History & Criticism

Scott Walker and the Song of the One-All-Alone offers, in detailed interpretative commentaries of his best songs, a sustained assessment of the work and career of Scott Walker, one of the most significant and perplexing artists of the late 20th and 21st...

Derided as seventies throwbacks upon their arrival and misremembered by the wider population as one-hit wonders, Marillion rode the 1980s as one of the most successful bands in Britain. Delivering the musical and conceptual density of early progressive...

Why is classical music predominantly the preserve of the white middle classes? Contemporary associations between classical music and social class remain underexplored, with classical music primarily studied as a text rather than as a practice until...

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Not many artists can boast a career like Nick Cave, which has gone from strength to strength since the debut album from his band The Bad Seeds in 1984. Most musicians in their 60s are relegated to the periphery as the quality of their output becomes...

Through extensive interviews with the band, as well as producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley, Terry Edwards tells the inside story of how Madness rose to be the most successful singles band of the 1980s in the UK charts. Madness came to prominence in...

The Smashing Pumpkins rose to fame during the grunge movement of the early nineties, however, the Chicago quartet's soaring guitar-driven anthems and beautifully crafted ballads instantly set them apart from their Seattle contemporaries. Possessing not...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781909394797Author Rich DeakinFormat PaperbackPage Count 472Imprint HeadpressPublisher Headpress

Hailing from Muswell Hill in London, The Kinks were one of the top British bands of the sixties, with over twenty hit singles including a trio of number ones (including the famous paean to their home city 'Waterloo Sunset'). They had over a dozen top...

Now available in paperback, this is perhaps the first comprehensive account of the nature and significance of music from the perspective of modern philosophy, and the only treatment of the subject which is properly illustrated with music examples. The...

Still making sensational live appearances on the international concert circuit, the Who have been rivalled only by the Rolling Stones as an enduring rock phenomenon for over half a century. From their early days as the Detours, they were at the...

Christ Church cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in a catholic country. Musical and archival sources (the most extensive for any Irish cathedral) provide a unique perspective on the history of music in Ireland. Christ Church has had a complex and...

Christ Church cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in a catholic country. Musical and archival sources (the most extensive for any Irish cathedral) provide a unique perspective on the history of music in Ireland. Christ Church has had a complex and...

From a celebrated critic, a heartfelt and adventurous reflection on the art of writing about art “Essential for fans of Marcus and fruitful reading for anyone reflecting on the mysteries of art.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Writers write. They...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781550226669Author Neil PeartFormat PaperbackPage Count 450Imprint ECW Press,CanadaPublisher ECW Press,CanadaWeight(grams) 650g

Arguably one of the most mainstream music styles today, rap was in fact born centuries ago in West Africa with historians or 'griots' who used to tell stories of the past over the beat of a drum. But it wasn't until the 1970s in New York that rapping as...

The story behind the scandalous first performance of one of the most influential works in the history of music, as part of the stunning Landmark Library series. On 29 May 1913, at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris, a new ballet by Diaghilev's...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781736517123Author Ilse NiccoliniFormat PaperbackPage Count 446Imprint Tonal PublicationsPublisher Tonal PublicationsWeight(grams) 503gDimensions(mm) 203mm...

Published in its first edition in 1983, Boyd's treatment of this canonical composer is essential reading for students, scholars, and everyone interested in Baroque music. In this third edition, biographical chapters alternate with commentary on the...

This book is a riveting investigation of what it means to love music and what it means to hate music, both of good and bad taste.Non-fans regard Celine Dion as ersatz and plastic, yet to those who love her, no one could be more real, with her...

Rising to prominence in 1994 on the back of their eponymous debut album, Korn ushered in a new sound within heavy metal which many would try and imitate in the years that followed. Earning themselves the title of "The Godfathers of Nu Metal", the...

Alfred Brendel, one of the greatest pianists of our time, is renowned for his masterly interpretations of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt, and has been credited with rescuing from oblivion the piano music of Schubert's last years. Far from...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781734489736Author Deforrest BrownFormat PaperbackPage Count 432Imprint Primary InformationPublisher Primary InformationWeight(grams) 454gDimensions(mm)...

The sound of 'Wichita Lineman' was the sound of ecstatic solitude, but then its hero was the quintessential loner. What a great metaphor he was: a man who needed a woman more than he actually wanted her. Written in 1968 by Jimmy Webb, 'Wichita Lineman'...

This fun and innovative collection introduces cellists to a range of pop and rock styles. Building on the trail-blazing approach to cello playing that he developed in Ten American Cello Etudes and Ten International Cello Encores, Aaron Minsky presents...

Discover music that dared to be different, risked reputations and put careers in jeopardy - causing fascination and intrigue in some and rejection and scorn in others. This is what happens when people take tradition and rip it up.MusicQuake tells the...

Language, education, science, and song come together in surprising ways in Katherine Bergeron's new history of music in the Belle Epoque. Voice Lessons examines the modern musical art known as la melodie francaise and its rise to prominence in the years...

Few songs have captured the contradictions and ambiguities of the 1960s as memorably as "California Dreamin'," the iconic folk music single that catapulted The Mamas & The Papas into rock and roll history. In All the Leaves Are Brown, SiriusXM producer...

A 'cult' band with a mass following, the band's last five albums have made the top 30 in the UK. Still active, recording and touring. Completely unique - no other band mixes progressive rock, metal and jazz in the same way. There has never been - and...

Shelved for over 20 years, Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, stands alongside Otis Redding's Live in Europe and James Brown's Live at the Apollo as one of the finest live soul albums ever made. It also reveals a musical, spiritual,...

Venue Stories is an anthology of creative non-fiction that remembers, celebrates and reinvigorates our complex and plural relationship with small and independent music spaces. Written by musicians, promoters, fans and academics who have a shared passion...

This series of books comprises a major social and cultural history of Britain, reflected through the prism of music - mostly folk music. It amounts to a hidden history of both Britain and music, and is part oral history and part incisive criticism, with...

Little Feat may not be a household name, but they are well-known to a good number of musicians who are: Keith Richards rounded up the Rolling Stones to see them perform in Amsterdam in 1975, Robert Plant publicly lamented their lack of success (as Led...

Even in an age of unparalleled innovation and artistic freedom, Spirit stood head and shoulders above their 1960s-era rock 'n' roll contemporaries. Perhaps only Love shared the same sort of expansive and adventurous artistic vision as the five guys in...

Completely revised and updated from recently discovered archive material, Lewis Foreman's classic biography is the essential handbook to Bax and his contemporaries. Lewis Foreman's classic biography of the composer Arnold Bax (1883-1953) was first...

The first in-depth biography of one of music's most fascinating, colourful and innovative characters. This book is the most comprehensive history yet of the life, music and cultural significance of the last of the great black music pioneers and the era...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781738581702Author Karamdeep SahotaFormat PaperbackPage Count 292Imprint Balmansa BooksPublisher Balmansa Books

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781506703152Author IchijinshaFormat PaperbackPage Count 136Imprint Dark Horse Comics,U.S.Publisher Dark Horse Comics,U.S.

He is known as the Mark Twain of American songwriting, a man who transformed the everyday happenings of regular people into plainly profound statements on war, industrialization, religion, and the human condition. Marking the 50th anniversary of the...

One of the most iconic and successful British bands of the 1980s, Level 42 are also arguably the ultimate 'fusion' unit, streamlining their energetic early jazz/funk/rock sound into slick, effortlessly-soulful pop music. Encompassing eleven studio...