Popular Music Recent Picks

June 2004

The underlined titles will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

	24 Hour Party People directed by Michael Winterbottom (2 DVDs). "Inspired by a seminal Sex Pistols gig, Tony Wilson set up record label Factory Records, signing bands like Joy Division, New Order and eventually The Happy Mondays. What ensues is a comically sordid tale of music, sex, drugs, larger-than-life characters, the birth of world-famous dance club The Hacienda and the music label Factory Records. The film is replete with spot-on re-creations of the costumes and characters of the era. Winterbottom shoots in a range if styles from cinema verite to near-slapstick. As Wilson, actor-comedian Steve Coogan is mesmerising as an unreliable narrator, self-confessed 'dope connoisseur' and eccentric entrepeneur." (Real Groovy)
	UK/DK (DVD). "For the first time ever on DVD, the renowned film capturing the essence of Britpunk in its early days, "UK/DK". Subtitled 'A Film About Punks And Skinheads', "UK/DK" not only includes some excellent live footage and promos from the leading lights of the Britpunk scene, it also documents the era. Full of interviews with band members, street punks and Punk journalists, the film shows how being a Punk became not simply a trend but a way of life." (Real Groovy)
	American Folk Blues Festival 1962-66 Vol.1 (DVD). Reelin' In The Years Productions, in association with Experience Hendrix, bring you the American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966. The AFBF was an annual event that featured the cream of American blues musicians barnstorming their way across western Europe every fall from 1962 through 1966.
	American Folk Blues Festival 1962-66 Vol.2 (DVD). The American Folk Blues Festivals featured a dazzling array of talent that included such greats as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson playing alongside other legends such as T-Bone Walker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Memphis Slim and Big Mama Thornton to create the most significant group of blues artists ever assembled!
	How Black was our Sabbath by David Tangye. "An outrageous insiders' account of life on the road with Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath are the ultimate heavy rock band. They have sold millions of albums worldwide, with ardent fans across the globe. Dave Tangye and Graham Wright were in the crew during the seventies, the band's heyday, and have the stories to prove it. For the first time they cover in detail the early days of the group, including a certain gig in the Scottish borders, where they were almost beaten up by the local farmers. As the Sabs rose to fame and notoriety, touring Europe, Australia and America, delighting fans and disgusting law-abiding members of the public, incidents of bad behaviour stack up alarmingly. Full of new information, HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH is a real Spinal Tap story, a warm, funny, poignant tribute to four mates from Birmingham who became the biggest heavy rock band in the world." (Book jacket)

Lizard King by Jerry Hopkins.
"He was rolling along, drunk much of the time, putting himself out there, pretty much letting life happen to him," writes Hopkins of rock star Morrison (1943-1971) in this refreshing addition to the already large shelf of books about The Doors and their lead singer. Neither mythmaker nor debunker, Hopkins... views Morrison as a talented yet disturbed person, easy to dislike but impossible to dismiss. In particular Morrison fans will welcome the most vivid descriptions of the star's death ever published, an unusually sensitive treatment of his first wife, Pam Coruson, and a previously unpublished interview. Hopkins also dispels the rumors about Morrison's possible survival and describes the making of the Oliver Stone film that sparked a resurgence of The Doors' popularity. His polished style and sense of balance, evident throughout, add luster to this well-explored subject." (Publishers Weekly)

From Joy Division to New Order : the Factory Story by Mick Middles.
Factory Records' reputation and fortune were founded on two bands - Joy Division and New Order - and one single-minded and stubborn personality: its media friendly company director Anthony H. Wilson. At the height of its success in the late 1980s, the company reigned over the Manchester rave scene, ran its own club, the Hacienda, and had a string of hit records around the world. By 1992 the back catalogue had been sold off, New Order and Happy Mondays were in disarray, and the Hacienda was shut down by the police. Drawing on exclusive interviews with the major players, Mick Middles provides a timely and fascinating look at the unique personalities and messy reality behind one of the UK's most influential and (at one time) commercially successful independent record companies.

Temples of Sound, by Jim Cogan.
"Recounts the stories of the music world's most notable recording studios and of history-making records that were made at each, from the John Coltrane sessions in Rudy Van Gelder's living room to Frank Sinatra's recordings at Capital Records." (Real Groovy)

50 Years of Rock'n'Roll: From Zeppelin to the Pistols: part two: the 70s by Q magazine.
Part two of Q magazine's 50 Years of Rock'n'Roll, this time covering the years of excess we now know as the 70s. From key rock legends such as Led Zeppelin, through camp superstars Queen and into the jaws of the Sex Pistols, Q provides an entertaining and informative guide to the disco decade.

Jazz and its Discontents by Francis Davis.
"A spirited collection of profiles, reporting, and commentary spanning the cultural scene by one of the finest essayists writing today. From Frank Sinatra to Sun Ra, from the jazz age to middle age, with thoughts on everything in-between, Francis Davis has been writing about American music and American culture for more than twenty years. His essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and the Village Voice among countless other publications from coast to coast. And now, for the first time, here are his most important writings of his impressive career - the quintessential Davis on everything from why Rent set musicals back two decades, to what Ken Burns should have filmed. And Davis's writing is as enjoyable as the music of which he writes. The New York Times Book Review has compared Davis's work to "a well-blown solo."" (Amazon UK)

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