Books

Book introduces soundtracks and spotlights the work of precursors James Brown and Isaac Hayes, Donna Summer, the women of Labelle and Sylvester (338 pages, hardback, black & white/colour)

Review: Disco thumps back to life in this pulsating exploration of the culture and politics of the glitterball world.

In the 1970s, as the disco tsunami engulfed America, the once-innocent question, Do you wanna dance? became divisive, even explosive. What was it about this much-maligned music that made it such hot stuff? In this incisive history, Alice Echols captures the felt experience of the Disco Yearsion dance floors both fabulous and tacky, at the movies, in the streets, and beneath the sheets.

Disco may have presented itself as shallow and disposableithe platforms, polyester, and plastic vibe of it allibut Echols shows that it was inseparable from the emergence of gay macho, a rising black middle class and a growing, if equivocal, openness about female sexuality. The disco scene carved out a haven for gay men who reclaimed their sexuality on dance floors where they had once been surveilled and harassed; it thrust black women onto center stage as some of the genre's most prominent stars; and it paved the way for the opening of Studio 54 and the viral popularity of the shoestring-budget Saturday Night Fever, a movie that challenged traditional notions of masculinity, even for heterosexuals.

As it provides a window onto the cultural milieu of the times, the Hot Stuff never loses sight of the era's defining soundtrack, which propelled popular music into new sonic territory, influencing everything from rap and rock to techno and trance. Throughout, Echols spotlights the work of precursors James Brown and Isaac Hayes, dazzling divas Donna Summer and the women of Labelle and some of disco's lesser known but no less illustrious performers such as Sylvester. After turning the final page of this fascinating account of the music, you thought you hated but can't stop dancing to, you can rest assured that you'll never say disco sucks again.

304 page paperback autobiography

Review: Amy Winehouse's death made the news the world over, and despite her much publicised battle with drink and drugs her passing left the music world in a true state of shock. At just 27 years of age she sadly joined a list of musical greats who have all died before their time. With original interviews and revealing anecdotes this well-researched biography traces the turbulent life of the tattooed wonder from her childhood pranks, through stage school and her early music to the global legend she will be always remembered as.

The never-before-told stories of the most successful of the rap elite and, through extensive interviews, the advice flowing from the millionaires themselves.

Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, graffiti writers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip-hop's forebears, founders, and mavericks, including DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube.

Review: This epoch-making indie record of the early '90s effortlessly combines dense swathes of guitar noise and dance music. This turned out to be their last record, guitarist and studio maestro Kevin Shields having set their standards so high it was impossible to surpass them. Indeed such was the perfectionism that went towards this record, studio costs almost bankrupted Alan McGee's Creation Records - only bailed out by the success of Oasis! Shields is now playing with Primal Scream. Includes the classics Loomer, Soon and To Here Knows When.

360 page hardback book of original, behind the scenes photographs by acclaimed photographer Terry Richardson

Review: During an almost year long global odyssey, renowned photographer Terry Richardson brilliantly captured the intimate, random and behind the scenes moments of Lady Gaga. This visual dialogue showcases more than 450 stunning, provocative colour and back & white photographs. Beginning with Lollapalooza in August 2010, to the final shows of her Monster Ball tour. This book captures Lady Gaga as never seen before.

(360 pages, hardback, black & white / Colour)

312 page paperback book on The Velvet Underground

Review: Sporting shades and a feedback-heavy sounds, the Velvet Underground straddled art and rock, changing popular music forever, and sowing the seeds for punk, grunge and thousands of countercultural four-chord wonders.

The Rough Guide To The Velvet Underground explores:

The Velvet Story - How Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale and the others emerged from the New York scene, their successes and excesses and what happened to each in their solo years.

Velvet Music - From their 1967 debut with Nico to their 1993 reunion with all the tales behind the tunes.

Velvet Universe - Everybody who was anybody in the Velvet's world, taking in Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, David Bowie, Delmore, Schwaretsz and Brian Eno.

Velvet Goldmine: The "Underground" on screen, the Velvets' New York, clubs, influences, covers, websites and more.

Review: In contrast with many of their punk peers, Wire were enigmatic and cerebral, always keeping a distance from the crowd. Although Pink Flag appeared before the end of 1977, it was already a meta-commentary on the punk scene and was far more revolutionary musically than the rest of the competition. Few punk bands moved beyond pared-down rock 'n' roll and garage rock, football-terrace sing-alongs or shambolic pub rock and, if we're honest, only a handful of punk records hold up today as anything other than increasingly quaint period pieces. While the majority of their peers flogged one idea to death and paid only lip service to punk's Year Zero credo, Wire took a genuinely radical approach, deconstructing song conventions, exploring new possibilities and consistently reinventing their sound. THIS IS A CHORD. THIS IS ANOTHER. THIS IS A THIRD. NOW FORM A BAND, proclaimed the caption to the famous diagram in a UK fanzine in 1976 and countless punk acts embodied that do-it-yourself spirit. Wire, however, showed more interesting ways of doing it once you'd formed that band and they found more compelling uses for those three mythical chords.

Review: This is a groovy little guide to all things disco - a Japanese discography that focuses on key club records from a number of different generations. As you'd guess from the title, the core focus here is the seventies - and possibly the early eighties - represented by listings of a variety of albums and other releases. The book sets out a few artist-based sections for folks like Chic, Jellybean, Jocelyn Brown, Earth Wind & Fire, and others, and also features some DJ's Choice sections, and Essential Disc Guides throughout. There's plenty here to wet your appetite, including a full colour section of rarities at the beginning, plus lots of other text and interviews in Japanese.

Review: Indepth and comprehensive Japan only Straight Jazz Guidebook covering Europe, USA and Japan from late 1950's jazz up to present day labels like Ricky Tick and the Deja Vu with full artist index. Full Japanese text with allbum sleeve pictures and full tracklistings of each album reviewed. An excellent jazz information source with additional Japanese text interviews with Gilles Peterson, Ricky Tick & Paolo Scotti.

First published in December 2001, Brooklyn-born Wax Poetics hit newsstands with a new vision for music journalism. This anthology gathers the first five issues into a deluxe must-have hardbound edition. Colour, 238 pages.

Record Shop Map book 2008/9, featuring a detailed guide to the best record and CD shops in Japan and including thorough information on the shops and what types of music they stock.

238 page paperback book showcasing street artist Banksy's work

Review: Artistic genius, political activist, painter and decorator, mythic legend or notorious graffiti artist? The work of Banksy is unmistakable, except maybe when it's squatting in the Tate or New York's Metropolitan Museum. Banksy is responsible for decorating the streets, walls, bridges and zoos of towns and cites throughout the world. Witty and subversive, his stencils show monkeys with weapons of mass destruction, policeman with smiley faces, rats with drills and umbrellas. If you look hard enough, you'll find your own. His statements, incitements, ironies and epigrams are by turns intelligent and cheeky comments on everything from the monarchy and capitalism to the war in Iraq and farm animals. His identity remains unknown, but his work is prolific. Here's the best of his work in a fully illustrated colour volume - including brand material.

From Jazz pioneers to Eugene McDaniels, Sun Ra and Joe Zawinul to influential hip-hop artists like DJ Premier and the Beastie Boys. Hardback, Colour, 231 pages.

Review: 'Record Map Book of Japan 2009/2010' is a detailed book listing the best record /CD shops you should be digging through in Japan. This book includes detailed info on shops & the types of music they stock.

Selection of rare strange and bizarre record covers, exploring an element of music culture behind (268 pages, paperback, 262 4-colour plates)

Review: A team of obsessive collectors has gathered together a unique and worldly selection of rare album covers that spins bizarre and mind-boggling narratives. Wax Poetics are not deciphering mysteries, only adding to their mythos. Every album cover tells a story and here Wax Poetics enter the world of the odd, obscure and outrageous. Some hint at the profound, via spiritual, supernatural, or chemical explorations, or speak of the prosaic wolrds of war, sex and comedy. And some are by far more interesting than the music itself.

The Cover Story Volume Two: Odd, Obscure, and Outrageous Album Art, the second installment in the Cover Story series from Wax Poetics Books, continues a graphic narration of the vibrant subculture of record collecting through the art of the album cover. This volume focuses specifically on strange and bizarre record covers, selected by the staff of Wax Poetics and major collectors of music's avant-garde.

The Cover Story series vividly explores an element of music culture that has withered with the advent of MP3 and digital downloading. Vinyl records tell their stories visually as much as they do aurally and the record cover, the eye candy for the music lover, speaks a language rooted in the environment and era of the music itself. The Cover Story Volume Two: Odd, Obscure, and Outrageous Album Art celebrates the products of music's most eclectic and eccentric figures, those whose artistic visions were so absurd and grandiose, they often extended beyond the boundaries of the recording and onto the album covers themselves.

Cover Story Japan, covert art book selected by DJ Jin, Tatsuo Sunaga, Muro, Daisuke Kuroda, Masanori Ikeda, Mitsuru Ogawa etc (in Japanese text)

Review: Since late 2001, Wax Poetics has pioneered a new vision for music journalism, serving as the nexus between music history and record collecting, and the magazine's readership has grown exponentially, making musical anthropologists out of average music listeners.

Cover Story vividly explores an element of music culture that has withered with the advent of MP3s and digital downloading.

Records possess a visual as well as an aural capacity for storytelling, and the record cover "eye candy for the music lover" speaks a language rooted in the environment and era of the music itself. World renowned DJs, writers, and collectors selected the rare, unique, and inspired album covers featured on these pages; illustrated as a visual essay, Cover Story exhibits the diverse art forms and design styles of the record cover, each telling its own story, graphically narrating the vibrant subculture of record collecting through the art of the sleeve.

It's a must have for record connoisseurs and art aficionados alike, and as a music, art, and pop culture book - Cover Story easily spans multiple audiences.

***Book is in Japanese text ***

Whether you're a DJ, engineer, producer or aspiring remixer, this comprehensive collection of dance music tips and interviews from Keyboard magazine in packed with production secrets you can use.

All the technical know-how needed as well as advice on how to create your own DJing style and how to make DJing work for you. Softback, Black & White, 398 pages.

Behind-the-scenes story of Casablanca Records. From the daring first signing of KISS, through the discovery and superstardom of Donna Summer, the Village People, and funk master George Clinton and his circus of freaks, Parliament Funkadelic.

Visual guide to the history of modern music and discovery of the stories of the people behind, with archive photographs, rare artwork and newspaper clippings (190 pages, paperback, black & white/colour)

Review: Now the world's foremost blues, rockabilly, soul and rock n roll reissue label, Ace Records has been responsible for unearthing lost classics and neglected pioneers for over three decades and provided some of the finest and most influential records of the post-war era. The first comprehensive history of this fascinating label, Ace Records takes in some of the finest and most enduring modern music, rock n roll, soul, funk, blues, jazz, R&B, garage rock and punk.

To read the Ace Records: Labels Unlimited is to explore the history of modern music and to discover the stories of the people that made it. The book chronicles this fascinating label and profiles a diverse range of artists including BB King, John Fahey, Lee Hazlewood and Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Riff Raff, Johnny & the Self Abusers, Drug Addix and Rocky Sharpe & The Replays. Illustrated with many unseen archive photographs dating back to the 1920s, rare artwork and newspaper clippings and written by established music journalist and author David Stubbs, the Ace Records: Labels Unlimited is a highly entertaining and visually stunning guide to a pioneering alternative to the mainstream UK music scene.

Book telling the history of the Rough Trade and the story of British independent music, with archive images, iterviews and unseen photographs and artefacts (190 pages, paperback, black & white/colour)

Review: The Rough Trade: Labels Unlimited tells the engrossing story of one of England's most groundbreaking record labels. It is 30 years since the Rough Trade Shop first opened its doors in Notting Hill, London. Disco and soft-rock ruled the airwaves, The Clash had just signed to CBS and Geoff Travis set up the company with some friends as a communistic, DIY alternative to the increasingly stale mainstream. Over the ensuing years the Rough Trade Shop, Rough Trade Records and Rough Trade Distribution profoundly altered the landscape of modern music.

The Rough Trade looks back on 3 fascinating decades of innovation, noise and change, taking in ups and downs, twists and turns and some of the best music ever committed to vinyl. The label released many of the most important records of the late 1970s and 80s by artists including: The Smiths, Scritti Politti, Mazzy Star, The Go-Betweens, Aztec Camera, Robert Wyatt, The Fall, Arthur Russell and Linton Kwesi Johnson. The Rough Trade profiles these artists and much more, as both the history of the Rough Trade and by proxy the story of British independent music over the last 30 years are engagingly chronicled. Visually stunning, the Rough Trade is filled with archive images, interviews and previously unseen photographs and artefacts.

Review: This deluxe hard-back book features hundreds of stunning full size record cover designs of Bossa Nova and Brazilian music from the 1960s. The book also comes complete with full accompanying text, essays and interviews on the historical, political and social context of this Brazilian music as well as features on all the important artists and musicians of the era such as Sergio Mendes, Tom Jobim, Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Caetano Veloso and many more.

Bossa Nova, born in Rio de Janeiro, became a worldwide musical phenomenon, quickly spreading to the USA and the rest of the world. Subsequent musical styles such as the rise of MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) and Tropicalia are also featured in the book. Bossa Nova emerged at the end of the 1950s, the music (and glorious designs) reflecting a new period of great optimism in the country. Brazil had just elected a new president, a new five-year plan for prosperity had been laid down and the architect Oscar Niemeyer had drawn up his plans for the city of Brasilia. By 1964, as Bossa Nova was taking the world by storm, tanks rode through Rio as Brazil came under a violent military dictatorship that would oppress the lives of Brazilians for the next twenty years.

Book exploring the Radiohead's album from philosophical and cultural interpretations of time (160 pages, paperback, black & white)

Review: This is a brilliant exploration of Radiohead's game-changing album, looking at its place in the career of The World's Best Band with ten years of hindsight.

The Radiohead's Kid A never had a chance on paper. Not only did the band have the unenviable task of following up the near-universally lauded OK Computer, but Kid A didn't even have an official single or video. Neither did it help that the band largely abandoned rock-pop conventions for a sound that traversed glitch, free-jazz, modern composition and krautrock.

Rather than simply reinforcing Kid A's canonical status, Marvin Lin situates the album in the temporal, examining it from various philosophical and cultural interpretations of time in order to arrive at its political and social stakes. Why do you care how time is expressed through its aesthetic components like repetition, sampling and hybridization? Where does the album subvert our sense of time with songs like Treefingers? In which ways does it attempt to transcend time and with what implications? Time is perhaps art's biggest enemy, all human creations will be erased eventually, but it's through these various articulations that you are able to uncover some of the most interesting insights about Kid A.

Book provides answers to questions for Traktor newbies and covers features for experienced users via practically oriented approach and tutorials with explanations (374 pages, paperback, black & white)

Book showcasing over 100 paintings, hundreds of sketches and doodles, plus comments about the pieces written by Barnes (128 pages, hardback, colour)

Review: The What's Weird? is the debut book from David Barnes, the long-time cover artist for of Montreal. Over the past decade, Barnes has developed a cult following. Barnes' visual interpretations of the group's music has been manifested in the form of iconic album covers and theatrical live performances that feature skits along with elaborate stage sets and props.

The What's Weird? is the first collection of his work to appear in book format. In his true DIY style, David personally poured over hundreds of drawings and paintings spanning his career. He picked and placed each piece to create What's Weird?, a book showcasing over 100 paintings, hundreds of sketches and doodles, as well as funny, interesting, insightful comments about the pieces written by Barnes, all providing a glimpse into his mind and unique creative process.

The What's Weird? is released in conjunction with of Montreal's latest release, the thecontrollersphere mini album. It includes digital download of page-by-page artist commentary.

A visual analogue to Moby's soundworld, of 60 phorographs and album CD (120 pages, hardback, black & white/colour)

Review: Like no other music of its era, Moby's oceanic, bluesy electronica has summed up the millennial turn's rootless melancholia, in massive worldwide hits like Porcelain, Natural Blues and Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? His 1999 album Play sold over ten million copies and converted a whole generation to electronic dance music. With Destroyed, Moby has created a visual analogue to his gorgeous soundworld.

The photographs in this volume record the sizeable portion of his life that is spent shuttling from plane to bus to venue to stage to party to hotel room to oblivion. I hope that somehow in these pictures, Moby writes, I'm able to convey the mundanity of touring, juxtaposed with those moments of the strange and/or sublime. One minute on tour you're by yourself in a soulless airport, the next minute you're flying over the most beautiful landscapes on the planet. One minute on tour you're by yourself in a soulless backstage area, the next minute you're on stage pouring your heart out to 75000 people. Touring is all contrasts and strangeness, and that's what I'm trying to convey in these pictures. The 60 photographs in Moby: Destroyed accordingly veer from crowdedness to isolation, capturing the extremes of a life lived on the road. Also included is Moby's new album of the same name.

Richard Hall, aka Moby, was born in Harlem, New York City, in 1965. Having studied classical guitar, piano and drums as a child, and after stints in various punk bands, he debuted in the early 1990s alongside Orbital, The Prodigy and Aphex Twin, as a representative of a new generation in electronica, emerging from Ambient House and Techno, and foreshadowing Trip Hop. Moby's bestselling 1999 album Play propelled him to worldwide fame; its successor, 18 (2002), earned gold and platinum awards in over 30 countries. Already famous for his veganism, Moby made his authorial debut in March 2010 as a contributor to Gristle: From Factory Farms to Food Safety, a collection of essays on the dangers of eating meat.

Hard bound lyric book containing the full scope of Sheff's vision for Okkervil River's album I Am Very Far (36 pages, hardback, black & white)

Review: Will Sheff of Okkervil River has long been recognized for his writing: a contributor to McSweeney's, Sheff was nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for Roky Erickson's 2010 album True Love Cast Out All Evil, The New York Times declared that, Sheff writes like a novelist.

The I Am Very Far: The Lyrics is a hard bound lyric book containing the full scope of Sheff's vision for his latest and most refined album to date, Okkervil River's I Am Very Far. The I Am Very Far: The Lyrics is meant to function as a distinct entrance point into the content of the music. More than a complement to the albums themselves, Sheff's prose weaves tales both subtle and dynamic and enriches the content of his songs. Including the lyrics for Mermaid and other songs recorded during the I Am Very Far sessions, the book is a complete work in its own right.

Limited to only 50 copies for the UK and Eire.

Book studies the origins of Television and their album Marquee Moon, traces the downtown scene's influences, public image and reputation via a range of print, film and audio recordings (240 pages, paperback, black & white)

Review: This is a thoroughly researched study of the origins of the New York City punk scene, focusing on Television and their extraordinary debut record. 2 kids in their early twenties walk down the Bowery on a spring afternoon, just as the proprietor of a club hangs a sign with the new name for his venue. The place will be called CBGB which, he tells them, stands for Country Bluegrass and Blues. That's exactly the sort of stuff they play, they lie, somehow managing to get a gig out of him. After the first show their band, Television, lands a regular string of Sundays. By the end of the summer a scene has developed that includes Tom Verlaine's new love interest, a poet-turned-rock chanteuse named Patti Smith. American punk rock is born.

Bryan Waterman peels back the layers of the origin myth and assembling a rich historical archive, situates Marquee Moon in a broader cultural history of SoHo and the East Village. As Waterman traces the downtown scene's influences, public image and reputation via a range of print, film and audio recordings, you come to recognize the real historical surprises that the documentary evidence still has to yield.

33 1/3 is a series of short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 60 titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike. It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for whom Exile On Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as significant and worthy of study as The Catcher In The Rye or Middlemarch The series, which now comprises 29 titles with more in the works, is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebration: The New York Times Book Review, 2006. This is a brilliant series, each one a word of real love NME (UK).

Book including information text, sample contracts, advertisement, brochure and resource information (238 pages, paperback, black & white)

Review: The Mobile DJ Handbook (second edition) continues to be an excellent guide for novice and experienced DJs looking to build a successful career as the owner-operator of a mobile disc jockey service. Complete with practical tips, expert advice and creative strategies, this book serves as the perfect guide on how to market and sell your services as well as develop and expand your business.

This book contains information on becoming a professional, securing booking, buying equipment and music and running party dances, contests and games. Included within the text are sample contracts, an advertisement and brochure, and resource information. The Mobile DJ Handbook is an essential reference guide which offers readers all the knowledge and inspiration needed to run a profitable enterprise.

200 page hardback book featuring legendary covert art from Studio One Records, including famous sleeves from Bob Marley And The Wailers, The Heptones, Burning Spear, rare cover designs, an introductory essay by Steve Barrow and much more

Review: · This deluxe 200 page hardback 12”x12”book
features hundreds of stunning full size record
cover designs from the legendary Studio One
Records.
· Described by Chris Blackwell as The University Of
Reggae, Studio One is by far the most important
record label in the history of Reggae music, an A-Z
of Jamaican music as iconic as Motown was to
soul, or Blue Note for Jazz.
· The book features classic artwork from Bob Marley
And The Wailers, Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Freddie
McGregor, The Skatalites, Marcia Griffiths, Burning
Spear, The Heptones, Toots and the Maytals and
many more artists all of whom launched their
careers at Studio One.
· As well as many classic sleeves there are
numerous rare designs, including a collector’s
section featuring many alternate, silkscreen and
rarely seen designs.
· As Jamaica approaches the 50th anniversary of
independence, this stunning deluxe book is a
timely look at Reggae music’s legendary record
label and the artists and musicians that it made
famous.
· The book also features an introductory essay by
Steve Barrow (author of ‘Rough Guide To Reggae’)
and is edited by Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records).

Japanese language edition review of over 5000 Rare Groove records

Deluxe 200 page (24x30cm) flexibound book featuring photographs from New York's house ballroom drag scene between 1989-1992

Review: This deluxe 200 page 24x30cm flexibound book features hundreds of
stunning photographs from the hidden world of New York's house
ballroom drag scene out of which came 'Voguing', the dance made
famous by Madonna.
Introductory text is by Tim Lawrence, author of two seminal music
books: 'Love Saves The Day: A History Of American Dance Music
Culture, 1970-79' and 'Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell And
The Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92'.
To coincide with the book, Soul Jazz Records will be releasing an
album of the same name in 2012, featuring Masters At Work, MFSB,
Junior Vasquez, Diana Ross, Armand Van Helden, Loose Joints, First
Choice and many more.
Photographer Chantal Regnault lived in New York between 1989-92,
photographing the scene at its height the dancers Willi Ninja, Jose
and Luis Xtravaganza (who all worked with Madonna) as well as
the legendary 'mothers' of the gay and transgender world - Avis
Pendavis, Peppa LaBeija, Carmen Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey, Paris
Dupree and more.
Voguing came out of the extraordinary house ballroom scene that
emerged in Harlem, New York in the 1980s where men competed
against one another for their dancing skills, the realness of their drag
and their ability to walk on a catwalk runway like a model.
Voguing erupted into the mainstream in 1990 when Madonna's song
'Vogue' became Number One in over 30 countries. The year before
Malcolm McClaren first brought voguing into the mainstream with his
song 'Deep In Vogue' featuring dancer Willi Ninja. In 1990 Jennie
Livingstone's film 'Paris Is Burning' documented the house ballroom
scene in its ascendant, the film a runaway success grossing over
$4,000,000.
As voguing entered into the mainstream the house ballrooms of
Harlem came downtown mixing with the downtown fashion crowd of
Manhattan, before the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic ravaged the
ballroom community.
These wild years of voguing and the house ballroom scene are vividly
captured at its height in hundreds of amazing, previously unpublished
photographs. A visual riot of fashion, gender, polysexuality and
subversive style, 'Voguing And The House Ballroom Scene Of New
York 1989-92' is also a fascinating document on sexuality and race.

A 76 page color catalog focused on the music of Destroy All Monsters, featuring essays from Byron Coley & Burnanivdeorns iWty. Joseph, an illustrated discography with personla notes compiled by cary Loran

Review: A 76 page color catalog focused on the music of Destroy All Monsters. Features essays from Byron Coley & Burnanivdeorns iWty. Joseph, an illustrated discography with
personal notes compiled by Cary Loran. Flyers, posters, journals, & photographs. Includes a 30 track, 47 minute CD of previously unreleased DAM music. 76pp.
6" x 9". Ltd to 1000

Book introduces 80000 listing of 7"45s, EPs and picture sleeves, with updated pricing, including 3 articles and bonus CD (780 pages, paperback, black&white)

Review: It's been 60 years since the little record with the big hole first arrived on the scene, changing the sound of music forever; and while these black gems have been around for a long time 45s are still red hot in the collecting market.

The Goldminer Price Guide to 45 RPM helps you stay in the loop and on the edge of the 45 RPM market with comprehensive coverage of the biggest little record ever made. In this one book you'll find updated pricing, a checklist format for easy inventorying and:

80,000 listings of 7" 45s, and EPs
Details on artists, labels, and variations
State-of-the-market report featuring an insider's look at hot trends
Three feature articles: 60 Years Of The 45: How It All Began, Why 45s Matter and The World's Rarest 45s
Bonus CD featuring: 20000 additional listings not included in the book, 1000 picture sleeves and label identification guide.

80 pages, paperback, black&white/colourful booklit + unmixed CD

Review: The Loving On The Flip Side collects the overlooked ballads from the flip sides of the funk 45s in the Now-Again and Truth and Soul vaults and is presented in the same format that they developed for their Soul Cal anthology. The music contained on Loving On The Flip Side is too damn good to be anonymously relaunched, decades after musical visionaries blended the best of heavy funk and sweet soul into a unified whole. Thus, the Loving On The Flip Side again offers the enthused a chance to listen to, read about and reflect on another great burst of black American creativity: the creation of the sublime genre we like to call sweet funk.

It was the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy's beautiful 2-sider that set this record in motion, nearly ten years back. Those 2 songs precipitated the sweet funk genre: the dichotomy of Funky Heavy's skull snapping rhythm section and the teenage Dears' angelic harmonies didn't sound like anything Now-Again had heard before. That discovery set off a decade long search for the band and culminated in their discovery, the documenting of their stories, the emergence of their master tapes and the inclusion of their songs on Loving On The Flip Side.

The excitement Now-Again felt while listening to the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy's masterworks forced us and the New York-based production team known as Truth & Soul back into the field, in search of other sweet funk swooners and beat-heavy ballads to round out this anthology. The opportunity to present anew such wondrous soul music made the exhaustive process that produced the Loving On The Flip Side worthwhile, and allowed us to collect one-offs that escaped prior investigations into the deep funk and sweet soul genres.

The Loving On The Flip Side is presented as a CD, which comes with a perfect-bound, 80 page book printed on heavyweight, uncoated paper stock.

Deluxe 200 page hard-back 12 x12 book

Review: Reggae Soundsystem is a new deluxe 200 page hard-back 12 x12 book featuring hundreds of stunning full size record cover designs that span the history of reggae music.

The book is compiled by the celebrated author and reggae expert Steve Barrow (Rough Guide to Reggae/Blood and Fire Records) and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records).

Beginning in the 1950s, Jamaican music developed into one of the most important and influential music industries in the world. From its early Mento (Jamaican Calypso) beginnings through to the invention of Ska, Rocksteady, Roots, Dub and Dancehall, Jamaican music is also one of the richest and innovative veins in popular music.

This stunning hardback deluxe book looks at the endless visually creativity of reggae record cover designs, iconic, classic, rare and unique artwork spanning sixty years of Jamaican sounds.

Breaking into the music business paperback 439 pages

Review: For musicians, songwriters, managers, producers - this is a must have guide, totally revised for the ninties. Top entertainment lawyer Alan h siegal arms you with everything you'll need to know: The economic realities of being a songwriter and recording artist, from launching a career to understanding a contract. Structures and features of various record and music publishing deals, with details on rights on royalties. Guidelines for establishing a good relationship with a manager and an entertainment lawyer. The language of the music industry - buzz words, acronyms, and jargan-simplified in a comprehensive glossary.

Throughout the book, interviews with music greats such as Marvin Hamlisch, Barbara Mandrell, Clive Davis (founder and president of Arista Records) and Ashford and Simpson give you the benefit of their experience "breaking in" to every aspect of the industy.

The musician's guide to recording, mixing and marketing music

Review: Do you play an instrument? Write songs? Got a band together? Played a few gigs? Ever wondered what comes next? If so, now is the time to get your music in front of a global audience by getting it on to the internet. This handy, portable guide will advise you on the best way to record real-life signers and instruments, and it will explain how you can shape your recording into an effective piece of music that can be shared on the internet. There is a thrill to a recorded performance that really "happened"; it affects the listener in a way that freeze-dried samples and loops never can. Written by experienced insiders, this book covers all the basic equipment and skills you will need to get the job done at home, without hiring a sound engineer, record producer or studio.

The story of scott walker & the walker brothers paperback 352 pages

Review: The Walker Brothers were the US counter-strike to the British invasion of the mid-60s. While The Beatles, the Stones and many others were busy colonizing the US charts, three tall, handsome American men went into voluntary exile in a freezing London bedsit and launched their quest for pop stardom.
Not actually brothers, John (Maus), Gary (Leeds) and Scott (Engel) succeeded against the odds, becoming one of world's biggest bands of 1966/67. With that came hit records - including two British chart-toppers, 'Make It Easy On Yourself' and 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore' - and all that success entails: screaming girls, package tours, and intense interest in their private lives. The pressure of success eventually caused them to split, and the Walkers went their separate ways. Of the three, Scott is now the most prominent, having embarked on a mysterious solo career that has since become the stuff of myth, but Gary and John have recorded varied and interesting work, too. All three drifted into obscurity before reforming in 1976 and releasing the classic 'No Regrets' single.

The Impossible Dream is an in-depth biography that traces the career of one of the most successful bands in pop history. In addition to assessing and analysing the talent and appeal of the enigmatic Scott, the author also covers the history and contributions of the other 'brothers', John and Gary, and provides a thorough analysis of all three men's careers both as individual artists and as a group, from 1963 to 1978.

Sonic Youth with an indroduction by Lee Ranaldo

Review: For more than twenty-five years, the antimelodic "noise" of Sonic Youth has assaulted us, exhilarated us, inspired us. Why?

Katherine Dunn says it's because they operate in the foggy world between the real and the surreal. Mary Gaitskill says that Sonic Youth caught her, years ago, when she was falling. J. Robert Lennon says it's because Sonic Youth rip it apart. Emily Maguire was hooked because once she was in love with chaos.

Their sound is caustic, elemental, nihilisticiand quite unlike any other cult band ever to achieve rock godhood. In Noise, twenty-one great literary voices offer short fiction based on or inspired by songs from Sonic Youthia raucous coupling of music and literature featuring marrow-colored goo, severed hands and abandoned babies, Patty Hearst watching the apocalypse on TV, and other unruly images of the Zeitgeist.