ROCKTOBER: The Hundred Greatest Metal Guitarists by Joel McIver

Description

From its earliest days, heavy metal has been defined by its screamingly loud, distorted guitars, so it’s no wonder that the genre is rife with fabulous players. This large format, well-illustrated book showcases metal’s 100 greatest axe men, from early heroes like the legendary Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck to stars from the 1970s and 1980s such as Motörhead’s Fast Eddie Clarke and Pantera’s “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott to hot new talents like Mick Thompson of the nu-metal band Slipknot. Each entry includes a career biography, with makes and models of guitars played, and explains in technical but informal terms why the player deserves a spot on the coveted list. Sidebars and boxes detail each guitarist's trademark playing style and top riff. Throughout, the book celebrates guitarists like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, who don't play metal but do merit honorable mention for their contributions to rock.

About the Author

Joel McIver writes for Total Guitar, Metal Hammer and many other music magazines and is the author of 11 books to date. The best-known of these is Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica (2004), which has sold over 30,000 copies in eight languages.

Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (December 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002207
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002206

 Do you know how many arguments this book could start?  I am sure that there is somebody that will argue the order and who wasn't included.  This is the best thing about books like this, you can always expect a discussion.

ROCTOBER: Riot on Sunset Strip by Domenic Priore

DESCRIPTION:

On the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in 1965 and 1966 an electrifying scene appeared out of nowhere, exploded into creativity, and then, just as suddenly, vanished. So much remarkable music, art, and social revolution came from one place at one time, it’s difficult now to grasp how it all happened. In that moment, rock’n‘roll displaced movies as the centre of action in Hollywood. This book tells the story of that astonishing time.
The nightlife was a heady mix of modernist design, pop art, and beat aesthetics. From the moment The Byrds debuted at Ciro’s on March 26th 1965 – with Bob Dylan joining them on stage – right up to the demonstrations of November 1966, Sunset Strip nightclubs nurtured and broke The Doors, Love, Buffalo Springfield (featuring Neil Young and Stephen Stills), Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, The Turtles, The Mamas & The Papas, and many others. The Strip was a hotbed for garage punk bands such as The Standells, The Seeds, The Music Machine, The Electric Prunes, The Leaves, and The Bobby Fuller 4. Folk-rock and psychedelia were born there, and it was a favourite hangout and inspiration for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Them, The Velvet Underground, and The Yardbirds. Pop art and rock’n‘roll combined, and the new fusion quickly permeated television, animation, and New Hollywood’s indie cinema.
Riot On Sunset Strip: Rock’n‘Roll’s Last Stand In Hollywood captures the excitement of this great artistic awakening, telling how the scene came together and then fell apart at the Monterey Pop festival, an event destined to be recalled as the tragic finale of the Summer Of Love. Domenic Priore’s book serves as an inspiration for contemporary youth culture, chafing at corporate domination. For those who lived through those times, it will be a startling evocation of the social and artistic revolution that was the 1960s.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Domenic Priore is a writer and television producer specialising in pop culture and music. He is the author of Beatsville (with Martin McIntosh) and Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson’s Lost Masterpiece (with forewords by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks), and was the main writer on the AMC documentaries Hollywood Rocks The Movies: The Early Years 1955-1970 (hosted by Ringo Starr) and Hollywood Rocks The Movies: The 1970s (hosted by David Bowie). A native of Los Angeles, Priore has now returned there after living in New York City and San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (July 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002045
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002046

 So this time period was way before I started to spend time on Sunset, but the whole history fascinates me.

ROCKTOBER: A Wizard, A True Star Todd Rundgren in the Studio by Paul Myers

Description

"If you know what you want, I’ll get it for you. If you don’t know what you want, I’ll do it for you” – Todd Rundgren. Few record producers possess the musical facility to back up such a bold promise, but in over forty-plus years behind the glass, Todd Rundgren has willed himself into becoming a not only a rock guitar virtuoso, an accomplished lead vocalist and vocal arranger and visionary keyboard player, not to mention a serviceable drummer. But arguably, Rundgren’s greatest instrument of all is the recording studio itself. After learning his craft with Nazz, Rundgren engineered The Band’s Stage Fright album and soon became the producer of a string of noteworthy albums for Sparks, Grand Funk, The New York Dolls, Badfinger, Hall & Oates, Meat Loaf, Patti Smith Group, Cheap Trick, The Psychedelic Furs and XTC. Meanwhile, Rundgren played almost every instrument on his solo albums such as Something/Anything?, A Wizard A True Star and Hermit Of Mink Hollow while collaborating on a series of albums by his band, Utopia. A Wizard A True Star: Todd Rundgren In The Studio by Paul Myers is a fascinating and authoritative trip through the land of flickering red lights inhabited by a studio wizard – and true star – who has rarely enjoyed a proper victory lap along the many trails that he has blazed. Researched and written with the participation and cooperation of Rundgren himself, Myers also draws upon exclusive new interviews with Robbie Robertson, Patti Smith, XTC, Sparks, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk, The Psychedelic Furs, The Tubes, Steve Hillage, all members of Rundgren’s legendary band, Utopia, and many other key Rundgren associates.

About the Author

Paul Myers is the author of the critically acclaimed biography, It Ain’t Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues, which garnered rave reviews in Mojo, Ugly Things and Goldmine and the Canadian national paper, The Globe And Mail. Myers was also nominated for a Gemini Award (the Canadian Emmy) for writing the Bravo TV/ BBC 4 television documentary program Long John Baldry: In The Shadow Of The Blues, based upon his book. Additionally, Myers is the author of Barenaked Ladies: Public Stunts Private Stories (Simon & Schuster) an authorized biography of the best-selling Canadian rock band. His writing has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Crawdaddy, Mix, Electronic Musician, Canadian Musician, The Globe and Mail (Canada’s national newspaper), The Georgia Straight (Vancouver), the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. As a broadcaster, Myers was the host of the Paul Myers Show on Vancouver radio and has appeared on CBC, CTV in Canada and as a pundit on US cable channel VH1’s Behind the Music and as a judge/host on the acclaimed Canadian music reality series, Popstars: The One. Myers is also an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and producer whose current project is The Paul & John, an original duo based in San Francisco. Born in Toronto, Canada, Mr. Myers now lives with his wife Liza, and their cat Buddy Guy, in Berkeley, California.

Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (October 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002339
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002336

ROCKTOBER: Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk by Jeanette Leech

Product Description

In the late 60s and early 70s the inherent weirdness of folk met switched-on psychedelic rock and gave birth to new, strange forms of acoustic-based avant garde music. Artists on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Incredible String Band, Vashti Bunyan, Pearls Before Swine and Comus, combined sweet melancholy and modal melody with shape-shifting experimentation to create sounds of unsettling oddness that sometimes go under the name acid or psych folk. A few of these artists - notably the String Band, who actually made it to Woodstock - achieved mainstream success, while others remained resolutely entrenched underground. But by the mid-70s even the bigger artists found sales dwindling, and this peculiar hybrid musical genre fell profoundly out of favour. For 30 years it languished in obscurity, apparently beyond the reaches of cultural reassessment, until, in the mid-2000s a new generation of artists collectively tagged 'New Weird America' and spearheaded by Devendra Banhart, Espers and Joanna Newsom rediscovered acid and psych folk, revered it and from it, created something new. Thanks partly to this new movement, many original acid and psych folk artists have re-emerged, and original copies of rare albums command high prices. Meanwhile, both Britain and America are home to intensely innovative artists continuing the tradition of delving simultaneously into contemporary and traditional styles to create something unique. "Seasons They Change" tells the story of the birth, death and resurrection of acid and psych folk. It explores the careers of the original wave of artists and their contemporary equivalents, finding connections between both periods, and uncovering a previously hidden narrative of musical adventure.

About the Author

Jeanette Leech is a writer, researcher, DJ and music historian.She writes regularly for Shindig! magazine, and as part of the B-Music collective she has DJ'd throughout the UK, including at the female acid folk events known as 'Bearded Ladies' and the Green Man Festival.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (November 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002320
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002329

ROCKTOBER GIVEAWAY! Jack Bruce Composing HImself by Harry Shapiro

Description

When Cream broke up in 1968, it wasn’t Eric Clapton who was a surefire bet for solo success. Rather, it was Jack Bruce who had the looks and who cowrote and sang the band’s major hits, including “Sunshine of Your Love.” But Bruce wanted to be a pioneer, not just a pop star, and he was never content to rest on his laurels. This book traces his life and work, from his formative years in classical music (he composed string quartets at 12) and jazz through his early success with Manfred Mann to the short-lived but endlessly influential Cream era and beyond. It’s been an often troubled life — heroin addiction, management rip-offs, family tragedy, and a failed liver transplant — all of which he speaks about frankly in this authorized biography, telling a story that is sometimes inspirational, sometimes bleak, but always honest.

About the Author

Harry Shapiro an author, journalist and lecturer who has written widely on the subjects of drugs, popular music and film. He is the author of Waiting For The Man: The Story of Drugs and Popular Music, Shooting Stars: Drugs, Hollywood and The Movies, Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy and biographies of Graham Bond and Alexis Korner.

Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (March 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002266
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002268

SOURCE:  PUBLISHER

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ROCKTOBER! Return of the King by Gillian Gaar

Description

On January 1, 1967, a contract between "Colonel" Tom Parker and his sole client, Elvis Presley, gave Parker a 50 percent cut of profits that Presley generated. It was a shameless grab for a bigger piece of a pie that had actually been shrinking for some time. Though Parker’s plan to reestablish Presley as a star after he left the army proved successful at first (with the triumph of films like G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii), by 1967 Presley’s singles struggled to break the top 20, and he hadn’t hit number one for six years. Amazingly, by the end of 1968 he was artistically revitalized, reemerging in a TV comeback special and slimmed down for the now-iconic black leather suit. It was the pivotal moment of the second great period of Presley’s career, which lasted through to the end of 1970, during which he recorded some of his most enduring records, including "Suspicious Minds" and "In The Ghetto." Return of the King document's Presley reclamation of his crown, making an extraordinary transition from fading balladeer to engaged, vital artist.

From the Back Cover

Return Of The King tells the story of a tumultuous period in the life
of Elvis Presley. By 1967, The King Of Rock’n’Roll was all but washed-
up, thanks to a string of bland movie roles and lackluster records.
But within a year he had roused himself, loosened the creative
shackles imposed by his grasping manager, ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker, and
reconnected with the rock audience through a riveting TV special.
There followed a glorious but all too brief artistic flowering, in
which he made some of his most enduring records, including
‘Suspicious Minds’ and ‘In The Ghetto.’ This meticulously researched
and elegantly written book, based on a string of new interviews with
colleagues, friends, fans, and observers of The King, sheds new light
on the events of Elvis’s great comeback.

About the Author

Gillian G. Gaar is the author of several books about music, including She's A Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll, Green Day: Rebels With A Cause and The Rough Guide To Nirvana. She has also written for Mojo, Rolling Stone, Record Collector, Goldmine, and the Experience Music Project museum, among others.

Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (May 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002282
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002282

MY THOUGHTS:
I don't know of any one who dislikes Elvis.  His songs are infectious and you can't deny his place in rock and roll history.  I heard his former band mates discuss touring with Elvis at a SXSW panel years ago and it was just fascinating.  The thing I remember most was how they told about Elvis leaving the building.  That famous line "Elvis has left the building" really meant that Elvis had left the building.

ROCTOBER: Shelter From the Storm by Sid Griffin

Description

In the fall of 1975 and spring 1976, Bob Dylan led a travelling retinue of musicians around America on the two legs of the Rolling Thunder tour. Along for the ride were Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, David Blue, Kinky Friedman, T-Bone Burnett, Allen Ginsberg, Sam Sheppard, Mick Ronson, and dozens more musicians, friends, family and hangers-on. The circus was documented in the film Renaldo and Clara, the live album Hard Rain, and a TV concert special of the same name, while in between the two legs of the tour Dylan released the classic Desire album. It is this period of heightened creativity and personal drama that Dylan-authority, author, and musician Sid Griffin examines in Shelter from the Storm. Interviewing many of the tour’s participants, including musicians Roger McGuinn, T-Bone Burnett, Arlo Guthrie, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and tour manager Louie Kemp, Griffin mixes meticulous musical analysis into a gripping narrative in this definitive account the Rolling Thunder years.

From the Back Cover

Shelter From The Storm tells the story of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, the gypsy caravan troupe that lit up US stages between the fall of 1975 and the bicentennial spring that followed. In the company of Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Allen Ginsberg, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and more, Dylan reinvented the ingenuous troubadour tradition for the cynical 70s – and delivered some of the most thrilling live performances of his career along the way.

Throughout this period, however, Dylan’s personal life was in meltdown. His tortuous love life would be laid bare in improvised acting scenes filmed for Renaldo & Clara. The movie marked his full debut as a director and was shot as Rolling Thunder navigated between New England towns. The bafflingly edited final cut is perhaps Dylan’s most enigmatic and misunderstood work.

Musician and author Sid Griffin examines the genesis of Rolling Thunder, the writing and recording of the 1976 album Desire, for which several key ensemble players were first marshaled, and the influences and implications around Renaldo & Clara. In a plethora of new interviews, unique behind-the-scenes accounts, and deconstructions of tour documents such as the NBC television special Hard Rain, Griffin provides new insight into Dylan’s most legendary tour and offers unprecedented analysis of the musical torrents that came pouring forth as the Thunder Rolled.

By the tour’s conclusion, both Dylan and the wider music industry were on the verge of significant transformation. Yet for those few gilded months, all that mattered was the nightly drama of the show and the sparking, transcendent possibilities of rock’n’roll itself. As this important new contribution to Dylan literature makes vividly clear, Rolling Thunder’s headline act proved beyond doubt that he was more than an icon of the fast-fading 60s.

Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press; 1 edition (June 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002274
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002275

THOUGHTS:

I am not a huge fan of Dylan but you can't deny that his work opened a lot of doors for less than perfect singers.  He also has amazing foresight when it came to business as well as art.