All Categories — Books  

A wonderful memoir from the glory days of the Italian soundtrack scene – penned by Franco De Gemini (aka "The Man With The Harmonica"), and filled with loads of color photos and images of albums! Franco's memoirs are often quite personal – at a level that sheds tremendous new light into the workings of the Italian scene back in these days, and filled with loads of great asides and stories that are as compelling as the historical details themselves. The book is heavy on text, but features many images in color – including a huge section in the back that offers cover images for dozens of classic albums on the Beat label! CD features 19 of the funkiest, grooviest tracks ever from Beat – titles by Armando Trovajoli, Franco Micalizzi, Alessandro Alessandroni, Roberto Pregadio, and many others – and the book is over 200 pages, softcover, and very nicely done! (Note: This is a second edition of the book From Beat To Beat – reprinted with a new title, and 24 more pages of material.)

Kim Fowley, an author? Stranger things have happened – and given Fowley's penchant for putting his finger in just about every pie that came within reach, the whole thing's no surprise at all! The book is a stunning account of Fowley's important years in the music business – working in the sometimes lowest reaches of the LA scene, yet sometimes hitting the highest heights too – all told in really interesting detail, with a pacing that's completely unique! At lots of points, it kind of feels like Kim's telling you the story of his life over a few dozen drinks at the bar – with all the tangents you might expect – but at other times, there's this lucidity that's right in line with the Fowley genius in the studio – that way of being and going crazy while still holding all your cool – summed up perfectly in these few lines near the end of the book: "Well this is my version of what happened to me. I don't know if it really happened or not, but I think it did. I'm holding back a lot of stuff because it's too overwhelming in its darkness and it would be a sad read."

An amazing little book, and one hell of a lifelong research project – a huge volume that documents deep details about the American underground of vanity, or "private" press records – obscure pieces of wax that were usually just pressed up by an artist for their own pleasure – but which have gone onto reach the status of legend over time! The format is a genre unto itself – even though the music style can vary widely – and the lavish book brings together a huge amount of rare covers and images, along with notes on the recordings – plus hundreds of reviews, an essay on the format, and even biographies of collectors and enthusiasts who've helped unearth this lost American treasure! Also comes with a download for dozens of tracks – and book is over 500 pages, in color, with a very heavy cover!

A rock and roll poster book – but one that features posters for only one band – Electric Frankenstein! Don't let that single-subject quality fool you, though – because the book's overflowing with variety – very vivid work from some of the leading lights in the indie/underground poster world – including Savage Pencil, Kaz, Frank Kozik, Dyland Forbes, and many many others – over 180 different artists, each chosen to do a different gig poster or flyer for the band! The book is full color, and even more vivid inside than its cover – with a great retro-horror vibe on most of the images too. 160 pages, full color, softcover.