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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... read more

A great overview of exotic music in all its forms – not just the familiar American variant of the postwar years, but also a strong look at Italian exotica too! The book was originally penned in Italian, and has a good ear for the kind of unusual soundtrack and sound library material that... read more

The All Music Guide Required Listening collection of essential classic rock – featuring 1000 album reviews from the excellent All Music Guide reviewers – from the uber-legendary likes of Dylan, Springsteen, The Beatles, Hendrix and the like – to just as important and less... read more

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... read more

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... read more

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... read more

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... read more

A great look at the never-ending genius of the legendary Steve Ditko – one of the greatest comic book artists of all time, and someone who's given us decades of enjoyment! This beautiful oversized book is a great companion to all the vintage Ditko material that's been reissued in recent... read more

A heavy-duty, lavishly-illustrated ode to the art of Louis Armstrong! It's not a biography – but a beautiful, 250+ page collection of photographs, movie stills, Satchmo's own hand-written letters, collage art and more! It's been put together by Steven Brower, with a forward by Hilton Als... read more

Author Mick Brown chronicles the fascinating, tragic world of the Phil Spector – the most fascinating figure in American pop music history – thanks to both his unrivaled genius and artistry, his fabled reclusiveness and ultimately, real life crime noir tragedy. From his epic work with... read more

An absorbing biography of one legendary French singer Edith Piaf – one of the most alluring voices of the past century – and superbly written by Carolyn Burke! Edith Piaf lived as fascinating of a life as any international icon we can think of – musical or otherwise – and... read more

Charles Burns in a beautiful format – an oversized, nicely-bound edition that makes his work here feel like the glory days of Raw Comics! The story is quite dark – the first chapter of a new story line from Burns – and the images have this really unsettling way of turning a... read more

Somebody's finally gone out and written a book about one subject we can really get behind – the Record Store – and not only that, they've done a beautiful job with the entire package too! The book takes a look at the importance of the record store – not just historically, but... read more

Urban radio from the inside – the third volume in Marcus Chapman's very detailed memoirs – covering his important late 90s years at Chicago's WGCI! Unlike other books of this nature, which are usually just history – and ancient history at that – Chapman's volume really digs... read more

One of the most heartbreaking stories we've ever read from Daniel Clowes – penned with a sense of pathos we never would have expected during his Ghost World years! The book has a great format – long sideways, like a newspaper comic strip – and Clowes' pages alternate between... read more

A unique account of the oft-told history of Chess Records by author Rich Cohen – focusing on the business acumen the the Chess Brothers, and the brazen approach that brought the music of juke joints to the mainstream. Cohen doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the exploitational side of... read more

Amazing images from the universe of Sun Ra – a mixture of rare photographs and mural images painted by Aye Aton – sometime percussionist with the Arkestra, and a heck of a great painter too! The book begins with these stunning full color photographs of Ra on the set of Space Is The... read more

Amazing work from the great Roy Crane – one of the most important newspaper strip artists of the 20th Century! The book features the initial few years of Buz Sawyer – a new project that Crane did for William Randolph Hearst after leaving behind his very successful Wash Tubbs &... read more

One of the first great adventure strips of the 30s – presented here in a beautiful oversize volume! Roy Crane's artwork on Captain Easy is tremendous – a magnificently thin line at times, yet full of rich feeling that's augmented by the coloring of the strip – often almost water-c... read more

One of the first great adventure strips of the 30s – presented here in a beautiful oversize volume! Roy Crane's artwork on Captain Easy is tremendous – a magnificently thin line at times, yet full of rich feeling that's augmented by the coloring of the strip – often almost water-c... read more

A chronicle of African American Singing & Praying Bands in Maryland and Delaware – stirring spiritual music with roots in the Chesapeak Bay of the nineteenth century – and still thrives! It includes the first-person histories of the singers, players and prayers, musical annotion... read more

Just in case you thought all the backstage and tour bus action in the 70s was exaggerated, Pamela Des Barres comes along to show you that things were even wilder than you thought! The book is maybe a bit more freewheeling than some of her other volumes – as Pamela brings together stories... read more

The remarkable story behind one greatest and most successful soul albums of all time – Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You – the deepest account on the making of the album we've ever come across! Author Matt Doblin tells the story with loads of fresh interviews,... read more

Cultural historian Alice Echols explores the massive shifts in American culture during and as impacted by the disco era – not only in fashion and record sales – but the racial, sexual and behavioral landscape at large! Echols is a biographer and historian, but she's also former disco... read more

We love The Creation, but never knew their full story until now – a really compelling tale that not only gets at the greatness of their music in the 60s, but which also explains why they never reached the sort of fame they deserved! The story here is incredibly detailed – not just fan... read more

Tough, dirty and stylish late 50s short stories by the great Harlan Ellison – who would go on to be hailed as one of great science fiction and suspense writers in print, film and television – but working here as a very young man, under pseudonyms, on seedy crime and pulp stories! It's... read more

Amazing early work from Bill Everett – easily one of our favorite artistic talents of the Golden Age – famous for creating Sub Mariner, but seen here in a host of other rare work that's never been collected before! Everett's name was associated with Marvel/Timely for decades –... read more

Tony Fletcher's impressive, sprawling look at the street music fom New York – one that covers the heart of the 20th century! Fletcher has penned the kind of far-reaching tome hear that truly commands respect – covering 50 years of NYC music from the early days of 78s to the punk &... read more

If you liked the first volume of this essential book, you'll love this revised edition – because it's almost 3 times bigger, and stuffed with great new features! The book's a lifetime labor of love for Freddy Fresh – an extensive discography that's got to be the most definitive book on... read more

A remarkable collection of a half century of writings on James Brown – from a Variety piece way back in 1959 up to a Rolling Stone profile from 2006 – edited by Nelson George & Alan Leeds and featuring work items from trades, newspaper and magazine profiles, select liner notes and... read more

A much-needed second volume of Vinyl Lives – especially since they left Dusty Groove out of the first book! This time, they correct their mistake with a nice long look at our store – plus other chapters in equally important record retailers – including Jerry's in Pittsburgh,... read more

A beautiful collection of early 30s newspaper strips penned by Floyd Gottfredson – early daily comics starring Mickey Mouse, but offering up a very different version of the character than on the screen! The format does a great job of tying Mickey to some of the other comic stars of the time... read more

A beautiful collection of early 30s newspaper strips penned by Floyd Gottfredson – early daily comics starring Mickey Mouse, but offering up a very different version of the character than on the screen! The format does a great job of tying Mickey to some of the other comic stars of the time... read more

The amazing story of Ahmet Ertegun – the driving force behind Atlantic Records, and a crucial figure in popular music in the 20th Century! Ahmet's story is the stuff of legend – and this book delivers the whole thing in stunning detail – from Ertegun's early years as the child of... read more

A cool little guide to all things club jazz – put together by Shuya Okino of Kyoto Jazz Massive, and featuring both record listings and writings! The record listing section is a fair bit smaller than other Japanese books like this that we stock – about 40 pages that show how you might... read more

An incredible look at the all-too-short life and music of Sam Cooke – put together by Peter Guralnick with an amazing amount of historical detail, and an even more important love of Cooke's music! The book is to Cooke what Guralnick's earlier writings were to Elvis Presley – a much... read more

The story of the Creole Band – the 7-piece group that took to touring the US in the 1910s – and thusly introduced a lot of people to the pioneering strains of New Orleans-style jazz to heck of a lot people for the very first time – and planting seeds for much of the jazz music to... read more

The life story of Buddy Guy – one of the the key blues figures to come out of our Windy City home! David Ritz helps shape the story, but the book is definitely in Buddy's own words – which vividly paint a picture of both the Chicago scene, and the growing global world that began to... read more

The sensational early 70s document of the big city pimp culture by writer Susan Hall & photgrapher Bob Adelman! It features fascinating interviews with "professional gentleman of leisure" Silky and his "wives" – and filled with jaw dropping b&w photography. A... read more

Completely bizarre, and wonderfully beautiful images from Fletcher Hanks – an overlooked cartoonist from the early days of comic books – and a talent as weirdly unique as bigger names like Basil Wolverton or Virgil Finlay! The cover and title offer stark testimony to the genius within... read more

A great revolution in record cover art – the early 90s rise of the hand-made package in the punk rock underground! 7" singles were a key force in punk and other underground styles of the time – and these small pressings were often hand-assembled by the bands themselves –... read more

The story of the evolving history of European jazz – from its development in Scandinavia, Holland, England, France & Germany and its further spread – from author Mike Heffley. Heffley writes sections on the emancipation from formality, with players such as Mangelsdorff, Kuhn &... read more

A cinematic effort from Gilbert Hernandez – a standalone graphic novel that expands on the story of one of the characters from his Palomar epic – but with a gritty sort of vibe that really matches the cover! The shift is a nice one – as Hernandez works in an even more visually-foc... read more

The Byrds went through many many changes during their legendary run in the late 60s – some of which are documented on their rich body of recorded work, lots more of which you'll find in this thick volume of historical detail! The book offers a day by day, year by year existence of the group... read more

A much-needed look at the amazing underground jazz scene in LA – the richly creative spiritual and avant underground that flourished strongly in the 60s, 70s, and 80s! Although the city's best known for its cool jazz of the 50s, there's an even greater amount of left-field jazz that's come... read more

A brilliant look at the early days of the comic book industry – a very well-written history that intermingles economic history and personal biography – in ways that really get at the complexity of the early days of comics! Gerard Jones covers a wide range of roots at the start of the... read more

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... read more

A book we can really get behind – partly because we're a groovy local retailer, just like the ones featured in the pictures! The volume is exactly what's promised in the title – a beautiful look at storefronts in Brooklyn – from local grocery stores, to mom and pop neighborhood... read more

Some of the greatest albums in rock and roll are those that were never released – including some that finally saw the light of day after decades, like the Beach Boys' Smile! This book really gets at that fact beautifully – showing how, although never issued, some of these key creative... read more

The earliest days of cartoon advertising – loads of rare work from a time before the medium had been reduced to Big Boy hawking pancakes, and Batman selling Twinkies! The book offers up some incredible stuff we weren't aware of – images that go as far back as the 1870s, and up to the... read more

A beautiful set of jazz album cover art from the 50s and 60s – hardcover, in full color, and packed with hundreds of classic images! The title's a reflection of the strong scope of material – work from both the east and west coast scenes, pulled from labels like Prestige, Atlantic,... read more

A lavish book that documents the rich graphic legacy of McSweeney's – a press that makes books as beautiful to view as they are to read – thanks to work from some of the most forward-thinking graphic artists around! The huge volume features hundreds of images – from rough... read more

A really cool guide to an under-researched side of the record business – the decades of albums and singles issued for the younger market – served up in a book that's as colorful as the records themselves! The volume is partly a price guide, partly a discography – and it's printed... read more

A beautiful document of a lost Japanese art – the in-person version of manga, in which vividly colored images were used to accompany a live storyteller! The format pre-dated comics and most cinema in Japan – and is presented here in a huge amount of vivid full-color images – some... read more

A beautiful book of vintage hard rock album covers – starting in the late 60s, and running through the early 80s – all to provide a perfect showcase of the best images of the genre from the vinyl generation! The book's got way more than pictures, though – as each oversize page... read more

If you've ever wondered what the homes, studios, crates, shelves and work spaces of some of your favorite DJs and producers look like, here's a wonderful window, for peeking into the personal spaces of some of greatest in the game! Behind The Beat is a beautifully put together photo book –... read more

One of the headiest books we've ever seen on The Walker Brothers – and certainly much deeper than any of the pop press that used to come out on the group! Author Anthony Reynolds relates a wealth of details here – the rise of The Walker Brothers, the dissolution of the group, the key... read more

A nicely-done biography of Louis Armstrong's late life and career – one that takes deep look at the last 25 years of this giant in American musical culture! It's a fascinating period for Satchmo – in which he actually made his highest charting recordings in "Mack The Knife"... read more

The Rittor Music Japan Bible Of Extreme Metal – a discography book that covers brutal music in a beautiful way! The cover art is extremely metal – but the book actually covers more than just "extreme metal" – it spans the metal genre from it's origins to today –... read more

A beautifully-drawn sci-fi strip from the great Jerry Robinson – material that's even more vibrant than Jerry's famous 40s work on comic books – thanks in part to the lavish style of this volume! Jet Scott was a short-lived continuity strip – one that mixed rocket stories with... read more

A nice photographic history of Our Town's Lake Shore Drive – which the author's hail as Urban America's Most Beautiful Roadway, and awe shucks, we're kinda proud! As lifelong Chicagoans, we can almost take the view for granted. . .especially if you get trapped there in a blizzard or during... read more

A great counterpart to the Sampling Dictionary – one that offers up most of the same material, but in reverse! Like that volume, this one offers up a huge list of tracks that have been sampled by hip hop songs – over 17,000 listings of different samples from the past few decades,... read more

The history of Harlem in the 20th Century – told through a wealth of vintage images and newspaper snippets – all laid out beautifully to present a vivid portrait of this uniquely American community! The subject matter varies a lot, especially as the years go by – and by taking... read more

The excellent annual roundup of out-of-print issues of Shindig – plus a pair of previously unpublished articles from the groovy magazine for psyche, garage, prog, powerpop, soul, folk and more! Annual Number Three comes hardbound with cool, foil on black cover art – and items on Pretty... read more

Maybe the deepest book we've ever read on the life and music of James Brown – and certainly one to really get past the monolithic moments, and really serve up the full details of The Godfather at work! There's a surprising amount of research that went into the project – way more than... read more

Denise Sullivan's history of Black Power and a broader look at the marriage of music and social change – from blues to hip hop! Crawdaddy columnist Sullivan features interviews with John Sinclair, Yoko Ono, Richie Havens, Solomon Burke, Phranc, Wayne Kramer, Len Chandler, Michael Franti and... read more

A treasure trove of vintage work by one of the greatest talents in comic books – captured here during some of his most fruitful years! The package brings together rare material from the early 50s – pre-code gems by Alex Toth, one of the most mature, most thoughtful comics artists of... read more

A giant-sized tribute to the fanzine movement! The book is devoted to DIY zines from the 70s onward – not just the iconic underground music journals – all the great personal and passionate self-published subcultural screeds. Teal Triggs' book is beautiful, served well by the oversized... read more

A really unique look at The Velvet Underground – a book that traces their late 60s experience and existence at a day-by-day level – offering up crucial dates in their career with very vivid happenings, and lots of photos and images too! The book is way way more than a diary – as... read more

An amazing little book – quite possibly one of the first-ever graphic novels, and an amazing hybrid of pulp crime and postwar comics! This unique volume was originally designed as a comic-style paperback – no full text at all, just black and white images from the amazing Matt Baker... read more

A very personal tale of this wonderful group – one that's brought together out of recollections by each of the group members, as well as by key members of the Minneapolis scene as well! Jim Walsh isn't really the author so much as the moderator – he structures the book like one long... read more

A really compelling project that's very much in the spirit of work by Lynda Barry or Debbie Dreschler – served up in a cool slipcover package! The book is loosely based on a teenage diary found in a gas station bathroom in the 80s – and tells the tale of a high school sophomore in 1985... read more

Not just the "why" of jazz, but the "who", "how", and "when" as well – all laid out in a really unique format by jazz critic Kevin Whitehead! The book is roughly chronological, based on the history of jazz – but the approach is quite unusual... read more

We're not usually fans of books on a single album – but in this case, we gladly make an exception – as the creation and circulation of Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue is definitely powerful enough to fill volumes of writing! Author Richard Williams does a great job of exploring this crucial... read more

Way more than some of the star-type bios on Scott Walker that have littered the market over the years – and instead, a well-chosen collection of writings on Walker that really get at the full depth of his genius! The book's a co-production with The Wire – and definitely lives up to the... read more

A download-only version of the Numero Omnibus – no vinyl, but a beautiful booklet, and download code for all 90 tracks in the 45 collection! The price is high, but you get a hell of a lot of value for the package – the digital version of a funky 45 collection to rival longtime... read more