A book that really gets to the heart of the cassette tape and the way it helped shape modern music – a long journey that's run well into the 21st Century – which might come as a real surprise to anyone who gave up on the format many years ago! The book looks at the way tapes helped underground movements share music, go global with tape-only releases, share live experiences between fans, and open doors of musical communication through the circulation of mixtapes. There's a lot more going on here too – a very vivid account of the greatness of tape culture and its durability – served up in a softcover edition of 209 pages, with some very cool black and white images. Book

Writer Peter Stanfield provides a great case for the year of 1972 as the moment when the third wave of rock and roll came into being – a moment that was especially strong on the London and New York scenes, as artists like Lou Reed, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Iggy Pop, Marc Bolan, and The New York Dolls helped push past the second wave of the Beatles, Stones, and Who – while also giving a bit of a nod to the initial wave of Elvis and Chuck Berry! The interplay of sounds, scenes, and styles here is great – and Stanfield does a great job of showing chains of trans-Atlantic influence, and the way a handful of key artists helped set the scene for changes that would last for decades to come. The hardcover book has a few really great black and white images, and a smaller amount in color – at a total of 343 pages. Book

A groundbreaking book from Greil Marcus – one that gets past some of the overblown histories of rock music, to look at the medium in a completely different way! Marcus eschews all the big name performers and movements – and instead looks at the music through ten different songs – all of them very unusual, very specific choices – but laid out by the author with a logic that's completely compelling as the book moves on. There's few folks that we'd trust with such a project – but given what Greil's given us in the past, we were already on board before reading – and as before, his creative approach is without parallel. And in case you're wondering, some of the songs include "Transmission" by Joy Division, "Shake Some Action" by The Flamin Groovies, "Crying Waiting Hoping" by Buddy Holly, "All I Could Do Was Cry" by Etta James, "Money" by Barrett Strong, and "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by The Teddy Bears. Book is 306 pages, hardcover. Book