The lovely Jane Birkin is maybe most famous for her late 60s duets with Serge Gainsbourg, but the singer's also got a huge legacy of great music as well – both with Serge and on her own! Author Gary Simons digs deep into the long legacy of Jane Birkin's recordings – from those late 60s/70s moments when Serge was writing a lot of her material and handling production – to that surprisingly long run in later life, when after the passing of Gainsbourg, she turned into a creative force on her own – far more so than anyone might have guessed from her early teen years as an actress. Simons presents Birkin's discography in a very cool way – with full color pages that focus on each album, with images of the album covers and other details – plus other notes on the contents. The book begins with an essay on Jane, then runs through all the records – even up to the recent complete CD box set. The book is relatively slim, but hardcover and well done – full color images throughout! Book

A surprisingly cool little book – even though you probably hardly need a guide to record collecting! That's the main framework of the book – but the contents inside are a lot more intriguing taken bit by bit – as the volume features all sorts of little sections on the rarest records of all time, a history of recorded formats, a look at quality bootlegs, unreleased projects, unusual collaborations, and lots lots more – all presented with plenty of photos and other details that are super-interesting if you're as into record collecting as we are. There's even a look at 30 different record labels – and countless other bits of useful information along the way – in a heavy softcover volume that's almost 300 pages, fully illustrated, and a lot of fun on a day when you can't make it out to the record racks for shopping in person! Book

An amazing history of Japanese jazz, and another great testament to the impact jazz had on global cluture! The book covers the entire history of Japanese jazz, from the first wave in the dancehalls of the 1920s, to the amazing renaissance of the 60s and 70s. It's a well-paced, incredibly researched, thoughtfully laid out story that we are glad to have had the opportunity to enjoy – with a lot history of that is deeply neglected in the Dusty Groove half of the world, if not everywhere. There are life stories of passionate, unrecognized musicians that mirror those in other parts of the world, as well as those unique to the Japanese experience. Atkins understands the artistic impulses of the musicians and followers, which is essential to the book's appeal to music freaks like us, but he's also an accomplished historian with a great capacity for conveying the nationalist cultural big picture. More than 350 pages, including the bibliography (which is worth the price alone) with a lot of amazing photos that help push the narrative along at a fast clip, not unlike a great piece of music! Book

A fantastic book of images from the early 80s hip hop scene in New York – put together by a photographer who was right on the scene for a number of key years – and snapped hundreds of images of performers, clubs, street scenes, graffiti artists, and all the other forces that made hip hop happen! The book's a bit like the classic Back In The Days by Jamel Shabazz, but it also goes even further – as Bramly managed to capture a heck of a lot of key DJs and rappers, and also includes comments and memories from many of them too – snippets of text that are every bit as essential as the images – although the images are more than enough on their own! Bramly's got a great eye – both for a key moment, and composition within the frame – and the book is stuffed with images throughout, both color and black and white – in a hefty softcover volume that's over 300 pages in length. Book

An early 70s call to action from the great Dick Gregory – a figure who began his career on the comedic stage of the Civil Rights generation, but soon rose to become one of the most powerful voices for change – so much so that Gregory changed his own ambitions, and move all his activities from entertainment to social action! Dick first gave the world this book in 1972, a masterful unpacking of the forces of repression at work – both overt and covert – and although a fair bit of history has been filled in since the time of its publishing, the messages within still hold a great deal of power – and are essential to anyone seeking change in a larger context. America has changed a lot from the 70s, but the issues at hand here are still crucial – and still delivered with a clarity that few folks can do this well. Softcover edition is 293 pages. Book

A really amazing look at the secret art and language of gang culture in Chicago – the most detailed book we've ever seen to examine the words on the street during the 60s, 70s, and 80s! Chicago had a very special sort of language to communicate gang activity and culture during the heyday of the city's big gangs – graffiti that was filled with codes and symbols, and which really predated major street art in New York – plus a network of patches, business cards, and other objects that conveyed a special sort of numerology and message – sometimes harmless words about parties and events, sometimes essential details about the criminal underworld. This book is fascinating on so many different levels – not just a prurient true crime story, but instead a very detailed examination of gang culture in terms of linguistics, visual media, and representation. Yet all that detail doesn't make things too dry, either – as the book is overflowing with photos and images – examples of street graffiti, countless business cards, patches, portraits, and more – even some maps at the back. The whole thing is a massive 375 pages, full color throughout, and very beautifully done! Book

About 30 years back, Joseph Lanza first turned us on to an amazing array of 60s easy listening records that we'd never fully given their due – and here, he continues the journey, but with a key shift into the world of psychedelia too! The book is a wonderful look at the way that easy listening and instrumental pop tried to stay vibrant in the second half of the 60s – and it follows the way that easy artists of the time were picking up the aesthetics of the younger generation in a variety of ways – not just doing cover versions of songs by The Beatles and Stones, but also going for trippier artwork on their album covers, and using more unusual studio techniques in production – all in ways that made for a huge legacy of very groovy records! At times, things would even move backwards – as older songs from the early part of the century were given a mod spin for the 60s generation – and the range of topics covered here is as wonderful as Lanza's presentation. The book is a very cool 7" square format – with lots of album reproductions and great graphics, plus a list of 50 essential records at the back – served up in a softcover volume that's 237 pages in length. Book

A really great idea for a book on records – and one that's completely different than most that we've seen before! Unlike other books of this nature, which are filled with "essential" or "classic" records – this book is full of flops, or records that never really hit the heights, but which are pretty darn great overall! In the eyes of the authors – and our eyes too – all of these records are under-acknowledged gems – some by big names, others by more obscure artists – lots of which never got their full due at the time. The book is filled with some of our favorite records of all time – which is a big hats off to the long list of contributors, who include Miriam Linna, Steve Shelly, Peter Holsapple, Russ Titelman, Marshall Crenshaw, Bob Irwin, Lenny Kaye, and many others – who've come up with a set of essays on titles that include The Living Legend by Baby Huey, Gene Clark & The Gosdin Brothers, Continued by Tony Joe White, Delta Sweete by Bobby Gentry, Entertainment by Family, Desertshore by Nico, Young Mod's Forgotten Story by The Impressions, Roots by The Everly Brothers, Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt, and lots lots more! The book is filled with records that we love, and that we'd now call classic – served up in a hefty softcover edition that's almost 400 pages in length, with black and white images throughout. Book

Not just a book on Motown – despite the image of The Supremes on the cover – but a story of Detroit itself – told as a series of intersecting paths that include the famous soul music label, as well as all the manufacturers, cultures, communities, and political forces that were shaping the city in the early 60s. The decline of Detroit has been a story for decades now – but David Maraniss looks at the city in the years before the fall – focusing on 1963, where he shows that tensions were already strong in some sectors, and the ground upon which so much was being built could easily shift and allow the whole thing to topple. The book is one of the most fascinating city portraits we've ever read – with lessons that are still completely essential to the 21st Century urban environment – and the whole thing is 441 pages, hardcover, with some black and white images. Book

The first 5 issues of the legendary Wax Poetics – the one-and-only genius publication dedicated to the art of crate-digging, aka funky soul & hip hop vinyl archeology – collected in this massive hardcover tome! Anthology Vol 1 tackles the essential chore of bringing those earliest Wax Poetics issues – which are for the most part long out of print and as tough to track down as some of the wax the mag covers – available once again with some additional illustrations, to boot! All of those great pieces– from the groundbreaking debut issue of December 2001 up to issue 5 in summer 2003 – covering Idris Muhammad, Pretty Purdie, Weldon Irvine, Manzel, Fania Records, King Tubby, Prince Paul, RZA, Louis Vega and so much more! The photos and illustrations pop even more in this larger scare format – with loads of period photography, shots in the studio, and all of those delicious dust jacket photo discoveries. Beautiful, essential, and long overdue! Hardcover, 241 pages, and bursting with beautiful images and illustrations! Book

Dig jazz on the screen? Here's a great book to help you spend your jazz video dollars wisely – filled with reviews by All Music Guide essential writer Scott Yanow! Reviews are Yanow's life, and he really does a great job here of summing up jazz performances both on music-specific videos and films, and as they appear in certain Hollywood movies. The book's divided up into 4 sections – one on music videos and DVDs, one on Hollywood films, one on TV Specials and documentaries, and one on miscellaneous related music in film. There's a heck of a lot here that we'd forgotten about – and even more that we never even knew before! 314 pages, softcover. Book

One of the most essential discographies we've ever seen – mostly because we own almost none of the records in the book, which makes it an essential volume to use for digging in the crates! This time around, the folks at Rittor – who've given us other great record books over the years – turn their talents to the world of Japanese groove, particularly from the 70s and early 80s – a time when so many Japanese artists were picking up on the best styles in American soul, and using the music to come up with some great grooves of their own! The book is filled with hundreds of full color images of rare Japanese records by a variety of artists – soulful, funky, even a bit of fusion and AOR groove too – and each record is listed with a label and date of release, plus a lot more information in Japanese. Unlike other books of this nature, which focus on American or European artists, and feature information in alphabetic characters, this one has a lot more Japanese overall – but the covers and other English text are more than enough to point you in the right direction to dig – for hundreds of great records you never even knew existed! Book