Caravan have a history that stretches back over half a century, with a catalogue of music that ranges from progressive rock classics to pop gems that really deserved to be hits. Lumped into that strange category known as ‘the Canterbury Sound’.This book traces their history, track-by-track, over eighteen canonical albums, stopping off to examine the plethora of live and BBC session releases that have swollen their back catalogue like a girl who grows plump in the night. Beginning wi...

Metal Mythology is a deliciously-dark deep dive into the Heavy Metal music genre and the history of the folklore which inspired its music.The book begins with the story of Heavy Metal's early years in the 1970s, explaining how it became popular with bands from working class British backgrounds like Birmingham's Black Sabbath (with late Ozzy Osbourne) and East End lads Iron Maiden. Today's fanbase - so-called "Metalheads" - will account for 13% of all arena and stadium audiences thi...

Canine Crimebusters delves into the history and heroism of UK police dogs, exploring their evolution, highlighting amazing canines, and celebrating their bond with handlers.This book follows the heroic and touching tales of dogs on the frontline of crime prevention.The first truly recognised police dog section in the UK was out of the Met, based at Imber Court, Esher, and the star dog was PD Rex, handled by PC Arthur Holman. Rex was responsible for 120 arrests, the first dr...

This is a comprehensive in-depth exploration of the career and work of one of the worlds greatest hard rock bands.With the likes of Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and David Coverdale passing through their ranks, Deep Purple was always destined to produce extraordinary music - what was less predictable was in the incredible story of the bands formation, rise to fame and struggle to cope with the immense pressures of international superstardom. Jerry Blooms sparkling narrative tells the story,...

Hes not paying me anymore, so I can say what I like. Ritchie is the greatest guitarist in the world. - Bobby Rondinelli of Rainbow This is the independent and uncensored guide to the music of Rainbow. Written by Jeff Perkins, this amazing eBook is the ultimate commemoration of one of the greatest rock bands on the planet.Also featured are rare and previously unreleased interviews with Ritchie Blackmore and the late great Ronnie James Dio. The views of the two founders are complemented by n...

A Rolling Stone Best Music Book of 2021“Thompson is a master showman . . . [Beeswing is] everything you’d hope a Richard Thompson autobiography would be . . . It’s both major and minor, dirge and ditty, light on its feet but packing a punch.”—The Wall Street JournalNow Featuring an Interview with Elvis CostelloIn this moving, immersive, and long-awaited memoir, beloved international music legend Ric...

The Cure emerged in the post-punk 70s and defied all expectations to launch a marathon career marked by hit records and a string of sell-out arena shows. Never Enough traces The Cure's roots in middle-class Crawley, Sussex, and tracks their gradual rise, revealing how their first major album Pornography, almost ended the band well before their multi-platinum career began. Also documents Robert Smith's escape into the Siouxie & The Banshees camp during the 80s, and his experimentation with ...

An electrifying new biography about the four Essex lads who became award-winning stadium superstars and champions of synth pop!Jonathan Miller's groundbreaking book features in-depth interviews with founder member Vince Clarke and producers Gareth Jones and Mark Bell, and contains never-before seen interviews with the band members themselves.With additional input from Gary Human, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby this is a unique portrait of a band that almost ...

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction of 2011 titleIn the late 1960s, with popular culture hurtling forward on the sounds of rock music, some brave musicians looked back instead, trying to recover the lost treasures of English roots music and update them for the new age. The records of Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Steeleye Span, and Nick Drake are known as "folk rock" today, but Rob Young's epic, electrifying book makes clear that those musicians led a decades-long quest to r...

And the Band Begins to Play is an in-depth, 12-volume guide to every song recorded by the Beatles. Part Twelve examines the LP Abbey Road and associated singles.Going further than the usual song-by-song, album-by-album guide, it is a record of every moment that the Beatles came together to record, from the first EMI session in 1962 to their acrimonious break-up in 1970. In short, this 12-volume set is the blueprint to every single recording made by the Beatles: 12 albums and 22 sin...

Kate Bush has written some of the most memorable songs in pop music history. Wuthering Heights, her debut single shot to number 1 in 1978 and she remains something of an enigma over a quarter of a century later. A singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, actress and director, Kate has inspired a devoted following around the world.Rob Jovanovic traces the story of Kate Bush's career, from her up-bringing in the Essex countryside through her first forays into music with a series of home...

*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*The brand new memoir from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Road Beneath My Feet.Taking 36 songs from his back catalogue, folk-punk icon Frank Turner explores his songwriting process. Find out the stories behind the songs forged in the hedonistic years of the mid-2000s North London scene, the ones perfected in Nashville studios, and everything in between. Some of these songs arrive ful...