Starting today, we have 12 recommendations for music books for your holiday list! We will add a new book each day until December 23 and include a link to Amazon to purchase each entry.
Happy holidays!
1. The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC byJesse Fink
Their music has never pulled its punches. Neither does The Youngs. After 40 years, AC/DC might just have got the serious book it deserves.
AllMusicBooks review here.
“Jesse Fink has delivered a fascinating, highly-readable, sometimes critical account of the Young brothers and AC/DC that all fans of the band should read.”
2. Ellington at the White House 1969 by Edward Allan Faine
Traces the decades-long journey that both Ellington and jazz had to travel to have their music heard in the White House, and the machinations leading up to Nixon's approval of the tribute
AllMusicBooks review here.
“There have been a lot of great jazz performances in Washington since then, even in the past few years alone, but this was a special one, in an important era in the United States.”
3. Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys: A Memoir by Viv Albertine
Viv Albertine is one of a handful of original punks who changed music, and the discourse around it, forever. Her memoir tells the story of how, through sheer will, talent, and fearlessness, she forced herself into a male-dominated industry, became part of a movement that changed music, and inspired a generation of female rockers.
4. There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll by Lisa Robinson
An insider's behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of rock and roll.
AllMusicBooks review here.
“A hugely entertaining book (that) easily moves between life on the road with the ‘70s superstars to the down and dirty nights at CBGBs and Max’s...”
5. Please Be With Me:
A Song for My Father, Duane Allman
by Galadrielle Allman
A deeply personal, revealing, and lyrical portrait of Duane Allman, founder of the legendary Allman Brothers Band, written by his daughter.
AllMusicBooks review here.
“Where ‘Please Be With Me’ excels beyond just being a great biography of Duane Allman is that it is also family history: Duane's, Gregg's, the Allman Brothers Band's, but most of all, Galadrielle's. It's a journey of discovery and enlightenment as she finds out who her father really was, warts and all.”
6. "The Light in Darkness" by Lawrence Kirsch
A totally Boss limited edition book of stunning photography from Bruce Springsteen's “Darkness” tour.
AllMusicBooks review here.
“It’s a primer on the impact of live rock and roll and the force of nature that is Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. If you missed this groundbreaking tour, this is simply as close as you’re going to get to relive it.”
7. The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs by Greil Marcus
Marcus selects ten songs and dramatizes how each embodies rock ’n’ roll as a thing in itself, in the story it tells, inhabits, and acts out — a new language, something new under the sun.
AllMusicBooks review here.
"The dots begin to connect themselves; Bo Diddley to Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Berry Gordy and on down the line. It turns out to be a neat trick. Marcus sketches out a kind of matrix — a sideways look at history — that pops the continuum of this music into a high relief."
8. One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band
by Alan Paul
Two fans and one of our favorite reviewers suggested this one! And, since the band has just called it a career with a final legendary run at NYC's Beacon Theater, it seems a good time to check out our 8th Book of Christmas, Alan Paul's oral history written with the band’s participation.
AllMusicBooks review here.
" A blueprint for how to write an effective biography of a band using their own words."
9. The Hippest Trip in America:
Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture & Style by Nelson George
Get on board the hippest holiday train circling the Christmas tree, the Soul Train! It's our 9th Book of Christmas.
AllMusicBooks review here.
"What a testament to Don and his show, which endures on the Internet.
Every day, generations of new fans are taking the hippest trip back in time down the Soul Train line."
10. The Beatles Lyrics: The Stories Behind the Music, Including the Handwritten Drafts of More Than 100 Classic Beatles Songs
by Hunter Davies
The definitive book of Beatles songs, written in their own handwriting may be the definitive gift for the Beatles fan on your list!
AllMusicBooks reveiw here:
"An exquisite book and absolutely one that any serious Beatles fan needs in their personal library."
11. The Fender Archives: A Scrapbook of Artifacts, Treasures, and Inside Information by Tom Wheeler
Part history, part archive, part scrapbook, and part treasure chest, this inside story features handwritten letters, production totals, personal logbooks, in-house memos, Leo Fender's drawing-board sketches, financial reports.
AllMusicBooks review here.
"Essential, gorgeous and tons of fun, Wheeler has delivered a book that is not to be missed."
12. Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression by Richard Havers
Our 12th and final book is one of "uncompromising expression" and focuses on how the legendary jazz label has "shaped the way we see the music itself." It features classic album artwork, unseen contact sheets, and rare ephemera from the Blue Note archives.
So there you have it. Twelve books on music that we think are worth your time. They also will make anyone's holiday bright. What are you waiting for? There's still time...
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