Music-History & Criticism

It started off so well. As Jon Lord enthused in the October 1975 issue of Melody Maker: 'Tommy can't be so bad for us with so many good ideas. All I can say is when you hear the album (Come Taste The Band) you'll...

An authoritative account of the life and work of Francis Poulenc, one of the most prolific and striking figures in twentieth-century classical music "An assured overview of Poulenc's life and work."--Alex Ross, New Yorker "Essential reading for anyone interested in the French musical culture...

A comprehensive look at another side of the famous topical songwriter Phil Ochs, showcasing his prose and poetry from across the full span of his life.Author: Phil OchsISBN-10: 1493051474ISBN-13: 9781493051472Publisher: Backbeat BooksLanguage: EnglishPublished: 12/01/2020Pages: 344Format: HardcoverWeight: 1.50lbsSize: 8.30h x 6.30w x 1.30dReview Citation(s): Library...

Released in 1995, Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" was unlike anything heard before in popular music. Protest songs had long been part of the heritage of rock - but not like this. "Earth Song's" vision was more panoramic, its roots more primal. Its unusual fusion...

This book offers the most detailed account so far of the early works of these four minimalist composers, putting extensive discussion of the music into a biographical perspective. The true musical minimalism of the 1960s and early 1970s is placed in the wider context...

Create, Produce, Consume explores the cycle of musical experience for musicians, professionals, and budding entrepreneurs looking to break into the music industry. Building on the concepts of his previous book, Making Money, Making Music, David Bruenger provides readers with a basic framework for understanding...

In this landmark of musical scholarship, the leading 20th-century authority on Jewish music describes and analyzes its elements and characteristics, and chronicles its development from the earliest appearance of Semitic song two thousand years ago to the early 20th century. Drawing upon years of...

In its heyday Motown Records was a household word, one of the most famous and successful black-owned businesses in American history, and, arguably, the most significant of all American independent record labels. How it got to be that way and how it changed the...

Dangerous Melodies vividly evokes a time when classical music stood at the center of twentieth-century American life, occupying a prominent place in the nation's culture and politics. The work of renowned conductors, instrumentalists, and singers--and the activities of orchestras and opera companies--were intertwined with...

Protest songs are united by the fact they all have something to say, something to dispute, or something to rile against, whether it be political, social, or personal. Story Behind the Protest Song features 50 of the most influential musical protests and statements recorded...

Includes a bonus excerpt from Bob Greene's forthcoming Late Edition: A Love Story "There is something absolutely magical about Bob Greene's voice."--Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor, The Last Lecture Running away to join the circus is a dream we're told to put away once we're no...

From the moment it was recorded, more than forty years ago, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue was hailed as a jazz classic. To this day, it remains the bestselling jazz album of all time, embraced by fans of all music genres. The album represented...

When Nick Drake (1948-1974) died of a drug overdose at twenty-six, he left behind three modest-selling albums, including the stark Pink Moon and the lush Bryter Layter. Three decades later, he is recognized as one of the true geniuses of English acoustic music. Yet...

What is it about Louisiana that breeds and attracts musicians? There are literally hundreds of them -- Dr. John, Harry Connick, Jr., Randy Newman, Trent Reznor, the Neville family, the Marsalis family -- all part of a tradition going back to Louis Armstrong, Fats...

He is one of the inventors of rock criticism. His first book, The Aesthetics of Rock (acclaimed by Greil Marcus as "a disemboweling of rock's soft white underbelly"), became an instant cult classic when published in 1970. And for the next thirty years he...

This book is an overview of jazz and jazz-influenced pop singers. Among the major figures discussed are Armstrong, Crosby, Holiday, Fitzgerald, Sinatra, Eckstine, Vaughan, Torme and Bennett, along with descriptions of the contributions of secondary and forgotten talents.Author: Will FriedwaldISBN-10: 0306807122ISBN-13: 9780306807121Publisher: Da Capo...

This comprehensive study of the rise of rock and roll from 1954 to 1971 has now been expanded with close to 100 illustrations as well as a new introduction, recommended listening section, and bibliography.Author: Charlie GillettISBN-10: 0306806835ISBN-13: 9780306806834Publisher: Da Capo PressLanguage: EnglishPublished: 03/22/1996Pages: 562Format:...

Music in China is one of many case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around...

The 1970s saw the rise of rock and metal as a force in record and ticket sales. Right there at the birth of this was Black Sabbath, whose first album came from nowhere to smash into the top of the charts in Britain and...

'The road is long, with many a winding turn, that leads us to who knows where? Who knows where?' Everyone loved The Hollies. They were the 'group's group'. Never confrontational or rebellious, always smartly suited, always smiling. The band had an unbroken run of...

The one-hit wonder has a long and storied history in popular music, exhorting listeners to dance, to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, to ponder mortality, to get a job, to bask in the sunshine, or just to get up and dance...

How can we better understand the past, present and future of Social Action through Music (SATM)?This ground-breaking book examines the development of the Red de Escuelas de M俍ica de Medell匤 (the Network of Music Schools of Medell匤), a network of 27 schools founded in...

"Josh Rosenthal is a record man's record man. He is also a musician's record man. He is in the line of Samuel Charters and Harry Smith. In this age where we have access to everything and know the value of nothing, musicians need people...

For a few decades now, They Might Be Giants' album Flood has been a beacon (or at least a nightlight) for people who might rather read than rock out, who care more about science fiction than Slayer, who are more often called clever than...

Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States reflects the fascinating diversity of regional and grassroots music in the United States. The book covers the diverse strains of American folk music--Latin, Native American, African, French-Canadian, British, and Cajun--and offers...

"Van Morrison," says Greil Marcus, "remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of modern popular music." When Astral Weeks was released in 1968, it was largely ignored. When it was rereleased as a live album in 2009 it...

1990s South Korea saw the transition from a military dictatorship to a civilian government, from a manufacturing economy to a postindustrial hub, and from a cloistered society to a more dynamic transnational juncture. These seismic shifts had a profound impact on the media industry...

In 1991, a loose-knit collective released a record called Blue Lines under the name Massive Attack, splicing together American hip-hop and soul with the sounds of the British underground. With its marauding bass lines, angular guitars, and psychedelic effects, Blue Lines built on the...

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, folklorist William Ferris toured his home state of Mississippi, documenting the voices of African Americans as they spoke about and performed the diverse musical traditions that form the authentic roots of the blues. Now, Give My Poor Heart Ease...

Investigates the connections between jazz, sexual identity, and radical black politics In his controversial essay on white jazz musician Burton Greene, Amiri Baraka asserted that jazz was exclusively an African American art form and explicitly fused the idea of a black aesthetic with radical...

"Foreword by Charles Wolfe Jean Ritchie, the youngest of fourteen children born and raised in Viper, Kentucky, is considered one of the greatest balladeers in this century. Her performances have influenced the resurgence of interest in folk music and given audiences a glimpse into...

Chasing the Rising Sun is the story of an American musical journey told by a prize-winning writer who traced one song in its many incarnations as it was carried across the world by some of the most famous singers of the twentieth century. Most...

For more than 100 years, the Pacific Northwest has been making music history. In this new retrospective, rare photographs evoke the musical memories of days gone by, from the earliest 19th-century brass bands to Roaring Twenties jazz combos, 1940s hillbilly twangers, 1950s rhythm-and-blues singers,...

For centuries, a war has raged between singers, musicians, bands--and the authorities. The conflict comes to life in Music vs The Man.What is it about musicians like John Lennon, Billie Holiday, Paul Robeson, Michael Jackson and Pussy Riot that has put them so frequently...

Richard Strauss in Context offers a distinctive approach to the study of a composer in that it places the emphasis on contextualizing topics rather than on biography and artistic output. One might say that it inverts the relationship between composer and context. Rather than...

Music and sound shape the emotional content of audio-visual media and carry different meanings. This volume considers audio-visual material as a primary source for historiography. By analyzing how the same sounds are used in different media contexts at different times, the contributors intend to...

Author: Peter KearnsISBN-10: 1789520819ISBN-13: 9781789520811Publisher: Sonicbond PublishingLanguage: EnglishPublished: 04/15/2021Pages: 176Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.53lbsSize: 8.20h x 5.80w x 0.60d

One of the defining aspects of music is that it exists in time. From clapping to dancing, toe-tapping to head-nodding, the responses of musicians and listeners alike capture the immediacy and significance of the musical beat. This Companion explores the richness of musical time...

A legendary journalist presents his rock 'n' roll journey, featuring more than one hundred short interviews with popular musicians from 1967 to 1973.Author: Michael ObermanISBN-10: 1493050923ISBN-13: 9781493050925Publisher: Backbeat BooksLanguage: EnglishPublished: 10/15/2020Pages: 472Format: PaperbackWeight: 1.38lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.95dReview Citation(s): Library Journal 10/01/2020 pg....

A notorious, influential and radical critique of the avant-garde music of Stockhausen and Cage, by maverick composer Cornelius CardewOriginally published in 1974, Stockhausen Serves Imperialism is a collection of essays by the English avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew that provides a Marxist and class critique...

A Guide to Library Research in Music introduces students to the process and techniques for researching and writing about music. It provides examples of different types of writing, offers a thorough introduction to music literature, describes various information-searching methods and library-based organizational systems, and...

Music is fundamental to human existence, a cultural universal among all humans for all times. It is embedded in our evolution, encoded in our DNA, which is to say, essential to our survival. Academics in a variety of disciplines have considered this idea to...

"Every entry opens a window onto a different story of creativity and resistance and I couldn't stop hopscotching around from page to page, each one sparking off vectors for further thought and exploration. A totally mind-blowing accomplishment."--Guy Picciotto, FugaziA groundbreaking exploration of the parallel...

Music history is nearly as old as human civilization itself, and while it has permeated the arts and popular culture for centuries, it still has a mystifying aura surrounding it. But fear not--it's not as complicated as it seems, and anyone can learn the...

The Beatles Off The Record is the most comprehensive oral history of The Beatles ever published - an 'as it happened' story of the greatest pop group of them all. Featuring a wealth of quotes from the Sixties by John, Paul, George and Ringo...

At its rhythmic, beating heart, Close to the Edge asks whether hip hop can change the world. Hip hop--rapping, beat-making, b-boying, deejaying, graffiti--captured the imagination of the teenage Sujatha Fernandes in the 1980s, inspiring her and politicizing her along the way. Years later, armed...

The Kings of Leon came from America's Deep South in 2003 and made an impact on the British music scene that was more immediate and long-lasting than any other new band in years. They embarked on a sex, drug and booze-fuelled rampage through the...

This book includes everything from various models from the original 1935 Model A tube/tone wheel organs, to the solid-state (transistor) era, to the current digital age, with production dates and photos for each. The book also provides a complete history of the Hammond tone...

This vintage book comprises a fascinating and insightful biography of Gioachino Antonio Rossini, the famous opera composer who composed thirty-nine operas and was once considered the most popular opera composer in the world. This biography, written by the nineteenth-century French writer Stendhal, is highly...

First published in 1890, this volume contains a detailed account of the history of the violin, exploring its fascinating history and evolution with reference to notable designers and makers from England, Ireland, and Scotland. This interesting volume was originally written for those who love...