All Gates Open presents the definitive story of arguably the most influential and revered avant-garde band of the late twentieth century: CAN. It consists of two books.In Book One, Rob Young gives us the full biography of a band that emerged at the vanguard of what would come to be called the Krautrock scene in late sixties Cologne. With Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay - two classically trained students of Stockhausen - at the heart of the band, CAN's studio and live perfo...

Faber Forty-Fives is a series of six short ebooks that between them tell the story of British pop music from the birth of psychedelia in the late sixties, through electric folk, glam, seventies rock and punk, to the eclecticism of post-punk in the late seventies and early eighties. Each book is drawn from a larger work on Faber's acclaimed music list.Rob Young's Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music is a seminal book on British music and cultural heri...

A LOUDER THAN WAR BOOK OF THE YEARA riveting journey into the psyche of Britain through its golden age of television and film; a cross-genre feast of moving pictures, from classics to occult hidden gems, The Magic Box is the nation's visual self-portrait in technicolour detail.'The definition of gripping. Truly, a trove of wyrd treasures.'BENJAMIN MYERS'A lovingly researched history of Briti...

Rob Young's Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music is a seminal book on British music and cultural heritage, that spans the visionary classical and folk tradition from the nineteenth-century to the present day.'A thoroughly enjoyable read and likely to remain the best-written overview for a long time.'GUARDIAN'A perfectly timed, perfectly pitched alternative history of English folk music . . . wide-rang...

A colourful collection of pieces on the enigmatic genius of Scott Walker from THE WIRE.Scott Walker has travelled from teen idol to the outer limits of music. From 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More' reaching No.1, through to recordings of meat being punched on his last album, THE DRIFT, he somehow seems to have reached a passionate and committed fan base. Throughout his career, his impeccable critical reputation as a serious and uncompromising musician has never ...

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...

Since it was founded in 1982, The Wire magazine has covered a vast range of alternative, experimental, underground and non-mainstream music. Now some of that knowledge has been distilled into The Wire Primers: a comprehensive guide to the core recordings of some of the most visionary and inspiring, subversive and radical musicians on the planet, past and present. Each chapter surveys the musical universe of a particular artist, group or genre by way of a contextualizing i...

On Shishmaref Island in Alaska, homes are being washed into the sea. In the South Pacific, small island nations face annihilation by encroaching waters. In coastal Louisiana, an area the size of a football field disappears every day. For these communities, sea level rise isn’t a distant, abstract fear: it’s happening now and it’s threatening their way of life.In The Rising Sea, Orrin H. Pilkey and Rob Young warn that many other coastal areas may be close behind. Prominent ...

Syd Barrett and British Psychedelia is an intimate snapshot of the years 1966-7, when the underground's house band, Pink Floyd, were cast blinking into the light of mainstream success. Nurtured in the progressive Cambridge scene and the bohemian hangouts of the Notting Hill Free School and UFO club, Pink Floyd pioneered a distinctly British mix of Victoriana, LSD-inflected mysticism, the avant-garde and pop. And at their heart was the gifted and complex songwriter, singer and guit...

'Fizzes with clever vignettes and juicy tidbits... [a] joyous romp of a book.' Guardian'A fascinating, rollicking book in search of why, where and how fame strikes. Sit back and enjoy the ride.' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads'[An] engaging and well-researched book... Jenner brings his material to vivid life' ObserverCelebrity, with its neon glow and selfie pout, strikes us as hypermodern...

'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' INDEPENDENTThe Number One Sunday Times Bestseller'Wildly entertaining'SPECTATOR'A stand-out triumph'SUNDAY TIMES'Superb'LITERARY REVIEW'Impressive'NEW YORKER'Highly entertaining'...

NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMAA SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BESTSELLERHow do you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues?Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger.But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket t...