We are saying it yearly: There are means too many music books for any human to maintain observe of, not to mention learn. But this yr has seen a backbreaking pile of welcome additions to the boundless stacks, only a few of which we delve into right here (we’re nonetheless dying to learn the Cher e book). With out additional ado, in no explicit order, dig in, and discover that particular somebody a vacation reward …
“Insurgent Woman: My Life as a Feminist Punk” Kathleen Hanna — This memoir from Hanna, the cofounder and frontperson of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre and one of the vital influential feminists within the music world, is equal elements triumph and trauma. It may be a harrowing learn at occasions, due nearly fully to the horrific conduct of so most of the males who’ve handed by means of her life. Whereas it contains the whole lot a fan of Hanna’s music might need from a memoir — her experiences within the indie-rock milieu from the late ‘80s to the ‘00s (and the sexual politics that accompanied them), how her teams shaped and her songs have been written, her friendships with Kurt Cobain and different luminaries of the time, and at last her marriage to Beastie Boy and seemingly excellent husband Adam Horovitz — the characters who resound most are the sexually abusive father, the stalkers, the rapists (together with one who had been her greatest good friend), the informal molesters, and the seemingly numerous males who, like numerous different males with numerous different ladies, aggressively imposed themselves on a girl who was simply attempting to go about her life. There’s additionally her almost lifelong battle with Lyme illness (which was undiagnosed for many years), the hate mail and random abuse her concepts and stances have earned, and, after all, being bodily attacked by Courtney Love at Lollapalooza in 1995. Whereas the happy-ish ending doesn’t arrive till the very finish of the e book, it’s a fantastic one: Elevating her and Horovitz’s son, singing onstage with each of her reunited bands earlier than hundreds of individuals, and a photograph that’s by some means simply as encouraging and empowering as these occasions, with a caption that reads: “Leaping rope onstage at age fifty 4.”
“Touring: On the Path of Joni Mitchell” Ann Powers — Writing and publishing a biography on the good Joni Mitchell — who has not too long ago revived her music profession after a protracted absence — in 2024 would appear to be a no brainer. Nevertheless, that’s been finished a number of time, which is why Ann Powers doesn’t. As an alternative, the virtuoso music author returns to obsession, confession and the memoir vibe of her “Bizarre Like Us” from 2000 for “Touring.” Without end “heading towards the ringing of her voice,” Powers hitches her personal narrative’s rollercoaster trip of being a girl, being a muse and being a grasp of letters to that of Mitchell. ]The intimate, coy conversations that Powers has with Mitchell’s collaborators, pals and lovers learn like telephone calls that the writer might need had along with her personal highschool buds. By the top of “Travelling,” you’re not even positive at occasions who Powers is speaking about — Mitchell or herself — save for the tower of tune and phrases of their wake. — A. D. Amorosi
The Rolling Stones: Uncommon and Unseen: Images by Gered Mankowitz — The music world of the Nineteen Sixties was crammed with trend icons, from the Beatles to the Ronettes, from Jimi Hendrix to the Supremes, from Motown to Haight-Ashbury. However for a few of us, the mid-Nineteen Sixties Rolling Stones have been as cool because it will get. Their look outlined Swinging London: the turtlenecks, the suede, the sun shades, the corduroys, the Cuban heels, the checkered jackets and pants, all hanging completely on these skinny, vitamin-deprived postwar-British frames. Brian Jones’ iconic fringe haircut flew hundreds of miles to California, the place his and the band’s look rapidly alighted on the Byrds, Love and the Jefferson Airplane. The Stones have been thought-about shockingly scruffy by “The Institution” however they’d fashion, particularly Jones and Keith Richards (who wrote the foreward for this e book). Arguably greater than some other, photographer Gered Mankowitz captured that look between 1965 and 1967, and it’s vividly captured on this e book. Liberated from the slim fits of their early years, the group’s trend grew from hip informal to psychedelic splendor in simply 24 months. Among the images are acquainted — he photographed a number of of the Stones’ album and single covers — however many will not be and are printed right here for the primary time. You actually really feel the insane tempo of life as a Stone, as a result of Mankowitz was with them within the studio, in planes, in inns, onstage and backstage, in picture periods and even within the uncommon occasions they have been house.
“A Few Phrases in Protection of Our Nation: The Biography of Randy Newman” Robert Hilburn — For the final 55 years or so, you’ve had a good friend in Randy Newman, when you’ve got a factor for songs that supply eviscerating, uncompromising, even devastating dissections of the human situation and the American experiment. Or, positive, youngsters’ tunes, or laugh-out-loud humorous ones, or memorable film-score cues — all of these issues, too. However the case for Newman as fashionable music’s biggest social commentators is the one being pressed most of all by former L.A. Instances rock critic Hilburn in his newest biography (following his glorious Paul Simon tome). Hilburn will get into the affect of rising up below the shadow of three well-known film-composer uncles (Alfred, Lionel and Emil), being steered away from classical and pushed into pop music by his childhood good friend Lenny Waronker (who went on to information his profession at Reprise Data), and the way a flip into movie scoring fulfilled his household future. However as robust because the movie composing stuff is, the much more essential facet for many people might be how the seemingly mild-mannered Newman discovered his technique to a half-century of raging towards the machine in a succession of semi-satirical, usually dead-serious albums which can be among the many most celebrated within the singer-songwriter canon and nonetheless appear underrated. By interviews with Newman’s family and friends in addition to the person, Hilburn will get in any respect the psychology we want whereas respecting that genius is typically its personal motivation. —Chris Willman
“Prince’s Purple Rain: 40 Years” Andrea Swensson — Whereas Swensson is likely one of the world’s foremost Prince historians and consultants, this lavish, purple-felt-bound tome is nearly extra of a photograph e book because it strikes from Prince’s early profession straight into the “Purple Rain” period, with a great deal of vibrant images in addition to file covers, commercials and different ephemera from the period. Interviews with bandmembers and (uncommon) quotes from the person himself are sprinkled all through the e book, together with a discography of the interval and different particulars, however most of all, “40 Years” is a feast for the eyes.
“From Right here to the Nice Unknown: A Memoir” Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough — Nevertheless unhappy you expect “From Right here to the Nice Unknown: A Memoir” might be, take heed: it’s sadder than that. This new quantity, began by Lisa Marie Presley earlier than her 2022 dying and accomplished not too long ago by daughter Riley Keough, falls squarely into the realm of autobio-tragedy — bracingly taking a look at how despair and habit points repeat themselves generationally, with nearly not one of the sentimentalized overlay you may anticipate a e book of this sort to impose. “I puzzled what number of occasions a coronary heart can break,” Keough writes close to the top. As a reader, you will have already been maintaining some sort of psychological rating. It’s loads. But it surely’s not a slog: “From Right here to the Nice Unknown” is engrossing from begin to end. The shifts between Presley’s dictation and Keough’s follow-up writing are marked by adjustments in typeface, and the transitions are pretty clear — and bouncing a bit between views offers the writing some stylistic and emotional dynamics we couldn’t anticipate out of a typical autobiography. The e book advantages from delivering the products on a myriad of topics any reader with a modicum of curiosity in celeb has naturally wished to know extra about, from Elvis’ temperament to how Lisa Marie bought together with Priscilla Presley (spoiler: not often properly) to her marriage to Michael Jackson, which deserves a e book unto itself. Lisa Marie might not often have felt happy in her life, however as a final act, she satisfies our curiosity, in a torrent of surprising candor. Right here’s to Keough addressing a few of these generational points additional when she pens her personal memoir, many years down the road, maybe — one which holds robust odds of being a a lot happier one. —Chris Willman
“The Story of the Bee Gees: Youngsters of the World” Bob Stanley — Whereas a biopic of this long-running sibling group’s historical past — from teen wonders to pop stars to disco titans and the following fallout from all of it — is alleged to be within the works, all we will say is nice luck: The sprawling historical past of the three brothers is so huge that Stanley, an ace music journalist and cofounder of the group St. Etienne, needed to race by means of a number of eras simply to maintain this tome below 350 pages. Not that the relative brevity is unwelcome. He focuses on the music and moments which can be most fertile, highlighting their collection of glowing ‘60s hits, the transient breakup and complicated of the early ‘70s that in the end led to their surprising disco dominance — and the following backlash that was so intense the group barely labored below their very own title for a few years. By all of it, there’s the problems of siblings working collectively, the marriages and divorces, and Stanley’s sharp prose and powerful perspective. To wit: “The lyrics on [the Bee Gees 1971 album] ‘Trafalgar’ showcased the Gibbs at their most peculiar, as violators of the English language who nonetheless by some means discovered a hard-to-pinpoint reality of their lyrical obscurity.”
“Me and Mr Jones: My Life With David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars” Suzi Ronson / “Guitar: Taking part in with David Bowie, John Lennon and Rock-and-Roll’s Biggest Heroes” Earl Slick — Contemplating the huge variety of books printed yearly about David Bowie — or, for that matter, the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Prince — a brand new one had higher have both recent information or recent insights. Fortunately, each of those memoirs ship on each sounds. Suzi Ronson is the spouse of the late Mick Ronson, Bowie’s lead guitarist and primarily musical collaborator from the “Ziggy Stardust” years, whose work is distinguished on the singer’s albums from the period, in addition to ones by Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople and others. She spent only a yr in Bowie’s orbit, nevertheless it was shut and intense: She turned pals with Bowie’s spouse on the time, Angie, whereas working in a hairdresser’s and ultimately was requested to accompany the fast-rising star on tour as his wardrobe and hair specialist. She was swept up into that whirlwind rapidly, initially becoming a member of for British dates, then a protracted American tour after which, over simply the primary half of 1973, one other American tour, two weeks in Japan, and two extra British excursions. By all of it, Suzi Ronson not solely spent many hours with Bowie, she had a front-row seat to the drama of his rise and its affect on him and everybody round him. Most fascinatingly, she skilled the fluctuations in his conduct, widespread to so many superstars: the best way he might shift from chilly and distant to intensely attentive from in the future to the subsequent.
It’s an identical story from Slick, who truly changed Ronson as Bowie’s guitarist and labored with him on and off till the early 2010s; he additionally performed on John Lennon’s “Double Fantasy” album and labored with the previous Beatle within the final yr of his life. Whereas Slick’s reminiscence is hazy on some particulars, he gives a vivid insider’s view of fascinating eras in Bowie’s profession, together with the “Diamond Canine,” “Younger People,” “Station to Station” and “Severe Moonlight” eras, in addition to a number of later excursions. Likewise, his depictions of working with Lennon, who was attempting to get again right into a recreation he’d fully deserted 5 years earlier, are heat and endearing.
“Indie/Seen: The Indie Rock Images of Piper Ferguson” — FOMO is such a robust human emotion that it defies logic, particularly when taking a look at images or video from Studio 54 or a Beatles live performance or Truman Capote’s Black-and-White Ball… or, as “Indie/Seen,” veteran photographer Piper Ferguson’s new picture e book demonstrates, the indie-rock scene of the early ‘00s. It’s a time capsule of the period dominated by the Strokes, the Killers, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the White Stripes, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, the Rapture and plenty of now-obscure acts from that scene, and although the images have been taken 20-odd years in the past, the artists are introduced so vividly that it’s laborious to not want you have been there. In Los Angeles, New York, Coachella and at Austin’s South by Southwest confab, we’re seeing them younger, (usually) inebriated, and pondering they’re the best folks on the planet, as solely those that are too younger and inebriated to know higher can do. There are additionally traditional photographs of artists from past the scene and/or period, like Beck, Bjork, Underworld, St. Vincent, Amy Winehouse and others. But what units Ferguson’s e book aside is her expertise and ability as a photographer: Not solely is she an ace at capturing onstage moments as they occur — there are a number of photographs of performers swinging from pipes above the stage or another telling onstage second — she additionally is aware of the best way to make ordinary-looking bands look fascinating with out resorting to unique places, whether or not it’s the Shins in mattress (in superhero costumes, natch) or Radio 4 standing in entrance of the Unisphere holding snowballs.
“Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Sluggish Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital” David Browne — The younger Bob Dylan and the early Nineteen Sixties Greenwich Village of yore have been the topic of so many histories, memoirs, documentaries and extra that discovering a recent angle was a problem, however Browne has risen to the event with this far-reaching historical past. Whereas it focuses on that period and there’s greater than sufficient Dylan to maintain followers joyful, he strikes from the neighborhood’s Bohemian origins within the early 20 th century and its period as a jazz hotspot within the Nineteen Fifties earlier than touchdown solidly within the traditional period, freshening the take by talking with many lesser-known habitues and staples of the time. He follows because the Village turns into a rock hotbed, with acts just like the Lovin’ Spoonful and Blues Mission, and continues into the Nineteen Eighties with the Roches and Suzanne Vega. Whereas his tight give attention to the geographic boundaries of the West Village largely precluded neighboring phenomena like glam and punk rock (in any case, the East Village might simply maintain its personal e book of an identical size), and there’s extra historical past on necessary however comparatively peripheral figures than more-casual readers may want, it’s a robust and welcome addition to the canon.
“Hollywood Dream, the Thunderclap Newman Story: Pete Townshend, a Band of Outsiders, and the Start of British Indie Music” Mark Ian Wilkerson —Thunderclap Newman have been a trio of three far-flung musicians pulled into a gaggle in 1969 by the Who’s Pete Townshend, who produced and performed bass on their debut single, “One thing within the Air,” which shot to the highest of the British charts and since has develop into a generational anthem (you most likely comprehend it even if you happen to assume you don’t: “We’ve got bought to get it togeth-er”). Whereas a superb Townshend-produced debut album emerged a yr later, the group’s second had lengthy since handed they usually cut up up. How might such a short-lived endeavor warrant a 400-plus web page e book? As a result of Wilkinson has exhaustively researched and interviewed the folks across the band (all three members have lengthy since handed away) in addition to Townshend, who not too long ago informed Selection that the group is “among the finest items of labor that I’ve ever been concerned in,” making a vivid historical past not simply of the group, however Townshend, the period and a second in British rock historical past when something appeared potential.
“Down On The Nook: Adventures in Busking and Road Music” Cary Baker — Baker has written a type of “how has nobody ever printed a e book — or a definitive e book — on this topic earlier than?”-type volumes. He and his topics make the case that, in a commoditized world, there could also be no purer type of music than road singing… which clearly has its personal transactional parts, however there’s nothing like an open guitar case on the sidewalk as a fantastic financial equalizer. Whereas Baker after all will get into the historical past of busking, a big a part of this wealthy and rewarding quantity permits cult figures or names as well-known as Lucinda Williams and Glen Hansard to get their very own chapters speaking about their early experiences singing for random passers-by (in addition to an entertaining one recounting how Elvis Costello bought signed due a minimum of partly to a road efficiency that bought him arrested). Busking can come out of financial necessity but in addition the enjoyment of spontaneity or guerrilla theater — and a type of efficiency as traditionally primary to human expertise as campfire singing lastly will get the due it’s deserved. —Chris WIllman
“American Customary: Low-cost Trick From the Bars to the Budokan and Past” Ross Warner — They could be within the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame, however Low-cost Trick are one of the vital underrated bands in rock historical past. Certain, they’d hits and headlined arenas, have been a band for 50 years (guitarist Rick Nielsen and bassist Tom Petersson have been collectively for almost 60 years) and proceed to tour as we speak, however they by no means fairly turned the world-shaking icons that many followers really feel they need to have been. There are many causes for that — they’re an odd band to make sure, with two heartthrobs and two oddballs; they not often gave the impression to be paired with the suitable producer on the proper time; and arguably among the greatest songs from their early years weren’t formally launched till many years later. Warner gives a fan-pleasing historical past of the group right here, correctly specializing in their early years and heyday — going deep on their rise within the mid-‘70s, there lengthy years working golf equipment and getting a giant break on a summer season tour with Kiss, resulting in their “Heaven Tonight” / “Budokan” / “Dream Police” peak — and fast-forwarding by means of the post-‘80s many years. By all of it, the reader sees the place issues perhaps might have been totally different, but in addition sees that regardless of the good songs, charisma and the truth that for years they have been one of the vital explosive dwell rock bands on the planet, it most likely would have ended up the best way it did anyway.
“Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Sharable” Rob Drew — There’s something nobly romantic about how Saginaw Valley State U. communications professor Rob Drew rolls out the historical past and thriller behind the cassette, the forerunner of the playlist and the supply of the time period “mixtape.” Should you have been a rapper, punk, metalhead or DJ spinning hip hop or home music units earlier than Bandcamp, Soundcloud and YouTube, you place your jams on cassette and handed them to pals, or duped the grasp and bought the tapes at your subsequent gigs – all with out gatekeepers or execs to carry you again. Should you have been a shy boy or woman who might by no means communicate to the objects of your affection immediately, you mentioned the whole lot that you simply needed to say on Maxell like Cyrano talking for Christian de Neuvillette. Your nice style in music and your perceptive means with poetry (i.e. another person’s lyrics) graced every taped liked letter or poison pen missive, and your aptitude for sonic drama turned the stuff of native legend — and absolutely you scribbled hand-drawn artwork throughout the tape case, drew or photocopied covers onto the “J-cards” (covers). Drew’s captures all of it on this love letter to a format that unexplicably survives, if solely as a reminiscence or memento. — A. D. Amorosi
“Zip It Up: The Better of Trouser Press Journal 1974-1984” Edited by Ira Robbins — Regardless of and in addition due to its puzzling inside-joke title, Trouser Press was one of many biggest music magazines in historical past. It existed for only a decade — from 1974 by means of 1984 — however within the course of, it nurtured the careers of hundreds of musicians and exponentially extra followers, future musicians, writers and executives. In contrast to almost each main music publication, it had no anthology or assortment of its biggest work till this sprawling 440-page fiftieth anniversary assortment of its biggest articles that’s virtually a real-time historical past of among the greatest rock music of that period, from the Who, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie to the Intercourse Pistols and the Conflict to U2 and the Remedy, and dozens extra. But not like different “new wave” publications of the period just like the NME, Melody Maker, New York Rocker and Zig Zag, Trouser Press lined each worlds: The Stones and Bruce Springsteen have been as prone to be on the quilt because the Conflict, Elvis Costello and the Pretenders, however the articles on traditional rockers have been extra prone to be crammed with little-known historic anecdotes and particulars about uncommon B-sides and bootlegs that might ship readers scampering on treasure hunts to search out them. Its writers requested clever and knowledgeable music questions at a time when that was not the norm, and wrote with perspective and humor however not condescension — the place among the above publications might need made you’re feeling embarrassed for nonetheless being a Led Zeppelin fan, Trouser Press featured an expansive three-part 1977 interview with a clearly drug-addled however largely coherent Jimmy Web page that lined his total profession (and featured the guitarist raving enthusiastically about then-new punk rock). The truth that one of many world’s greatest rock stars devoted a lot time to it reveals not solely the respect the journal commanded but in addition how engaged he was with the dialog, and that’s true of a lot of the interviews printed on this assortment.
“The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap’s Masked Iconoclast” S.H. Fernando Jr. — Fernando’ earlier books — 1994’s “The New Beats: Exploring the Music, Tradition & Attitudes of Hip-Hop” and “The Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga” are far-reaching tomes, and attempting to give attention to the story of the eccentric, enigmatic and nameless rapper-producer Dumile Daniel Thompson — a.okay.a. DOOM — should have been akin to pinning down mercury. Apart from his collaborations with Madlib, Dilla and Ghostface Killah, DOOM largely flew below the radar, however his affect and the curiosity in his work is huge. Lengthy earlier than Comedian Cons and fan boys broke down the trivialities of the MCU (lengthy earlier than the acronym existed, even) DOOM’s husky baritone weirdly related the dots between the tremendous heroes and scary monsters of his lyrics and the philosophical and religious realms they inhabited. Plus, DOOM did this all whereas masked, splicing his steely, jazzy music with samples of his favourite movies. Fernando goes a good distance in presenting the person behind the masks (who died in 2020) with out revealing all of his spaced-out secrets and techniques that made him particular. — A. D. Amorosi
“Beneath a Rock: A Memoir” Chris Stein — Blondie’s co-founder, guitarist and chief songwriter with Deborah Harry, Chris Stein skilled a lot of what three many years of rock and pop music needed to provide. As a youngster from Brooklyn, he incessantly forayed into Greenwich Village within the Nineteen Sixties, shifting on the fringes of the folks and rock scenes of town in these years. As a musician, he got here up throughout the glam period of the New York Dolls within the early ‘70s, and was each deep in and at a slight take away from the punk and new wave actions that Blondie — a pop group at coronary heart that was musically removed from punk and new wave — rode to superstardom. But heroin insinuated the lives of Stein and Harry on the peak of their success within the early Nineteen Eighties, and the group’s fortunes light because the habit worsened. Each survived, though Stein remained sick for a few years, and Blondie reformed within the late Nineteen Nineties and proceed to tour and launch albums to today. It’s all on this memoir, however Stein — a superb photographer who printed a e book of that work in 2018 — oddly vacillates between riveting recollections involving the New York Dolls, the New York punk scene, touring with Iggy Pop and David Bowie and socializing with Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat, and surprisingly mundane particulars; you’ll be able to skim a piece when, hey, there’s David Bowie once more! It makes for a little bit of a stop-start expertise, however followers will discover what they’re looking for right here.
