Music-History & Criticism

In 1893 the composer Anton? Dvor疚 prophesied a "great and noble school" of American classical music based on the "negro melodies" he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while Black music would foster popular genres known the...

Peter Freestone was Freddie Mercury's Personal Assistant for the last 12 years of his life. He lived with Mercury in London, Munich and New York, and he was with him when he died.In this book, the most intimate account of Mercury's life ever written,...

Why did Pythagoras pause outside a Blacksmith's workshop? Can the nature of Harmony really be understood visually? Why do harmonies leave gaps or 'commas' when added together? In this charming pocket book Anthony Ashton uses a Victorian device called a Harmonograph to tell the...

Joining the ranks of the classics Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can't Stop Won't Stop, an intriguing oral history of the post-9/11 decline of the old-guard music industry and rebirth of the New York rock scene, led by a...

THE BASS BOOK: A COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF BASS GUITARS UPDATED EDITIONAuthor: Tony BaconISBN-10: 1495001504ISBN-13: 9781495001505Publisher: Backbeat BooksLanguage: EnglishPublished: 08/01/2016Pages: 176Format: PaperbackWeight: 1.65lbsSize: 11.00h x 8.50w x 0.80d

A collection of the very first, the very last, and the very best interviews conducted with Prince over his nearly 40 year career. There is perhaps no musician who has had as much influence on the sound of contemporary American music than Prince. His...

From acclaimed journalist Sophy Roberts, a journey through one of the harshest landscapes on earth-where music reveals the deep humanity and the rich history of Siberia.Author: Sophy RobertsISBN-10: 0802149294ISBN-13: 9780802149299Publisher: Grove PressLanguage: EnglishPublished: 08/17/2021Pages: 448Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.90lbsSize: 8.03h x 5.43w x 1.34d

A NEW YORKER & GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEARA love letter to the verbal artistry of hip-hop, What's Good is a work of passionate lyrical analysis"What's Good is, among a great many other things, a byproduct of joyful obsession and immersion...

Loveless remains an enigma, 15 years after its release - an album so influential and groundbreaking that its chief creator, Kevin Shields, has been unable or unwilling to release an official follow-up. In his book, Mike McGonigal talks to all the members of My...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - David Byrne's incisive and enthusiastic look at the musical art form, from its very inceptions to the influences that shape it, whether acoustical, economic, social, or technological--now updated with a new chapter on digital curation. "How Music Works is...

This gritty bestselling memoir by the singer Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, and Soulsavers documents his years as a singer and drug addict in Seattle in the '80s and '90s. When Mark Lanegan first arrived in Seattle in the...

Since launching his career at the Village Voice in the early 1980s Greg Tate has been one of the premiere critical voices on contemporary Black music, art, literature, film, and politics. Flyboy 2 provides a panoramic view of the past thirty years of Tate's...

A stunning, in-depth look at the power and poetry of one of the most consequential rappers of our time. Kendrick Lamar is one of the most influential rappers, songwriters and record producers of his generation. Widely known for his incredible lyrics and powerful music,...

This ultimate guide to all the gear used by the Beatles details exactly which guitars, drums, amplifiers, and keyboards the Fab Four embraced throughout their brief but revolutionary career, from their earliest days as the Quarry Men to the dissolution of the Beatles in...

"We have performed side-by-side on the global stage through half a century.... In Lightning Striking, Lenny Kaye has illuminated ten facets of the jewel called rock and roll from a uniquely personal and knowledgeable perspective." -Patti SmithAn insider's take on the evolution and enduring...

Hoskyns brings a genuine love as well as an outsider's keen eye to the rise and fall of the California scene. . . . This is a riveting story, sensitively told.-Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, Rolling StoneFrom enduring musical achievements to drug-fueled chaos and bed-hopping...

A serious look at the lyrics of metal's biggest band, disentangling double meanings, explaining stories, uncovering sources, and illuminating themes such as hope, despair, rage, resilience, power, liberty, justice, love, death, and insanity. More than 40 years since their formation, and 125 million album...

"Ranks up there with the great rock & roll books of all time."--Time Out New York "Lurid, insolent, disorderly, funny, sometimes gross, sometimes mean and occasionally touching . . . Resounds with authenticity."--The New York Times "No volume serves juicier dish on punk's New...

Features interviews with Bill Bruford, Peter Giles, Gordon Haskell, Judy Dyble and more . . .In 1969 five young Englishmen calling themselves King Crimson altered the course of rock music, and despite a revolving-door lineup, the band has continued to innovate and inspire for...

The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine is the latest installment in the Beatles Album Series by Beatles historian Bruce Spizer. The book covers the songs and projects undertaken by the Beatles shortly after completion of their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club...

This book has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted,...

Through archival work and storytelling, Musical Migration and Imperial New York revises many inherited narratives about experimental music and art in postwar New York. From the urban street level of music clubs and arts institutions to the world-making routes of global migration and exchange,...

The Stooges have come to be considered one of the most important rock bands, especially in regard to the formation of punk. By emphasizing their influence on later developments, however, critics tend to overlook the significance of the band in their own context and...

A celebration of five decades of country music magic with all the stars and legendary entertainers who brought the beloved Academy of Country Music Awards to life, pubbing in anticipation of the 50th anniversary show. From the first informal awards ceremony at the Hollywood...

Upon digging into Cincinnati's rich musical past, it becomes apparent that chronicling "the show" is and always will be a little blurry (much like what happens after a couple of libations). Often this history is a more oral tradition, passed down from musician to...

Redemption Songs tells the extraordinary story of how one of Bob Marley's greatest songs was born in Nova Scotia. It opens with Marley's live acoustic performance of Redemption Song at the end of his life, and reveals that the core lyric comes from a...

Brian Ward is Lecturer in American History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne .; This book is intended for american studies, American history postwar social and cultural history, political history, Black history, Race and Ethnic studies and Cultural studies together with the general...

Jeff Buckley made only one album, but the one he made has proved to be seminal. Buckley's refined melodies and wide vocal range made him stand apart from his contemporaries. Grace made clear a remarkably talented force had come upon the world, and it...

Reveals how Aaron Copland's complex relationship with the music of Gustav Mahler shaped his vision for American music in the twentieth century. The iconic American composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990) is often credited with creating an unmistakably American musical style, a style free from the...

An engaging study -- the first ever -- of the principles used by noted scholars to unravel the masterpieces of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and other modernists. For the past forty years, pitch-class set theory has served as a frame of reference for the study of...

While some people find new opportunities in the postindustrial economy, many working-class men find their social and economic well-being collapse as blue-collar jobs are outsourced and offshored to the global labor market. Faced with limited options to earn a living-wage, many of these blue-collar...

Montana's relationship to Americana music is as wide and deep as the famed Missouri River that inspired countless musicians seated at its shores. From the fiddling of Pierre Cruzatte and George Gibson in the Corps of Discovery to the modern-day loner folk of Joey...

Christa Gammage explores the role of music and jazz in the 1960's American Civil Rights movement in her book, Freedom Now!: The Function of Jazz in the Civil Rights Movement. Taking a deep dive into the activism of Jazz and Jazz artists in the...

This book has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted,...

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as...

Wilfrid Mellers is a composer, musician and author. Honorary Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge. This is his classic book on Bach.Author: Wilfrid MellersISBN-10: 1904331211ISBN-13: 9781904331216Publisher: Travis and Emery Music BookshopLanguage: EnglishPublished: 02/25/2007Pages: 336Format: PaperbackWeight: 1.04lbsSize: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.70d

This definitive guide includes a unique chapter-by-chapter playlist for the reader. Jazz: A Beginner's Guide is a lively and highly accessible introduction to a global musical phenomenon. Award-winning music journalist and author Stuart Nicholson takes the reader on an entertaining journey from jazz's early...

This pathbreaking study reveals Purcell's extensive use of symmetry and reversal in his much-loved trio sonatas, and shows how these hidden structural processes make his music multilayered and appealing. Purcell's trio sonatas are among the cornerstones of Baroque chamber music. The composer himself unassumingly...

An engaging window into a century of musical life, as seen in the history of the Pro Arte String Quartet, first organized in 1912 and still performing today. First organized in Brussels in 1912 by precocious young Belgian musicians, the Pro Arte String Quartet...

The story of the phenomenon that is Kraftwerk, and how one band revolutionized the cultural landscape of our time. 'We are not artists nor musicians. We are workers.' Ignoring nearly all rock traditions, experimenting in near-total secrecy in their D sseldorf studio, Kraftwerk fused...

Over one million copies sold! Have you ever wanted to learn more about hymns, but weren't sure where to start? Bestselling author Robert J. Morgan shares the incredible stories behind the beloved traditional hymns of faith.Each week millions of Christians around the world use...

A comprehensive look at the unique recording history of Pink Floyd, one of the world's most commercially successful and influential rock bands. Pink Floyd All the Songs tells the full story of every recording session, album, and single that the band has released. Since...

Memphis, Tennessee. The early 1950s. The Mississippi rolls by, and there's a train in the night. Down on Beale Street there's hard-edged blues, on the outskirts of town they're pickin' hillbilly boogie. At Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there's something different...

A definitive insight into the ever-influential world of Mark E. Smith and The Fall, featuring never-before published essays and ephemera from fans, collectors and the artist and band themselves. 'They are always different; they are always the same.' John Peel Over the course of...

Sympathy for the Drummer: Why Charlie Watts Matters is both a gonzo rush--capturing the bristling energy of the Rolling Stones and the times in which they lived--and a wide-eyed reflection on why the Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World needed the world's...

Michael Walker's Laurel Canyon presents the inside story of the once hottest rock and roll neighborhood in LA.In the late sixties and early seventies, an impromptu collection of musicians colonized a eucalyptus-scented canyon deep in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles and melded folk,...

The most readable and comprehensive guide to enjoying over five hundred years of classical music -- from Gregorian chants, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Johannes Brahms, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, and beyond. The Vintage Guide to Classical Music is a lively...

Notes and Tones is one of the most controversial, honest, and insightful books ever written about jazz. It consists of twenty-nine no-holds-barred conversations which drummer Arthur Taylor held with the most influential jazz musicians of the '60s and '70s-including: Art Blakey Betty Carter Don...

The Beatles Finally Let It Be includes the January 1969 rehearsals and recording sessions; the unreleased "Get Back" albums; "Let It Be" and "Let It Be...Naked;" along with American; British and Canadian perspectives. This volume also includes a detailed breakdown of every song released...

"Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music." --Daniel Levitin A colossal history spanning cultures, time, and space to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. 165 million years ago saw the birth of rhythm.66...