Books — All Formats  

An anthology of hip hop art & graphics compiled by designer Cey Adams – from street art, to snapshots of the NYC underground from the end of the 60s through the 80s, pivotal album cover art, hip hop in the worlds of advertising and film, fashion and more! Loads of classic hip hop imagery, iconography, art and design! Includes a forward by Russell Simmons and an intro by Bill Adler. Paperback, 187 pages.

A guide to essential Old School Rap & Hip Hop from team at the indespensible All Music Guide – featuring more than 500 music reviews of important records by Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, NWA, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and so much more – plus reviews on soul and funk LPs that were instrumental in the creation of hip hop, from ESG, The Emotions, Gil Scott-Heron, Marva Whitney and many more! The book is divided into 2 parts, The Roots Of Rap and Digging In The Crates, and organized alphabetically. Paperback, 166 pages, with several reviews per page.

A pretty well-done look at the effect of recording technology on music in the 20th century – with an especially strong focus on the way that classical has been shaped by the evolution in sound! Author Arved Ashby definitely writes here from an academic perspective, but has a way of making the information really come alive – even if, like us, you don't have a great understanding of the artists and works involved – but have an ear that's been trained on a lifetime's worth of records! There's plenty of pop reference points too – crucial to an understanding of the way that technical shifts impacted all sorts of music – and the book features a huge section of notes at the back as well. 316 pages, softcover.

The Beach Boys – day by day, year by year, presented in a very compelling diary format that really gets past some of the overblown mythos about the group! Author Badman goes for a "just the facts" sort of approach – and lists key days in the group's career from the 60s onward – with most of the details given to important stretches before 1970, but some key information from later decades too. Each entry is dated, with specific information on what the Beach Boys were involved in on that day – recording, rehearsing, touring, etc – with a surprising amount of vintage photos and other bits to support the text. Perhaps most compelling is the book's frequent use of Musicians Union sheets for recording sessions – listing session players and their details (including, oddly, social security numbers!) – which really helps illuminate the way that the records were being made. 399 pages, softcover, with black and white images.

A treasure trove of 50s romance comics – brought together in a great-looking package, with helpful framing from author Michael Barson! The core material is great – way more than the soppy romance stories you might think – and instead some really compelling work that really gets at the worries and anxieties of America in the post-war years. Sure, there's certainly tales of gals looking for love in all the wrong places – but you'd also be amazed at how much of this stuff offers up a larger comment on society as well – penned with surprisingly thoughtful prose, and illustrated with relatively mature images too. If we had one complaint, it would be that Barson doesn't give us enough detail about the artists and writers of the material – but that's only because the whole thing's so beautiful, we want to know more! 208 pages, softcover, in full color.