The story of a legendary New York nite spot – served up in a really wonderful way! The Pyramid was a gritty bar in the East Village in the 80s – a small spot, but one that served as a real crossroads for music, performance, and gender identity – a place that was experienced by few, but shared as a legend by many – with an influence that's recounted here by those who experienced the Pyramid during its glory days! The book is a mix of oral histories, but structured well by the authors – who were all involved in the club itself at the time – interspersed with all sorts of great visual documents, including photographs of key performances – one of which even includes a young Steve Buscemi! The club mixed theater, music, performance art, and other modes – and the book really gets at the unique spirit that fanned the flames during its important mid-80s run. The book also includes a very cool set of materials from vintage press releases, and lots more surprises too – and the softcover edition has a great sense of presentation, on many different-colored pages. Book

Bob Stanley's turned us on to plenty of great music over the years – via countless compilations on Ace Records, Cherry Red, and other labels – but this time around, he's going way way back – to look at the American scene in the early part of the 20th Century! Stanley argues that stardom in music existed way before rock and roll – and looks first at the creation of the 78rpm record, then sounds from artists who include Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Duke Ellington – next to some lesser-known artists, key songwriters, and other forces shaping the cultural scene at the time. Stanley really moves around a lot – even touching on hillbilly music, Broadway, and films as well – all with a dexterity and love of the music that almost rivals Nick Tosches in similar territory. Hardcover edition has some black and white images, and is 636 pages in length. Book

A great book that looks not just at the music of Sun Ra, but also the theory behind it – the special take on reality, and interstellar philosophy that made Ra as important a thinker as he was a musician! The music is approached from a theoretical framework that's extremely illuminating – especially if you only know some of the Arkestra records at face value, and not in the larger context of Sun Ra's ideas – and the author includes plenty of history to illuminate the ideas, but in ways that are nicely different than some of the previous books on the subject. The whole thing is a really great look at the transformative power of the music of Ra – that quality that's always made him far more than just another avant jazz musician, and instead a figure of inspiration and social change to decades of listeners who have followed his sound. Very well researched, with copious notes. Paperback, 372 pages. Book

An amazing document of the New York club scene in the 70s – a book that traces the week by week evolution of disco from the ground up – with details of important releases, club changes, and more – all the stuff of history by now, but shown here in its original building blocks! The book is based around the weekly columns of Vince Aletti – essentially reviews of the big records for each week, but also filled with key historical bits too – showing the birth of now-common concepts like the 12" single, record pool, and other factors that helped shape the way we've circulated music for the past few decades. Each weekly entry features cover and label scans, and charts from the clubs as well – a fascinating look at disco from a perspective that's hardly ever represented this well! 484 pages, softcover, with black and white images throughout! Book

A great look at a format that was very near and dear to our hearts back in the day – especially in the pre-digital world, when the cassette tape was the easiest way to circulate music! As you can guess from the title, the author takes this topic and really runs with it – showing how the birth of the tape, home recording, and easy audio transfer allowed for the growth and circulation of lots of different music. The book is well-written, and has a vibe that really makes these years come alive – and the story doesn't stop with tapes and their use in the 21st Century, as the book traces the format well into the 21st Century – where cassettes have had a surprisingly durable resurgence. Softcover, 216 pages. Book

A wonderfully down to earth book from the great Bobby Rush – southern bluesman by birth, and a key figure on the Chicago scene in the 60s and 70s – with a mighty long story that's told here in words that are very much his own! Co-author Herb Powell helps polish things up a bit, but never too much – and Bobby spends a heck of a lot of time laying out his youth, influences, and early years of struggle – which is great, as the history and setting are very illuminating – not just to Rush's own career, but to an understanding of the way that so many blues and soul artists of his generation had to find their own path forward. Hardcover edition is 306 pages, with a section of photographs in the middle. Book

An incredible look at the format of vinyl – put together by a guy who's got one of the hippest record collections we've ever seen! John Corbett's been writing about music, art, and other formats for decades – but his real labor of love is vinyl records – a format he continued to embrace even at the height of the CD era – so much so that he talked Downbeat magazine into letting him write a special column on musical delights that had never made it to the digital format! Corbett helped plenty of music get reissued on CD himself – thanks to countless label projects – but he also always held a special place in his heart for the kinds of records that never got reissued – and those are the sorts of titles featured here – a massive run of music that runs from jazz to funk, American and European, totally obscure to completely common – presented beautifully together in this massive book! The volume doesn't just bring together Corbett's columns, but also offers up full color reproductions of all the record covers, along with a few other details too – to support efforts on dozens of artists – a huge list that includes Melvin Jackson, Bill Leslie, Black Grass, Night Blooming Jazzmen, Phil Seamen, Khan Jamal, Klaus Doldinger, The Mad-Hatters, Tommy Jones, Guy Warren, The Three Souls, United Front, Johnny Lytle, London Experimental Jazz Quartet, Paul Smoker, AK Salim, Noah Howard, Jack Wilson, and many others – a good number of whom have yet to be reissued. The book is wonderful – and Corbett's longtime declaration of being a vinyl freak is more important than ever, given the rebirth of the medium! Book is 250 pages, softcover, with color images. Book