Sex & Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll
The Life Of Ian Dury
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
Dury always met life head on, both in his relationships and in his music. As rocker, lyricist, artist and actor he was unsentimental and uncompromising. As a man he was harder to fathom – until now. This acclaimed biography shines a light on it all, chronicling his darker moments as well as his triumphs.
Author Richard Balls talked to more than fifty of Dury's friends, as well as to Dury himself shortly before his death. This remastered edition includes the continuing success of The Blockheads and tells the inside story of the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, a foreword by Martin Freeman and an afterword from Andy Serkis.
There are vivid insights into harsh post-war schools for disabled children, the fifties art school scene and the ramshackle pub rock circuit, plus a mixed bag of celebrities from Peter Blake to Omar Sharif.
God Only Knows
The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys and the California Myth
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
Originally published in 1978 as The Beach Boys and the California Myth, this groundbreaking study was both the first full-length book on the band and the first to recognize Brian Wilson as one of the most significant and influential artists of the 20th century. Covering the turbulent family strife and internal conflicts as well as giving proper attention to the remarkable music, the book was an instant classic.
An intimate look at Brian's rollercoaster of a life and career, it's told through the eyes of those who were there during Wilson's most legendary productions including Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations.
Revised and updated, God Only Knows covers the decades since the 1985 edition, including Brian's first acclaimed solo album, his startling return to live performing, the landmark Pet Sounds tour, the "All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson" (which Leaf wrote and produced) and the triumphant and miraculous Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE world premiere in London.
Filled with surprising revelations, insight and behind-the-scenes detail, this indispensable book written by renowned Brian Wilson expert David Leaf also features forewords by Jimmy Webb, the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb and Melinda Wilson, Brian's wife.
George Clinton & the Cosmic Odyssey of the P-Funk Empire
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
The biography of George Clinton, one of music's most fascinating, colourful and innovative characters, featuring a new cover and foreword by critic Miles Marshall Lewis.
The most comprehensive history of the life, music and cultural significance of a great Black music pioneer and the era which spawned him.
Clinton stands alongside James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone as one of the most influential Black artists of all time who, along with his vast P-Funk army took black funk into the US charts and sold out stadiums by the mid 1970s with his mind-blowing shows and legendary Mothership extravaganzas.
The book contains first hand interview material with Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Jerome Bigfoot Brailey, Junie Morrison, Bobby Gillespie, Afrika Bambaataa, Jalal Nuriddin (Last Poets), Juan Atkins, John Sinclair, Rob Tyner (MC5), Ed Sanders (The Fugs), Chip Monck ("The Voice of Woodstock") plus other P-Funk associates and friends.
An insiders' view of the rise of Parliament and Funkadelic from the doowop era and LSD-crazed early shows through to P-Funk's huge rise, the era of the Mothership and beyond.
George Harrison
Behind The Locked Door
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
As a Beatle, Harrison underwent a bewilderingly compressed early adulthood,
buffeted by unprecedented levels of fame and success. After Beatlemania left
him unsettled and unfulfilled, his became a quest for deeper meaning which
travelled far beyond the parameters of his former band and indeed music itself.
This elegant, in-depth biography tracks him assiduously through his many
changes and conflicts, from schoolboy guitarist to global superstar, God seeker
to independent film-maker, Formula One enthusiast to UNICEF Fundraiser, and
marks the perennial struggle of a man attempting to walk a spiritual path lined
with temptation.
Drawing on scores of interviews with close friends and collaborators, rigorous
research and critical insight, George Harrison: Behind The Locked Door is an
intimate character study, illustrating the eternal yin and yang of Harrison's
nature; the definitive account of a compelling, contradictory life.
Graeme Thomson has written widely on music regularly contributing to The
Guardian, Uncut, the Herald and The Arts Desk and is the author of several
books. His book Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush was described by
The Irish Times as "the best music biography in perhaps the past decade" and by
Mojo as "superb".
Come and Get These Memories
The Genius of Holland-Dozier-Holland, Motown's Incomparable Songwriters
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
Records in the mid-Sixties, a writing credit from Holland Dozier Holland was virtually a guarantee of chart success. From 'Stop! In The Name Of Love' to 'How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You', they were the songwriting and production dream team responsible for some of the greatest songs of the twentieth century.
In this compelling autobiography, brothers Eddie and Brian Holland share their story for the first time, starting with growing up in Detroit raised by a single mother and their grandmother, before shining a light on their early musical careers. A gifted lyricist, Eddie started out as a solo singer with Berry Gordy as his manager before partnering up with Brian and Lamont Dozier, both talented arrangers and producers.
When Holland Dozier Holland came together, they helped transform Motown Records from a local soul label into a worldwide hit factory, home to international superstars such as Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, The Miracles, The Four Tops and The Isley Brothers. After an awe-inspiring tenure they left Motown in 1968, continuing their successes at new labels and with new collaborators for years to come.
Featuring honest and open first-hand accounts, Come and Get These Memories is more than just a behind-the-scenes look at Motown Records at its peak: Eddie and Brian set the record straight on both their personal and professional lives and offer a revealing slice of pop-music history.
A New Day Yesterday
UK Progressive Rock and the 1970s
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
An entertaining, definitive and in-depth study of prog rock, with a new cover and a foreword by Steve Hackett (Genesis).
Progressive rock, a genre formed out of a creative surge in the late Sixties and throughout the Seventies. Made by young musicians for a young audience, prog music looked towards new horizons by synthesising rock, jazz, folk, classical and other styles.
While prog has always divided critical opinion, in its heyday it had a large and devoted fanbase, and the era's biggest acts from Pink Floyd to Genesis went on to enjoy long-lasting international and commercial success. Although the scene fragmented in the late Seventies, new generations of young listeners continue to discover the unique sounds of prog today.
Examining the myths and misconceptions surrounding the genre, music journalist Mike Barnes paints a vivid, colourful picture of the Seventies based on his own interviews with the musicians, music business insiders, journalists and DJs, and the personal testimonies of fans of that extraordinary decade.
Offering something new for even the keenest of prog enthusiasts, A New Day Yesterday is an entertaining and in-depth study of both the music itself and the cultural conditions and attitudes that fed into, and were affected by, this remarkable musical phenomenon.
Under the Ivy
The Life and Music of Kate Bush
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
The critically acclaimed definitive biography of Kate Bush with a new foreword by Sinéad Gleeson.
Detailing everything from Bush's upbringing to her early exposition of talent, to her subsequent evolution into a stunningly creative and endlessly fascinating visual and musical artist, “Under the Ivy” is the story of one woman's life in music. Written with great detail, accuracy and admiration for her work, this is in equal parts an in-depth biography and an immersive analysis of Kate Bush's art.
Focusing on her unique working methods, her studio techniques, her timeless albums and inescapable influence, “Under the Ivy” is an eminently readable and insightful exploration of one of the world's most unique and gifted artists. The text has been updated to include coverage of Bush's return to the top of the charts in 2022 following the extraordinary resurgence of “Running Up That Hill.” An eye-opening journey of discovery for anyone unfamiliar with the breadth of Bush's work, “Under the Ivy” also rewards the long-term fan with new insights and fresh analysis.
Visions, Dreams & Rumours
A Portrait Of Stevie Nicks
Part of the Omnibus Remastered series
Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks is a musical visionary, a poet and an enduring style icon with a truly phenomenal life story. The Omnibus enhanced Dreams, Visions & Rumours is a celebratory examination of this tale, tracing Stevie's life from her Arizona childhood, the magic moment when she joined Fleetwood Mac and the hedonistic turbulence that followed.
Crowned 'The Reigning Queen Of Rock And Roll' by Rolling Stone, and with gold and quadruple platinum solo albums under her beaded belt, Stevie Nicks has enjoyed the ultimate in rock 'n' roll success in her life as a recording artist - but this charmed life has come as a result of grit, self-belief and a devotion to creativity above all; hers has been a journey of intense highs and lows.
This biography, a celebration of the Stevie Nicks phenomenon, takes us on her journey from peripatetic mid-West childhood to her explosion onto the music scene as chiffon-swathed rock goddess, right up to present day. Including exclusive interviews with some of Stevie's associates and collaborators from over the years, author Zoë Howe explores the mystique while retaining the magic of this modern-day musical sorceress and wise woman of rock.
This updated edition includes information about the 24 Karat Gold self-portrait collection exhibition Stevie curated in Hollywood, her work with the LA band Haim, coping with the loss of her close friends Glenn Frey and Prince, being a Rolling Stone cover girl again and more.