful Dead photographer Jay Blakesberg, the book vividly portrays the dynamic synergy among original bandmembers Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, with the addition of John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane. The images capture the electrifying camaraderie, along with the psychedelic swirl of the entire experience. Additionally, there is a wonderful selection of photographs of the Deadheads who have been on this journey for decades, right up to the final tour dates in San Francisco in July 2023. The book features hundreds of images that showcase each member’s unique contribution to the group’s timeless songbook and tell the story of this “band beyond description.” The book includes a foreword by drummer Mickey Hart along with short captions and a closing essay by Blakesberg, who documented the Grateful Dead experience for over 45 years. Rainbow Full Of Sound is a visual celebration of the band’s journey, offering viewers a glimpse into the ongoing magic that kept this multigenerational cosmic family together throughout the years.”
Metallica: Kill ‘Em All – Their Greatest Live Performances
By Marc Aumont
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From their first performances to the release of their bestselling Black Album and beyond, this lavishly illustrated book charts the career of Metallica, the world’s most iconic heavy metal band. Telling the history of the band through their tours, from the smallest early clubs to the biggest stadiums, this rich anthology covers their evolution and success year by year and around the globe. With tour anecdotes, backstage access and inside accounts from band members, as well as other musicians who have performed or worked with them, this book is the perfect gift for any Metallica fan.”
Judas Priest: Album By Album
By Martin Popoff
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Required reading for any metalhead, this collection of entertaining illustrated conversations spans all of Judas Priest’s studio albums, right up through 2024’s Invincible Shield. In Judas Priest: Album By Album, prolific rock journalist Martin Popoff pays tribute to Judas Priest’s discography through a series of in-depth and fascinating conversations about all 19 of the legendary British heavy metal band’s studio albums. Inside, Popoff gathers together musicians and metal journalists who offer insights, opinions, and anecdotes about each release. The interviewees include names like Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Marty Friedman (Megadeth), Charlie Benante (Anthrax), Todd La Torre (Queensrÿche), Bobby Ellsworth (Overkill), and more. Popoff also includes sidebars that provide complete track listings, details on album personnel, and information on where and when the albums were recorded. Richly illustrated with thoughtfully curated performance and offstage photography, as well as rare memorabilia, the conversations comprise a unique historical overview of the band.”
Robbie Williams: Song By Song
By Sébastien Merour
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Robbie Williams: Song By Song is your ultimate guide to his music. Beginning as a member Take That before rising to international success as a solo singer, Robbie Williams has developed a reputation for entertaining audience. Widely known for his hit song Let Me Entertain You, which opens each of his concerts, his huge musical catalogue is often overlooked. Yet, with a career spanning 30 years, including 25 as a solo singer, Robbie has recorded more than 500 tracks. Seven of his singles charted at No. 1, and eleven of his albums have reached No. 1 in the U.K. Worldwide, he has sold 80 million records and won 18 Brit Awards. From his famous track Angels to his joyous single Candy, via the legendary album Escapology, his swing albums, and electro experiences, discover how Robbie has explored and exploited many musical styles: Pop, rock, swing, electro, and even rap. Delve into his extraordinary musical career through his albums, his B-sides, movie soundtracks, features and covers.”
Dil Chahta Hai Soundtrack: 33 1/3
By Jayson Beaster-Jones
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The 2001 buddy film Dil Chahta Hai (dir. Farhan Akhtar), had arguably the first rock soundtrack in Bollywood. The award-winning soundtrack is an entry point into the relationship between Bollywood film, Hindi language music, and the Indi-pop movement of the ’80s and ’90s. Jayson Beaster-Jones draws from reviews by music critics and fans, industry interviews, and his own close analysis of the music and the film to trace the role of the Dil Chahta Hai soundtrack in transforming both the sound and production practices of Bollywood cinema in the new millennium. These songs emerged from the rock band and live performance aesthetic of writing trio of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa, with lyrics penned by the inimitable Javed Akhtar. Their collaborative compositional approach for this soundtrack reveals the changing tastes of India’s urban youth audiences, and how that taste fueled the rise of the rock-star narrative in Hindi film. These songs paved the way for the rock and EDM-oriented compositions of Hindi-language cinema that came to dominate the early 21st century, making Dil Chahta Hai among the most influential soundtracks in Indian cinema.”
Advanced Elvis Course
By CAConrad
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In this heartfelt exploration of queer fandom, legendary poet CAConrad charts the lasting power and pull of Elvis Presley. When CAConrad’s reverence for the King puts them on a trip to Memphis, the result is this wild joyride of a book, a homage that is bursting with love and twisted sincerity. Drawing on sources as disparate as graffiti, talk-show interviews, phone messages, and poetry, Conrad assembles a collage that celebrates while laughing with the cult of Elvis. Advanced Elvis Course is a psychedelic road trip — a transcendental portrait of a man who changed music and America forever, seen through the eyes of those for whom he still lives.”
Making Mexican Rock: Censorship, Journalism, And Popular Music After Avándaro
By Andrew J. Green
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The history of Mexican rock is one of censorship. A number of cultural histories recount how rock was repressed, censored, and marginalized by Mexico’s single-party regime in the 20th century, often focusing on the authoritarian crackdown that followed a mediatized moral panic after the Avándaro Festival of 1971. Making Mexican Rock explores historical and recent experiences of censorship and repression against popular music, focusing on the independent rock scene (or “escena independiente”) in Mexico City. Andrew J. Green challenges historical accounts that equate acts of censorship with state activity. The open-ended account of censorship assumed here helps us to understand, instead, how conceptions of censorship and expressive freedom transformed toward the end of single-party rule; how practices of policing live rock adapted to neoliberal securitization; and how histories of rock censorship have been invoked by those seeking to construct and protect emergent music scenes. Making Mexican Rock thus both decenters histories of music censorship from the state, and extends them into the country’s recent history.”
Robert Pollard
Eat 20
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Eat 20 is Guided By Voices founder and frontman Robert Pollard’s latest collection of artwork. Pollard’s amazing collages feature in this full-color, 238-page book.”
