Archive for the ‘The Indie Outlook’ Category
Published in celebration of Pearl Jam’s twentieth anniversary and in conjunction with Cameron Crowe’s definitive documentary film and soundtrack of the same name, PEARL JAM TWENTY is an aesthetically stunning and definitive chronicle of their two decades as a band—by the band itself.
In 1991, Pearl Jam’s debut album, Ten catapulted the little-known Seattle-based band into superstardom. Then, at the height of their popularity, the band shunned the spotlight, refusing to shoot videos or do interviews. Even as Pearl Jam’s studio albums continued to be critically acclaimed and commercially successful, selling over 60 million albums worldwide, the inner workings of the band—their day-to-day routines, influences, and motivations—remained unknown even to their diehard fans.
Twenty years later, this is their story. PEARL JAM TWENTY is a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, rare archival memorabilia, and the band’s personal photos, tour notes, and drawings. Told with wit and insight in the band members’ own words, and assembled by veteran music writer Jonathan Cohen with Mark Wilkerson—and including a foreword by Cameron Crowe along with original interviews with legends and contemporaries like Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Dave Grohl—this intimate work provides an in-depth look at a group of musicians who through defying convention established themselves as “the greatest American rock band ever” (USA Today Readers’ Poll 2005).
In the 1980s, music defined the moment: “Video Killed The Radio Star” ushered in MTV, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” ruled The Breakfast Club, and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” became the anthem of a generation. The 1980s were also the most visually provocative era of the last millennium. Every new vinyl single hit the stands wrapped in eye-catching sleeves that reflected the latest trends. Put The Needle On The Record is pop culture historian Matthew Chojnacki’s definitive guide to 7- and 12-inch vinyl single artwork from the ’80s. He presents and compares more than 250 vinyl single covers representing nearly every prominent musician of the decade. Read previously untold stories behind the ’80s’ most iconic images from the designers and visual talent behind Madonna, Prince, Pink Floyd, Queen, Adam Ant, Iron Maiden, The Clash, Pet Shop Boys, Van Halen, and more. Coupled with exclusive commentary from more than 100 of the ’80s biggest musicians, including Annie Lennox, Duran Duran, Run-DMC, Devo, The B-52’s, Erasure, The Human League, Scorpions, The Knack, and Yoko Ono, this is an authoritative journey back to the songs and images that continue to influence our culture.
Drawing on George Harrison’s personal archive of photographs, letters, diaries, and memorabilia, Olivia Harrison reveals the arc of his life, from his guitar-obsessed boyhood in Liverpool, to the astonishment of the Beatles years, to his days as an independent musician and bohemian squire. Here too is the record of Harrison’s lifelong commitment to Indian music, and his adventures as a movie producer, Traveling Wilbury, and Formula One racing fan. The book is filled with stories and reminiscences from Harrison’s friends, including Eric Clapton, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and many, many others. Among its previously unpublished riches are photographs taken by Harrison himself beginning in the mid-1960s. It is a rich tribute to a man who died far too young, but who touched the lives of millions.
Randy Bachman has been rolling out chart-topping songs his whole life—“You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” “These Eyes,”“American Woman,” “Taking Care of Business”—and, since 2005, treating fans to a lifetime of stories on his hit CBC Radio show Randy’s Vinyl Tap.
His approach is always fresh—even the most hardcore music fans will be surprised by what they can learn from Randy. Writing music and lyrics, performing live and recording #1 songs, producing new music, organizing reunion tours—Randy has done it all. Music is his life, and his anecdotes put you at the centre of it all.
These are his best stories. Even with all his success Randy is “still that kid from Winnipeg,” and his enthusiasm for great music is as strong as ever. Hear how after years of dreaming Randy finally got to see his musical heroes, The Shadows, play live, and then got to record a Shadows tribute song with longtime friend Neil Young. Encounters with celebrities and rock legends abound, but it is the music that is the driving force behind his extraordinary career, and what brings us back for more stories from Randy’s Vinyl Tap.
-From the Publisher
Weep, Shudder, Die is an insightful and accessible guide to the grand art of opera for both new and longtime fans. For too long opera was relegated to high society and perceived as stuffy and remote. But now that has changed. A new generation of opera lovers has emerged, inviting a wave of extraordinary new productions and revivals the world over. Robert Levine has written an illuminating guide for this growing audience. With his signature wit, he examines the most famous composers and operas, from Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen to Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, giving a sense of each opera’s history and celebrating its enduring greatness. Weep, Shudder, Die will inspire anyone who has ever been curious about opera but never knew where to start to discover one of the world’s most entertaining and satisfying art forms.
-From the Publisher
For thirty years as a musician, Rosanne Cash has enjoyed both critical and commercial success, releasing a series of albums that are as notable for their lyrical intelligence as for their musical excellence.
Now, in her memoir, Cash writes compellingly about her upbringing in Southern California as the child of country legend Johnny Cash, and of her relationships with her mother and her famous stepmother, June Carter Cash. In her account of her development as an artist she shares memories of a hilarious stint as a twenty-year-old working for Columbia Records in London, recording her own first album on a German label, working her way to success, her marriage to Rodney Crowell, a union that made them Nashville’s premier couple, her relationship with the country music establishment, taking a new direction in her music and leaving Nashville to move to New York. As well as motherhood, dealing with the deaths of her parents, in part through music, the process of songwriting, and the fulfillment she has found with her current husband and musical collaborator, John Leventhal.
Cash has written an unconventional and compelling memoir that, in the tradition of M. F. K. Fisher’s The Gastronomical Me and Frank Conroy’s Stop-Time, is a series of linked pieces that combine to form a luminous and brilliant whole.
-From the Publisher
When pop music meets politics, the results are often thrilling, sometimes life-changing, and never simple. The protest songs of such great artists as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, U2, Public Enemy, Fela Kuti, R.E.M., Rage Against the Machine, and the Clash represent pop music at its most charged and relevant, providing the soundtrack and informing social change since the 1930s. They capture the attention and passions of listeners, force their way into the news, and make their presence felt from the streets to the corridors of power.
33 Revolutions Per Minute is a history of protest music embodied in 33 songs that span seven decades and four continents, from Billie Holiday crooning “Strange Fruit” before a shocked audience to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young paying tribute to the Vietnam protesters killed at Kent State in “Ohio,” to Green Day railing against President Bush and twenty-first-century media in “American Idiot.” With the aid of exclusive new interviews, Dorian Lynskey explores the individuals, ideas, and events behind each song. This expansive survey examines how music has engaged with racial unrest, nuclear paranoia, apartheid, war, poverty, and oppression, offering hope, stirring anger, inciting action, and producing songs that continue to resonate years down the line, sometimes at great cost to the musicians involved.
-From the Publisher
About the Author:
Dorian Lynskey is one of the most prominent music critics writing today. With 33 Revolutions Per Minute, he offers an engrossing, insightful, and wonderfully researched history of protest music in the twentieth century and beyond. From Billie Holiday and Woodie Guthrie to Bob Dylan and the Clash to Green Day and Rage Against the Machine, 33 Revolutions Per Minute is a moving and fascinating portrait of a century of popular music that tried to change the world.