A candid, behind-the-scenes look at the life of a Motown legend—Songwriters and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Lamont Dozier As part of Motown's legendary songwriting and production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Lamont Dozier is responsible for such classics as "Baby I Need Your Loving," "You Can't Hurry Love," "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)," "Stop! In the Name of Love," "Heat Wave," "Where Did Our Love Go," "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Come See About Me" and many more. After leaving Motown he continued to make his mark with hits like "Give Me Just a Little More Time," "Band of Gold," and "Two Hearts," a chart-topping Phil Collins single that earned the pair an Academy Award nomination and a Grammy win. In How Sweet It Is, Lamont reveals the moments that inspired some of his timeless songs—and pulls back the curtain on what it was like at Hitsville and he and his colleagues created "the sound of young America." Lamont shares his struggles of growing up in Detroit and navigating an unstable family life to pursue his passion for music. He takes us behind the scenes of the Motown machine, sharing personal stories of his encounters with such icons as Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, and Berry Gordy. He details the rise of own artistic career, his business and legal struggles, and the personal triumphs and tragedies that defined him, both professionally and personally. Though he's racked up more than one hundred Top 10 singles on the Billboard charts, been inducted into both the Songwriters and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame, and been named among Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time," Lamont continues to write music every day. Having pursued the mystery of the songwriting muse for many years, his stories are interwoven with invaluable insights, tips, and wisdom on the art and craft of songwriting that will inspire the creative spark in all of us.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 280

Dimensions: 152 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 15-11-2019

This memoir is the fascinating and revealing story of Graeme Jefferies—one of the most inventive and influential musicians to emerge from New Zealand's vibrant independent music scene in the 1980s. Time Flowing Backwards spans over three decades of Jefferies career spent with bands Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment, and The Cakekitchen as well as a solo artist. In a candid and in-depth style, Jefferies recounts his recording and songwriting process along with riveting tales from incident-filled tours with the likes of Pavement, Cat Power and the Mountain Goats. This truly original and inimitable inside story highlights intense collaboration and DIY innovation, records made in hallways and houses rather than plush studios and a dedication to produce challenging and remarkable songs.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 260

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 01-06-2017

A passionate tribute to vinyl, spotlighting rock’s most influential records — from The Beatles’ 1963 debut Please Please Me, through the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks (1977) — 101 Essential Rock Records celebrates the “Golden Age.” A thoughtful essay on each album accompanies the original vinyl cover artwork, with rare variations from around the world. Also included are provocative interviews with musicians discussing the albums and artists who changed their lives. David Bowie speaks eloquently about the Velvet Underground’s influence, noting his band, Buzz, performed “I’m Waiting For The Man” at their last gig, and that “it was the first time a Velvet song had been covered by anyone, anywhere in the world. Lucky me.” Susanne Vega, Peter Buck (REM), Johnny Marr (The Smiths), Nels Cline (Wilco), Devendra Banhart, Robyn Hitchcock and more contribute original texts. Pictorial explorations of Jimi Hendrix’s personal record collection, and a survey of censored album covers from throughout the rock era are also featured. The sales of vinyl LPs have been growing rapidly while other physical mediums continue to wither, a trend driven in no small part by classic re-issues and the advent of record store day in 2008. 101 Essential is the perfect accompaniment and guide to digging in the bins for that quintessential vinyl experience.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 260

Dimensions: 250 x 300 x 30 mm

Born in Baltimore in 1915, and dead too early in New York in 1959, Billie Holiday became a legendary jazz singer, even mythical. With her voice even now managing to touch so many people, we follow a reporter on the trail of the artist on behalf of a New York daily. Beyond the public scandals that marred the life of the star (alcohol, drugs, violence...), he seeks to restore the truth, revisiting the memory of Billie. Through this investigation, Muñoz and Sampayo trace, through the undertones of racism, and in the wake of the blues, the slow drift of a singer who expressed the deepest emotions in jazz. By internationally renowned Argentine artists, featuring Muñoz' strikingly raw heavy blacks, this is not just a biography but a spell-binding art book tribute.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 80

Dimensions: 230 x 304 mm

Publication Date: 08-05-2017

"Nobody knows Dolly like Dolly," declares Dolly Parton. Dolly's is a rags-to-riches tale like no other. A dirt-poor Smoky Mountain childhood paved the way for the buxom blonde butterfly's metamorphosis from singer-songwriter to international music superstar. The undisputed "Queen of Country Music," Dolly has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and has conquered just about every facet of the entertainment industry: music, film, television, publishing, theater, and even theme parks. It has been more than fifty years since Dolly Parton arrived in Nashville with just her guitar and a dream. Her story has been told many times and in many ways, but never like this. Dolly on Dolly is a collection of interviews spanning five decades of her career and featuring material gathered from celebrated publications including Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, and Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. Also included are interviews which have not been previously available in print. Dolly's feisty and irresistible brand of humor, combined with her playful, pull-up-a-chair-and-stay-awhile delivery, makes for a fascinating and inviting experience in down-home philosophy and storytelling. Much like her patchwork "Coat of Many Colors," this book harkens back to the legendary entertainer's roots and traces her evolution, stitching it all together one piece at a time.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 416

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 08-05-2017

This book is a tribute to David Bowie, and to all facets of this magnificent artist, inspiration for several generations. We have brought together 41 artists who have created one or more illustrations of David Bowie, they also express in a sentence what they think about this artist recognised throughout the world.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 112

Dimensions: 180 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 17-04-2017

Los Angeles in the 1960s gave the world some of the greatest music in rock 'n' roll history: "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas and the Papas, "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds, and "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, a song that magnificently summarized the joy and beauty of the era in three and a half minutes.But there was a dark flip side to the fun fun fun of the music, a nexus between naive young musicians and the hangers-on who exploited the decade's peace, love, and flowers ethos, all fueled by sex, drugs, and overnight success. One surf music superstar unwittingly subsidized the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. The transplanted Texas singer Bobby Fuller might have been murdered by the Mob in what is still an unsolved case. And after hearing Charlie Manson sing, Neil Young recommended him to the president of Warner Bros. Records. Manson's ultimate rejection by the music industry likely led to the infamous murders that shocked a nation.Everybody Had an Ocean chronicles the migration of the rock 'n' roll business to Southern California and how the artists flourished there. The cast of characters is astonishing—Brian and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, eccentric producer Phil Spector, Cass Elliot, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, and scores of others—and their stories form a modern epic of the battles between innocence and cynicism, joy and terror. You'll never hear that beautiful music in quite the same way.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 432

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 25-04-2017

Few American superstar stories are richer, wilder, or more excessive than Rick James's. He played in a band with Neil Young, spent years in jail, produced his first album (which was then picked up by Motown) with money from shadowy sources, crossed rock and funk to come up with one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s, became one of the biggest pop star of the era, turned a young white woman named Teena Marie into an R&B superstar, displayed an outrageously sex and drug-filled lifestyle, was tried and found guilty of assaulting and imprisoning a young woman, went on to record new music that was compared to the Beatles' White Album, and ended his life as a punch line for Dave Chappelle. And along the way, he scored a large number of major hits, sold tens of millions of albums and became intimate with dozens of big-name celebrities. Rick James attempted to tell his own story—in two different books—but left out many incidents that showed what he was really like. Nobody has written the full truth about his life. Now, based on court records, newspaper archives, and extensive interviews with dozens of family members, band members, friends, and lovers, here is the definitive biography of Motown's most controversial superstar.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 384

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 20-03-2017

This illustrated survey celebrates the panoramic holdings and colorful history of the Archivio Storico Ricordi, one of the world’s most important musical archives. This comprehensive and captivating book follows the evolution of Milan’s Ricordi archive, from its founding in 1808 by publisher Giovanni Ricordi to its present-day holdings of thousands of scores, letters, libretti, sketches of opera scenery and costume design, photographs, and Art Nouveau and Art Deco posters. In addition, the original manuscripts of nearly all of the operas written by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Paganini are preserved inside its hallowed vaults. The book contains an overview of the archive’s entire collection whilst also examining rare autographs, the often-unacknowledged significance of the libretto, and the phenomenon of Italian opera and its important contributions to the world of music and culture. Revealing fascinating stories of uncovered secrets and biographical insights into the composers this book is a treasure trove of musical ephemera which pays tribute to the glorious, dynamic, and colorful history of making, presenting, promoting, and preserving music for the ages.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 216 x 275 mm

Publication Date: 10-02-2017

When he first started working on Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson said that he was going to write "the greatest rock album ever made." That album, released in 1966, fifty years ago, changed the face of popular music. From conception and composition to arrangement and production, Pet Sounds was the work of one extraordinary man. Turning his back on the protest songs and folk rock of his contemporaries and even on the bright surf sound of his own creation, Brian Wilson reached deep within himself to make music that struck an emotional chord and touched people's souls. Embracing the rapidly advancing recording technology of the time, he expertly created an original studio sound that would inspire generations of listeners and musicians. Featuring a detailed track-by-track analysis of the songs and extensive interviews with key personalities, this unique book reveals the influences--musical, personal, and professional--that together created this groundbreaking album. Now revised to include new information and recent developments, this is the definitive book on one of the greatest albums ever made.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 272

Dimensions: 140 x 217 mm

Publication Date: 20-10-2016