Rock out with these books about music:
UPROOT: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture by Jace Clayton
The writer and artist DJ/rupture guides this world tour of music and technology in an age of radical freedom and interconnectivity. “In this exhilarating book, Clayton, aka DJ Rupture, guides readers on an international tour of various forms of music and music-making technologies within many cultures. Clayton urges readers to embrace the power of music, recognizing its energetic and enduring capacity to capture and express shared emotions and to become a ‘memory palace with room for everybody inside.’” Publishers Weekly, starred review
NEVER A DULL MOMENT: 1971 The Year That Rock Exploded by David Hepworth
A rollicking look at 1971 the busiest, most innovative and resonant year of the 70s, defined by the musical arrival of such stars as David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Joni Mitchell. “An exuberant tour through a pivotal year in the development of popular music and culture.” Kirkus Reviews
SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS’ ALL-TIME GREATEST HITS by Mark Binelli
Rolling Stone writer Binelli turns his sharp, forceful prose to fiction, in an inventive retelling of the outrageous life of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, a bluesman with one hit and a string of inflammatory guises. “This dreamlike album of real and imagined scenes from a complex artist’s memory bank is as flamboyant a display of light and shadow as one of Hawkins’ stage shows.” Kirkus Reviews
A STRAY CAT STRUTS: My Life as a Rockabilly Rebel by Slim Jim Phantom
The first-ever memoir by a member of the Stray Cats, featuring stories of a rock ‘n roll life, friendships with icons like George Harrison and Keith Richards, and marriage to Britt Ekland. “An entertaining pop music memoir for fans of drummers, Eighties music, and/or rockabilly.” Library Journal
EVERY SONG EVER: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty by Ben Ratliff
Veteran New York Times music critic Ratliff reimagines the very idea of music appreciation for our times. “A remarkable new book… [Ratliff] goes leaping from Beethoven to Big Black, from Morton Feldman to Curtis Mayfield, identifying continuities while delighting in contrasts.” The New Yorker
WAKING THE SPIRIT: A Musician’s Journey Healing Body, Mind, and Soul by Andrew Schulman
“A professional guitarist whose venues have ranged from Carnegie Hall to the Improv Comedy Club, Schulman was pulled back from death in July 2009 by a medical miracle and decided it was give-back time. He’s now the resident musician in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at New York’s Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in New York, where he brings music and hence joy and healing to critically ill patients.” Library Journal, pre-pub alert
PRINCE: Inside the Music and the Masks by Ronin Ro
A fascinating, authoritative biography, with a new introduction and chapter covering the past five years and Prince’s death.
THE SPEED OF SOUND: Breaking the Barriers Between Music and Technology: A Memoir by Thomas Dolby
A remarkable memoir from Thomas Dolby, who rose to international fame with such hit songs as “She Blinded Me with Science” and “Hyperactive!” in the early 80’s and found a second act as a tech pioneer.
LOVE FOR SALE: Pop Music in America by David Hajdu
A personal, idiosyncratic history of pop music that also may well be definitive, from revered music critic Hajdu.
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