Rock Classic

In 1998, the future of the Red Hot Chili Peppers seemed extremely uncertain. Once considered alternative rock's hottest act on the back of their triumphant 1991 album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the LA quartet would spend the next few years languishing in the doldrums, with drug addiction and in-house tension threatening to undo those previous years of hard work. To say that Californication saved the Red Hot Chili Peppers is an understatement. For In 1998, the future of the Red Hot Chili Peppers seemed extremely uncertain. Once considered alternative rock's hottest act on the back of their triumphant 1991 album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the LA quartet would spend the next few years languishing in the doldrums, with drug addiction and in-house tension threatening to undo those previous years of hard work. To say that Californication saved the Red Hot Chili Peppers is an understatement. For Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and the returning John Frusciante – long considered the band's classic line-up – the 1999 album cemented the Chili's as the poster boys for alternative rock. Musically, Californication still featured a lethal dose of the band's powerhouse funk, but the album was also more melodic, minimalistic, and structured. Combined with Kiedis' often brutally honest and introspective lyrics, songs such as the delicate and sombre 'Scar Tissue', the epiphanic 'Otherside', and the scathing title track would usher in a new era of the band, where the promise they had previously shown was about to be fully realised. This book discusses album's writing and recording processes in detail, the stories behind every song (including the B-sides and unreleased material), the ensuing world tour, and the legacy the record has left behind. Matt Karpe is an author based in Cambridgeshire, UK. Californication is his twelfth book overall, with previous titles covering artists including Korn, Tool, Faith No More, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Prince. , Flea, Chad Smith, and the returning John Frusciante – long considered the band's classic line-up – the 1999 album cemented the Chili's as the poster boys for alternative rock. Musically, Californication still featured a lethal dose of the band's powerhouse funk, but the album was also more melodic, minimalistic, and structured. Combined with Kiedis' often brutally honest and introspective lyrics, songs such as the delicate and sombre 'Scar Tissue', the epiphanic 'Otherside', and the scathing title track would usher in a new era of the band, where the promise they had previously shown was about to be fully realised. This book discusses album's writing and recording processes in detail, the stories behind every song (including the B-sides and unreleased material), the ensuing world tour, and the legacy the record has left behind. Matt Karpe is an author based in Cambridgeshire, UK. Californication is his twelfth book overall, with previous titles covering artists including Korn, Tool, Faith No More, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Prince.

One of the most pivotal albums in the evolution of rock music, few other recordings have had more impact than the 1965 Bob Dylan classic, Bringing It All Back Home. In the mid-sixties, rock music was about to explode into psychedelia, prog and jazz fusion. Meanwhile, Bob Dylan had made an enormous impact on songwriting with his first four all-acoustic albums. He had created a different way of writing songs, by embracing themes such as civil rights, anti-war protests and social issues, which lifted the subject matter from teenage love songs to serious poetic works of art, rife with symbolism. But with Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan shot his lyrics through with surreal hard-edged beat poetry while the music contained both acoustic songs and blues-based loud electric rock. It alienated him from many of his peers in the folk community but nonetheless contains classic cuts like 'Mr Tambourine Man' 'Maggie's Farm' and 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. Dylan had opened the door to experimentation. The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Doors, Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Cream all listened and responded. In its wake, Songwriting rose to new heights with few boundaries. After Bringing It All Back Home, music was forever changed. Opher Goodwin is the author of many books on rock music and ran the UK's first 'History of Rock Music' courses. Fortunate to spend the sixties in London, where the underground explosion of rock music and culture happened, Opher was in the right place at the right time. He was regularly out at the gigs of Pink Floyd, Hendrix, Cream, Doors, Captain Beefheart, Country Joe and the Fish and many other exciting bands. Among his favourite songwriters are Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Jackson C Frank, Leonard Cohen and Roy Harper. Opher now lives and writes at home in Yorkshire, UK but can still be found at the front of gigs. Where else?

You could consider Kate Bush's The Dreaming to be her finest moment, depending on whether you value the rejection of compromise and see that as a sign of authenticity. Or, you may see her Hounds of Love - equal parts artful and accessible - as the benchmark for artistic integrity meeting commercial success: a slippery and completely unpredictable schizoid beast at the best of times. As much as The Dreaming seems to be viewed as Bush's most difficult record to consume, it's easy to forget that it was a top 20 album in multiple countries. In reality, it has a beautiful simplicity, if only for its intention to exist for its own sake - as they say, 'It is what it is', and the rest is up to the listener. What it is, is perhaps one of rock's purest examples of a musician doing their thing, simultaneously (and conveniently) operating at the top of their game without a care for what others thought. Ultimately, The Dreaming is just art - music, yes, but it arguably crosses the line into sculpture. You can walk around it, try to decipher it, and still be stumped. Isn't that how art is supposed to be? Peter Kearns is a New Zealand musician, independent recording artist and producer. Since the 1980s, he has performed live as keyboardist and/or recorded or co-written with a range of artists from in and outside of his home country. He is half of the duo Tabacco & Kearns and as a writer, he's contributed regularly to witchdoctor.co.nz - New Zealand's technology and music website for grown-ups. This is his fourth book for Sonicbond. He first heard Kate Bush in 1978 when he was 11, biking home from school, hearing 'Wuthering Heights' blasting from someone's house, and he stood there in the rain, transfixed, wondering if it was possible to equal something so unique.

Some albums are simply undeniable watersheds in an artist's career. These can be artistic, or commercial triumphs (or both), but are seen by both the fanbase and even the wider world, as defining statements. Such was undoubtedly the case when Supertramp released Crime Of The Century in 1974. The band's two previous albums had searched for a direction almost as much as Supertramp themselves searched for a stable line-up. But so few copies were sold that the band were almost entirely unknown as they embarked on their third. Like some serendipitous alchemy, the perfect five-piece line-up coalesced around the creative hub of Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, and there was a tangible belief and confidence that had not been present before. They took time away from playing live and meticulously crafted Crime Of The Century, which immediately put them both into theatres and into the charts. With the album celebrating its 50th anniversary and aided by the author's interview with Roger Hodgson, this book examines the making of the album, while looking into the music and lyrical content with some depth. It also examines the wider story of the band and the lasting legacy of the masterpiece that became Crime Of The Century. The author Steve Pilkington is a writer and broadcaster based in the North West of England. He has published books on artists as diverse as Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, Van Der Graaf Generator, Iron Maiden and The Rolling Stones, and is a regular Sonicbond author. He has also written the official biography of guitarist Gordon Giltrap. Steve also presents a weekly internet radio show entitled A Saucerful Of Prog for Rock Radio UK, as well as writing CD booklet essays and regular content on the Velvet Thunder rock website. Crime Of The Century Rock Classics is his tenth published book.

Released in 1969, Let It Bleed was The Rolling Stones' eighth studio album and tenth in the USA. The second in a sequence of four consecutive records that comprised their creative peak, it is considered by many to be their best. After a period of turmoil culminating in drug busts, the enforced departure and sudden death of founding member Brian Jones, they delivered a powerful set of nine tracks that encompassed hard rock, blues, country, folk, gospel, and even funk. From the eerie 'Gimme Shelter' to the epic 'You Can't Always Get What You Want', with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the band plus an array of guests including Al Kooper, Ry Cooder and The London Bach Choir, it was a set that captured the uncertain prevailing mood at the end of the 1960s and the era that produced the Woodstock and Altamont festivals. Number one in Britain and number two in America, it still sounds just as fresh, urgent and challenging more than half a century later. This account examines in detail the background, inspiration and recording of the songs, the reception of the work as a whole, and its legacy and influence on subsequent generations of bands and performers to this day. The author John Van der Kiste has published over seventy books, mostly historical biography and music, including titles on The Beatles, Jeff Lynne/ELO, Led Zeppelin, Lindisfarne and Steve Winwood. He has also reviewed books and records for the local and national press and fanzines, and co-founded and edited the 70s fanzine Keep on Rockin'. He has performed with groups, run mobile discos, and written booklet notes for CD reissues from EMI and other labels. An occasional musician and songwriter, he also co-wrote one track on Riff Regan's Milestones (2015) and played harmonica on London's The Hell for Leather Mob (2020). He lives in Devon, UK.