Dion, Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Bob Marley and Willie Nelson are the biggest names in today’s lineup — but I’d be lying if I said that Robert Dayton’s book on the history of Canadian glam was anything less than the most intriguing and inspired tome of the week. See for yourself:
Dion: The Rock and Roll Philosopher
By Dion DiMucci & Adam Jablin
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dion DiMucci‘s journey through rock ’n’ roll history is as legendary as his hits. As the lead singer of Dion & The Belmonts in the late 1950s, Dion captured the heart of America with chart-toppers like Runaround Sue, The Wanderer and A Teenager in Love. His later solo success with the profound Abraham, Martin, and John in 1968 marked another high, contributing to his 12 gold records. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dion explored folk, blues, and gospel, earning a Grammy nomination in 1985 and an induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 alongside icons like The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder. In this compelling collection, Dion shares intimate conversations with close friend Adam Jablin, reflecting on his rise to fame, battles with heroin addiction, a 60-year marriage, and the influential figures in his music career, including Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. Featuring over 200 vibrant photos, this book captures not just the life of a music icon but six decades of rock ’n’ roll evolution.”
Watch my 2021 interview with Dion HERE.
Off the Ground: Paul McCartney in the 1990s
By JR Moores
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For Paul McCartney, the 1990s were an era like no other, perhaps even the most significant decade of his entire career after the 1960s. Following a shakier 1980s, the decade would see McCartney reemerge with greater energy, momentum, and self-belief. JR Moores’ sympathetic but not uncritical new book explores McCartney’s ’90s, with its impressive studio and live albums, colossal tours, unexpected side-projects and imaginative collaborations, forays into classical composition, some new Beatles numbers, and a whole lot more besides. Moores reveals how McCartney’s reputation began to be perceived more generously by the public, and he argues that Macca’s output and activities in the ’90s would uncover more about the person behind them than in any other decade.”
Cold Glitter: The Untold Story of Canadian Glam
By Robert Dayton
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cold Glitter: The Untold Story of Canadian Glam uncovers a forgotten yet fascinating chapter on glam rock music and culture…from Canada. Multi-disciplinary artist Robert Dayton taps his Canadian roots to reveal mind-blowing stories of musicians fighting to be heard. It’s a universal story of determined creators striving to make their voices heard. Dayton has spent years researching and interviewing these ground-breaking musicians trapped by geography, colonial mindsets, and the difficulties of penetrating the cultural behemoth that is the United States. There’s no denying that glam rock was marginalized in Canada. In fact, RCA almost didn’t release the 1973 David Bowie-produced Lou Reed album Transformer in Canada because they didn’t see a market for it. Of course, they were wrong! Cold Glitter gets at the reasons why: Nature vs. artifice, old world values vs. new freedoms, and how transgressive actions — including gender play, as well as intense stories from these top acts on how they were run out of town for appearing outrageous. Readers will find solidarity with the all-too-familiar story of artists who were attacked for appearing outrageous and daring to be different. Within the struggle to be fabulous are anecdotes of fun and mayhem. Go back to the ’70s and meet the unknown and infamous musicians and artists who dared to be glamorous — familiar names like magician Doug Henning, Vancouver band Sweeney Todd and their singer Nick Gilder (and his replacement Bryan Adams), underground heroes like The Dishes, and countless musicians who put away their mascara and left their glamorous wild days behind. Cold Glitter is filled with rare (and sometimes outrageous) images throughout and additional chapters on glam fashion, film, and comedy in Canada.”
Ghosts: Journeys To Post Pop – How David Sylvan, Mark Hollis and Kate Bush Reinvented Pop Music
By Matthew Restall
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Three music-obsessed, suburban London teenagers set out to make their own kind of pop music: Kate Bush became an overnight star, while success came to David Sylvian (and Japan), and to Mark Hollis (and Talk Talk) after years of struggle. But when their unique talents brought them international acclaim, they turned their backs on stardom. ‘Just when I think I’m winning,’ sang Sylvian on Ghosts, a 1982 Japan hit, ‘when my chance came to be king, the ghosts of my life grew wilder than the wind.’ Haunted by doubt, spooked by fame, shocked by the industry’s classism, sexism, and rapacity, Sylvian, Hollis, and Bush were driven to brave new destinations by multiple factors: Creative originality and the inspiration of artists from every genre; the turmoil of personal relationships and inner psychological struggles. Along the way, as sacrifices were made — bands, friendships, marriages, the trappings of stardom — and experiments were pursued with dogged fearlessness, these musicians forged something new, changing how we hear pop music and the role of its creators in modern society. Ghosts uses the Sylvian, Hollis, and Bush journeys to define post-pop for the first time. Weaving together memoir, biography, musicology, cultural criticism, and history, the book shows how the story is both personal — as individual artists struggled with their own ghosts — and contextual, a larger history of pop music, pop culture, and the creative process itself.”
Bob Marley and Media: Representation and Audiences
By Mike Hajimichael
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bob Marley and Media: Representation and Audiences presents an analysis of how media, radio, television and print represented Marley, including his popularity after his death. Mike Hajimichael examines unexplored connections between Marley and media representation and the specifics of audiences, including coverage in tabloids, music magazines, and fanzines, as well as radio and television interviews. Hajimichael builds an extensive catalogue of Marley’s media engagements and connects him to media through forms of political discourse and ideologies relevant to social change in different contexts globally, such as civil rights, anti-racism, Rastafari, and liberation movements. Given that varieties of representation exist, the book unpacks these media discourses with regard to public perceptions and key themes articulated, including mainstream versus fan-based coverage, issues of Rastafari, Black consciousness, economic crisis, legacies of colonialism, slavery, racism, links to other music idioms, concepts of identity, and Marley’s personal relationships.”
Peter Brötzmann: Free-Jazz, Revolution and the Politics of Improvisation
By Daniel Spicer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Peter Brötzmann is the first ever, full-length, English-language biography of one of the most fascinating and inspiring personalities in the history of Western improvised music — and one of the key artistic figures to emerge from the socio-cultural tumult of the 1960s. Drawing on extensive interviews with Brötzmann and key associates, it traces the German saxophonist’s crucial role as a pioneer of European free jazz, his restless travels and collaborations and his eventual superstardom, examining the life and work of a fiercely uncompromising artist with a reputation for gruff intensity and total commitment. Digging deep into the history and aesthetics of free jazz in Europe and beyond, it provides detailed analysis of music by Brötzmann and other major figures, while positioning Brötzmann’s work — and the wider free jazz milieu — in the context of the revolutionary left-wing, humanist and utopian ideals that inspired and underpinned it. Both intimate and wide-ranging, it tells the story of a man and a music that changed the world.”
How You Make Me Feel: The Life & Legacy of Marcus Intalex
By Sherif Dhaimish & Mark O’Donnell
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Marcus Intalex was a universally revered drum & bass producer/DJ until his untimely death in 2017. How You Make Me Feel is a celebration of his trailblazing life and career. From emerging as a DJ on the rave scene in Burnley to surviving “Gunchester” jungle raves and taking his era-defining D&B from Manchester to the world, before effortlessly switching to techno under his Trevino moniker, Marcus Intalex was at the bleeding-edge of club culture for nearly three decades. This illustrated oral history weaves together memories from Marcus’ inner circle and interviews with Goldie, Calibre, DJ Flight, Doc Scott, Mark XTC and many more. It’s also visually captivating, packed with over 100 rare photos, artwork, and memorabilia. It’s the story of how a humble, restless soul created some of the most emotionally charged underground dance music of all time. And how his legacy lives on through a worldwide community of artists and music lovers he inspired along the way.”
Techno Is Boring
By Daniel Avery & Keffer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Friends and collaborators, musician Daniel Avery and photographer Keffer present Techno Is Boring, a book that collects a decade of work chronicling club culture in visceral form. Intimate black-and-white portrayals transfer the energy, joy and humour of life thriving in the smallest hours, whether in vast festival tents, perspiring discotheques or animated backstage spaces. Across over 80 photos taken at legendary European venues including DC10, Robert Johnson, Rex Club and The Warehouse Project, a curious and impulsive lens is discreetly drawn to ravers in the crowd, strange sights on the periphery of the dance, as well as the pleasure and absurdities of touring life. Shooting far beyond the DJ booth, Techno Is Boring melts down the barrier between performer and crowd, portraying an authentic continuum of community as ecstasy. The wide-ranging collection of work is accompanied by short essays and notes from Avery and fellow DJ, writer and collaborator John Loveless.”
Drumz of the South: The Dubstep Years 2004 – 2007
By Georgina Cook
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Drumz Of The South: The Dubstep Years 2004-2007 is the first photography book to present the early days of dubstep in detail. Seminal to the sound’s growth from the spaced-out expression of a handful of producers, to the global genre that it is today, Drumz Of The South is both a personal and a cultural document. It features over 200 photographs from various events and radio stations, plus pioneering producers, DJs and MCs like Burial, Skream and Benga, Mala & Coki, Loefah and Sgt Pokes, Plastician, Kode9, Hatcha & Crazy D, Skepta, Wiley and Mary Anne Hobbs.”
And One Day We Will Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel
Edited by Patrick Barb
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Spotlighting the bizarrely beautiful and beautifully bizarre music and lyrics of indie folk rock band Neutral Milk Hotel, And One Day We Will Die features 22 short stories from the realms of weird, phantasmagoric, and speculative fiction, all inspired by the cult classic songs written and performed by Jeff Mangum and company. From alternate histories where happy endings are allowed and mythological re-imaginings that center love over destruction to awe-inspiring contemplations of the potential in the present and dark and unfathomable future visions, all featured authors selected one song from the beloved Neutral Milk Hotel songbook to use as a springboard for their tales. Editor and publisher Patrick Barb has assembled a diverse array of authors and tales, with the love of Neutral Milk Hotel acting as connective tissue, solidifying into an all-star album’s worth of writing talent. Drawing from On Avery Island, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Ferris Wheel on Fire, and even some of the band’s bootleg recordings, these stories speak to the spark struck by Mangum’s haunting, inspiring, and perplexing creative output that burns with a passionate intensity through the prose offerings within.”
Willie Nelson: A Graphic History
By T.J. Kirsch & Jason Pittman
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Since he was a child in Hill County, Texas, Willie Nelson has been writing and performing for adoring crowds. Though his mainstream success did not come until later in his life, he has been determined to take his unique sound and voice to the people even before he was a household name. There have been tragedies, missteps, IRS troubles, good times and bad along the way, but Willie continues to shine his positive outlook and project his humble voice out into the world. In this graphic novel biography, all the chapters represent a different era of his life and struggles — each illustrated by a unique indie comics talent.”
