Showing results by publisher "Talking Music" in All Categories

An updated version of the celebrated story of how Marshall Mathers went from school and low-paid jobs in his native Detroit to global superstardom, rehab and comeback.

For almost 40 years, from its genesis in 1967 to its eventual live unveiling at London's Royal Festival Hall in 2004, the album SMiLE has been written into music mythology. SMiLE: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson documents the history of the album, drawing on interviews with collaborator Van Dyke Parks, Brian's band (especially Darian Sahanaja), close friends, family, and many others who were part of its story.

Tour Manager and friend Johnny Green’s rip-roaring account from inside The Clash camp as they turned passion and guitars into songs that electrified a generation. An intimate and very funny listen.

Simon Wells' breathtaking account of life and murder with Manson and the Family, charting the influence of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Black Panthers on their enduring legacy of horror.

The classic account of the LA Canyons scene between 1967 and 1976, featuring Joni Mitchell; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; The Eagles; James Taylor; and Jackson Browne. Ambition, betrayal, drugs and genius all combine with great music making.

The legendary tale of industrial strength pranking, drumming, '70’s excess, big laughs, desperation, and The Who performed with gusto by Karl Howman. Set in London, LA, and on tour with one of the world’s greatest live rock bands, The Who.

Everett True, the journalist credited with discovering Nirvana, Hole, Pavement, and Soundgarden, offers an exclusive, insider's account of one of rock's most influential bands. He famously introduced Kurt Cobain to Courtney Love, performed with Nirvana numerous times, and even pushed Kurt onto the stage at the 1992 Reading Festival in a wheelchair. This is the definitive story, told by the only journalist allowed into the Cobain home immediately after Kurt’s death.

Yeah Yeah Yeah is a landmark and addictive work that audaciously charts the entire story of pop music. Unlike other books, it comprehensively covers the genre's history, spanning from the advent of the music charts in the 1950s to the digital transition of the year 2000. It covers an astonishing range of artists, from Billy Fury and Roxy Music to TLC and Britney, including giants like Led Zeppelin and Donna Summer. This book will remind you exactly why you first fell in love with pop.

Born John Anthony Gillis in 1975, White rose to fame as the virtuoso guitarist and vocalist for The White Stripes, a blues-rock revival duo known for the alleged 'sibling' relationship with drummer/ex-wife Meg White. Beyond The White Stripes, White collaborated with artists like Bob Dylan and Loretta Lynn, and formed new bands: The Raconteurs (2006) and The Dead Weather (2009). His diverse ventures include acting in Cold Mountain, a high-profile marriage and divorce from supermodel Karen Elson, and revitalising Detroit's art scene by founding Third Man Records.

With a career spanning over fifty years, Tom Waits remains one of rock’s great enigmas; a chameleon-like survivor who, like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, has achieved long-term success while retaining cult credibility and outsider mystique. Lowside of the Road, by Barney Hoskyns, offers a unique, affectionate and penetrating portrait of Waits spanning from Closing Time to Orphans, and beyond. Based on extensive research and deep critical insight, Hoskyns' definitive account of Waits' life and work is an outstanding exploration of this notoriously private artist and performer.

Listen to the original source of Stones myths and legends about gangsters, celebrities, drugs, movies, orgies, death, blood changes, and magnificent songs coming to life. A must-have companion to Keith’s excellent audiobook Life.

The revealing backstory of the album with no name that spawned 'When the Levee Breaks', 'Black Dog,' 'Stairway to Heaven', and 'Rock 'n' Roll'. Four tracks each side; eight killers, no fillers. This is how they did it.

Pop music didn't begin with the Beatles in 1963, or with Elvis in 1956, or even with the first seven-inch singles in 1949. There was a pre-history that went back to the first recorded music, right back to the turn of the 20th century . . . Let's Do It is the first book to tell the definitive story of the birth of pop, from the invention of the 78 rpm record at the end of the 19th century to the beginnings of rock and the modern pop age.

Winner of the prestigious Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, roots-savvy British critic Charles Shaar Murray assesses the lifework of guitarist Jimi Hendrix in the context of black musical tradition, social history, and the upheaval of the 1960s.

Originally published in 1988, and charting the first decade of Prince's meteoric rise, Prince: Imp of the Perverse, was the earliest book to explore Prince's prodigious and eccentric talent. Prince Rogers Nelson stood alone as a musical maestro amongst his peers, and proved you could do it all yourself: write, play, perform, produce and take control of your career. He took American pop by the scruff of the neck and shaped it to his own mercurial ends.

From Oscar Wilde to Ziggy Stardust, from Liberace to Lou Reed and T Rex to Roxy Music, here is the flamboyant decadence, the androgyny, and the sheer unadulterated fun of the early '70s - in an incredible rock history that tells it like it was.

In this new version, Jane Bussmann not so much reads as brilliantly performs her supreme comic history of British youth culture, acid house, and nightclubbing. A book so wonderful, it featured in Jeremy Deller’s winning submission to the Turner Prize. A Muzik Awards Book of the Year.

A fascinating memoir from a legendary music business executive.

Adele's life story revealed; from desertion by her father aged 2 to platinum-selling triumphs and motherhood. Hear the stories behind her best-known songs, from close friends, collaborators, and the First Lady of Heartbreak Soul herse.

Victor Farwell was without doubt a slow starter in monastic life. To his contemporaries he seemed an unremarkable also-ran, whose lack of academic talents would hold him back. Instead it spurred him on, and he developed rare gifts of human insight and understanding. In time this slow starter led the way, gaining the confidence of his own community and the other monasteries who followed his lead for decades.