Genres & Styles

A ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEARWayne Kramer, legendary guitarist and co-founder of quintessential Detroit proto-punk legends The MC5, tells his story in The Hard Stuff.'As gripping as it is sobering.'THE TIMES'Voyerustically dramatic.'NEW YORK...

The Eagles began as a backing group for Linda Ronstadt, then realised they had the potential to strike out on their own. All being accomplished vocalists, musicians and songwriters, they jointly set themselves the goal of 'number one singles and albums,...

It began with The Beatles' 'Helter Skelter'. It was distilled to its dark essence by Black Sabbath. And it has flourished into a vibrant modern underground, epitomized by Newcastle's Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. This is the evolution of heavy...

For the last quarter of a century Michael Stipe has been the lead singer of R.E.M, who from their humble beginnings toured and built a steadily growing legion of fans before breaking into the mainstream during the early 1990s. Today Stipe is one of the...

A lifetime of letters, collected for the first time, from the legendary The Beatles musician and songwriter John LennonJohn Lennon is one of the world's greatest-ever song writers, creator of 'Help!', 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', 'Imagine' and dozens...

The album that Brian Wilson created in an attempt to outdo the Beatles' Rubber Soul album. Worshipped by music lovers for its harmonies it is also regarded as an early demonstration of how to use the recording studio as an instrument. Brian Wilson has...

From the record-breaking success of 1991's 'Black Album' to the band's reinvention with the Load/Reload albums; from bassist Jason Newsted's shock departure to the group's subsequent meltdown as laid bare in the documentary Some Kind of Monster; from the...

There were a lot of very different bands peddling their wares in the progressive rock 'golden age' of the 1970s - some tending toward symphonic grandeur, other towards jazz fusion, and others still ploughing the more immediate end of the spectrum. There...

Silhouettes and Shadows explores the secret history of David Bowie's 1980 album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)-an avant-garde pop album rich with tension and fear which closed Bowie's golden years of the 1970s.Featuring exclusive interviews with close...

'Packed with war stories from a golden age of rock, and insights into the stars that made that music' CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE'On reading Getcha Rocks Off you realise just how drastically things have changed in the rock industry but books like this...

The last word on Sid Vicious - the world's most iconic punk figure.The old school register for Soho Parish Primary school has a note in the margin recording that five-year-old John Simon Ritchie turned up for his first day at school unaccompanied in...

Few bands in the past three decades have proven as affecting or exciting as the Misfits, the ferocious horror punk outfit that lurked in the shadows of suburban New Jersey and released a handful of pivotal underground recordings during their brief,...

BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 - MOJO MAGAZINE & UNCUT MAGAZINE "In early '77 I asked Grant if he'd form a band with me. `No,' was his blunt reply." Grant McLennan didn't want to be in a band. He couldn't play an instrument; Charlie Chaplin was his hero du jour...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781648450716Author Bill O'NeillFormat PaperbackPage Count 160Imprint Lak PublishingPublisher Lak PublishingWeight(grams) 222gDimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm *...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780385054485Author Henry W. SimonFormat PaperbackPage Count 560Imprint Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing GroupPublisher Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.AwardsWinner of Street Literature Book Award Medal (Slbam) (General) 2011.Book InformationISBN 9781400068920Author Jay-ZFormat HardbackPage Count 336Imprint Random House...

The recording sessions for Let It Be were actually begun as rehearsals for a proposed return to live stage work for the Beatles, to be inaugurated in a concert at a Roman amphitheatre in Tunisia. Here, Steve Matteo delves deep into the complex history of...

This book is a more personal history than has ever before been written by or about Marianne Faithfull. Anecdotal, conversational, intimate and revealing, this is her no-holds-barred account of her life, her friends, her triumphs and mistakes. ...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780998134321Author Mark BrickleyFormat PaperbackPage Count 212Imprint Britpop BooksPublisher Britpop BooksWeight(grams) 227gDimensions(mm) 203mm * 133mm *...

Since the first performance of the first opera in 1600, operas have been telling stories from myth and history. This book - beginning with the Creation and ending in the present day - is a chronology of myth and history as told in opera. Over 260...

The musical achievements of the so-called `Franco-Flemish School' have attracted many writers, yet Bruges itself has still to be put back on the map of European music history. This book describes how the people of Bruges shaped their acoustic environment...

"Don't live life worrying about it, just T. Rex the shit out of it." - Sylvain Sylvain The New York Dolls were called many things; glam, proto-punk, hard rock, but are probably best understood as a "dirty rock & roll" band. Combining an aggressively...

Born without social instincts many people take for granted, brought up in a troubled environment and possessed with an extraordinary musical talent, Mike Oldfield was thrust into the spotlight at the tender age of nineteen. His first album Tubular Bells...

Leos Janacek (1854-1928) occupied a pre-eminent position in Moravian (and wider Czech) culture, not only as a composer but also as a folksong collector, journalist, educator and nationalist. One of the greatest and most original composers of the early...

Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion reveals the ups and downs of the band's forty-year career. From their beginnings as teenagers jamming in a San Fernando Valley garage dubbed "The Hell Hole" to headlining major music festivals around the world,...

My Chemical Romance is the most significant band in alternative rock in the last decade. Inspirational, original, and stunningly creative, they forged an extraordinary connection with their fans. Not the Life It Seems: The True Lives of My Chemical...

Encyclopaedic in its scope, this is the ultimate tribute to the life and music of Taylor Swift. No need for glossy images here, the narrative says it all - a chronological account of her mercurial rise to fame; the stories that inspire the songs; an...

Every generation or so an opera singer attains the kind of public adulation and affection usually reserved for film stars or pop singers. Luciano Pavarotti reached this level of fame: he was the most celebrated tenor of all time, his concerts attended by...

Acting in Musical Theatre remains the only complete course in approaching a role in a musical. It covers fundamental skills for novice actors, practical insights for professionals, and even tips to help veteran musical performers refine their craft...

Jefferson Airplane were not the sole exemplars of 1960s Californian acid rock; the Grateful Dead could equally claim the mantle of house band to the Summer of Love. Airplane's instrumentation was conventional, comprising mainly vocal harmonies, guitars,...

This is a fully illustrated oral history of the Magnetic Fields' 1999 triple album, "69 Love Songs" - an album that was afforded "classic" status by many almost as soon as it was released. LD Beghtol's book is chatty, incestuous, funny, dark, digressive,...

Praised as "suave, soulful, ebullient" (Tom Waits) and "a meticulous researcher, a graceful writer, and a committed contrarian" (New York Times Book Review), Elijah Wald is one of the leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald...

From the makers of AWARD NOMINATED: Why, oh why, am I a crocodile?*** When mean Spider hears music for the first time, music that is being played by - of all unlikely creatures - a Fly, he experiences an emotion that he has never felt before.....

This is the story of Alex James's transition from a leading light of the Britpop movement in the 1990s, to gentleman farmer, artisan cheese-maker and father of five. 'I was hanging around the pigsty in the way I'd previously hung around at The...

The music of J.S.Bach has a unique power and attraction some 300 years after it was written. From annual performances of the great Passions and BBC Radio 3's hugely successful Bach Christmas, to its use in adverts, films and popular arrangements, the...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780859655675Author Reinhardt HaydnFormat PaperbackPage Count 160Imprint Plexus Publishing LtdPublisher Plexus Publishing Ltd

Amidst the chaos that was the Sex Pistols, it's often forgotten just what a powerful band they were, and what great records they made. The Sex Pistols were no ordinary group. Their story might be short, and not without its casualties, but their legacy...

for SA and piano or orchestra With a simple, appealing melody and a flowing accompaniment, The Colours of Christmas evokes a touching sense of longing for the joys of the festive season. Also available in a version for upper voices. An accompaniment...

arranged for one or two violin(s), one or two viola(s), and pianoBook InformationISBN 9780193569836Author George Frideric HandelPage Count 16Imprint Oxford University PressPublisher Oxford University PressWeight(grams) 87gDimensions(mm) 312mm * 232mm *...

From Morrissey and Nick Cave to The Streets and Kanye West, this is the book that explores the links between hip-hop and rock. Reynolds has focused on two strands: white alternative rock and black street music. He's identified the strange dance of white...