Books — In Stock — Books 
A special selection of disc guides and discographies, music history, record art books, graphic novels, and some nicely-priced remainders!
Sort by
(Items 1 – 64 of 64)
Karen Abbott —
Sin In The Second City – Madams, Ministers, Playboys & The Battle For American's Soul ... Book Random House, 2007. New Copy ... $4.99 17.00
Our fair city of Chicago has always been a pretty sleazy place – but back at the start of the 20th century, there was a higher kind of sex trade going on – one that featured high class houses of ill-reputed, and well-educated hookers – which led to a lot more crossing over between ... read more Book
(The spine has a small remainder mark.)
Bob Allen —
George Jones – The Life & Times Of A Honky Tonk Legend – Updated Edition ... Book Backbeat Books, 2014. New Copy ... $8.99 24.99
George Jones was a country singer with a hell of a voice, and a hell of a lot of ups and downs in his life – a fair bit of issues that were brought on by his lifestyle and upbringing, all of which had an undeniable impact on the emotional strength of his music! Writer Bob Allen chronicles ... read more Book
Marty Baumann —
Toybox Time Machine – A Catalog Of The Coolest Toys Never Made (hardcover) ... Book IDW Publishing, 2017. New Copy ... $8.99 29.99
A beautiful book of graphic imagination – a book that features 60s-styled ads for toys that never existed – but which take us back to the glory days of Matchbox, Big Daddy Roth, and Aurora Monster Models! The artwork is all by Marty Bauman – who would have made a heck of a toy ... read more Book
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Mark Bego —
Aretha Franklin – The Queen Of Soul ... Book Skyhorse, 2018. New Copy ... $6.99 18.99
A nicely expanded version of this important look at the career and music of Aretha Franklin – one that was first published at the end of the 80s, but which has been refined over the years to follow her changing career – and updated in this final edition, which covers the last decade of ... read more Book
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Peter Benjaminson —
Mary Wells – The Tumultuous Life Of Motown's First Superstar (hardcover) ... Book Chicago Review Press, 2012. New Copy ... $4.99 29.95
A stunning look at the great Mary Wells – one of Motown's first female acts of the 60s, and one of the decade's most important early soul figures as well! Mary's work on record is very well-known, but the story behind the music is completely different, and surprisingly dark at times – ... read more Book
Maurice Berger —
Revolution Of The Eye – Modern Art & The Birth Of American Television (hardcover) ... Book Yale University Press, 2014. New Copy ... $6.99 45.00
A beautiful book for a really fantastic exhibition – one that looks at the interplay between modern art and early television in the US – with fantastic parallels that include both work on TV, and around the format itself! The volume is done like the best gallery books – lots of ... read more Book
HoZac, 2019. New Copy ... $23.99 26.99
Bob Bert is a lot more than just a drummer and this a lot more than a mere memoir, with tons of Bert's photographs from the early 80s NYC downtown scene, interviews and photos from his great 90s DIY zine BB Gun and lots more! Bert played in early era Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Chrome Cranks and ... read more Book
(First edition limited to 400 copies!)
Harper, 2014. New Copy ... $4.99 27.99
The story of the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis – told by The Killer himself to author Rick Bragg – who worked with Jerry for over two years on the creation of the book! There's a fair bit of passages in third person – the book is still more biography than autobiography – but ... read more Book
(The spine has a small remainder mark.)
Damiani (Italy), 2013. New Copy ... $11.99 50.00
20 years of shots from the streets of Los Angeles – all done in a way that's a lot different than the usual sort of Hollywood images you might expect! Instead, photographer Gusmano Cesaretti spent his time in the farther reaches and on the streets – working with Chicano gangs, chicas, ... read more Book
Rob Chapman —
New Barbarians – Outlaws, Gunslingers & Guitars (hardcover with bonus CD) ... Book Voyageur, 2016. New Copy ... $11.99 40.00
A hefty book on the short-lived New Barbarians – a rock and roll supergroup founded by guitarist Ron Wood – with members that include bassist Stanley Clarke, drummer Joseph Modeliste of The Meters, saxophonist Bobby Keys, and the legendary Keith Richards! The book is filled with photos ... read more Book
Rob Chapman —
Psychedelia & Other Colours (hardcover) ... Book Faber & Faber (UK), 2015. New Copy ... $4.99 36.00
An incredibly dense book on the psychedelic scene of the 60s – a huge volume that not only looks at an impressive array of music, but also the wider trippy culture, too – but all with a level of text that goes far beyond most of the thinner volumes on the period! Many of the chapter ... read more Book
Chuck D —
Chuck D Presents This Day In Rap & Hip Hop History (hardcover) ... Book Octopus Books (UK), 2017. New Copy ... $8.99 39.99
A day-by-day list of important dates in hip hop – starting in 1973, and running all the way up to the present! Given that Chuck D's the man in charge, the set focuses most strongly on the 80s and early 90s – with very strong chapters on 1984 through 1995 – where date after date ... read more Book
Bolden, 2015. New Copy ... $11.99 35.00
A beautiful tribute to one of the greatest composers of the 20th Century – Duke Ellington's longtime musical partner, the mighty Billy Strayhorn! The book presents Billy's life and music in a really great format – using songs as sidebars amidst the larger text – which is then ... read more Book
University Of Chicago, 2019. New Copy ... $16.99 20.00
A tremendous achievement from music writer Aaron Cohen – a book that finally gets at the deeper, richer story of Chicago soul – the spirit of empowerment and pride that have always made us so honored to be part of the Windy City legacy! Cohen picks up where other soul writers have left ... read more Book
Thames & Hudson (UK), 2014. New Copy ... $6.99 35.00
A stunningly vivid portrait of New York in the postwar years – a time when the city's already-strong hold on American culture was taken to its apex – as the city became home to some of the most important artists, actors, writers, and creative forces of the generation! The book is ... read more Book
Hat & Beard, 2018. New Copy ... $52.99 60.00
A beautiful expansion of a famous moment in creative journalism – the famous 1968 issue of Esquire magazine that featured William S Burroughs, Terry Southern, Allen Ginsberg, Jean Genet, and Abbie Hoffman at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago! The results of that tumultuous event have ... read more Book
University Of Chicago, 2019. New Copy ... $22.99 30.00
Writer John Corbett has given us words on a huge variety of musical styles over the years – a fair bit of them left field and avant – but this time around, he's tackling the full range of 70s rock, pop, and soul music – in a huge book that's unlike anything he's ever written ... read more Book
Stuart Cosgrove —
Young Soul Rebels – A Personal History Of Northern Soul ... Book Polygon (UK), 2016. New Copy ... $6.99 14.99
Stuart Cosgrove has turned us on to plenty of music over the years – we first began reading his NME articles many years back – and this time around, he delivers a wonderfully detailed history about his youth as a fanatic for American soul music on the UK scene! Cosgrove was lucky ... read more Book
Penguin Books, 2015. New Copy ... $5.99 30.00
A wonderfully-written autobiography from Elvis Costello – a book that's not only completely illuminating for any fan of his music, but which stands quite strongly on his own, even if you're not a longtime fan of the man himself! The volume almost sets a new standard for musician ... read more Book
(The spine has a small remainder mark.)
Harper Perennial, 2013. New Copy ... $4.99 16.99
The story of Charlie Parker is often draped in hyperbole and exaggeration – which is why it's extra great that this biography is handled by Stanley Crouch – one of the few writers we could trust to get past the hype and really find a way to link Parker's life and music! As you might ... read more Book
(Spine has a remainder mark.)
Ericka Blount Danois —
Love Peace & Soul – Behind The Scenes Of America's Favorite Dance Show – Soul Train Classic Moments ... Book Back Beat, 2013. New Copy ... $4.99 24.99
One of the greatest soul music TV shows ever (and one that originated in Chicago, too!) – presented here in deep detail with loads of interesting stories and anecdotes too! The book's almost a more personal history of the show than a technical one – but that's OK with us, because it ... read more Book
Quirk, 2017. New Copy ... $8.99 29.99
Maybe the coolest kind of atlas you can ever read – an imaginary one, of the sort that we usually love in fantasy and science fiction – this time based around the imagined space of a host of famous films from the 30s through the present! The book has a wonderful look – vivid 3D ... read more Book
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Gene Deitch —
Cat On A Hot Thin Groove – 78rpm Artwork From Record Changer Magazine (softcover) ... Book Fantagraphics, 2013. New Copy ... $4.99 35.00
An amazing collection of 40s and 50s jazz drawings by Gene Deitch – the complete anthology of his work for legendary jazz magazine Record Changer! Gene was an amazing artist and cartoonist, whose work helped solidify the legacies of some of the most famous cartoon characters in the American ... read more Book
Prestel (Germany), 2015. New Copy ... $15.99 60.00
A treasure trove of beautiful objects designed at mid-century – all creations of designer Peter Muller Munk – German by birth, and part of the wave of creative talent to come to America during wartime – which meant that we got to reap all the benefits of Peter's genius! Famous ... read more Book
Rittor (Japan), 2016. New Copy Book ... $29.99
Fanatical Japanese record collectors share their love of rare vinyl, and a lot more too – in this ultra-cool book that's filled with label and cover scans, and lots of other record images too! The core text is in Japanese, but there's plenty here to love even if you can't read the language, ... read more Book
Tom Doyle —
Captain Fantastic – Elton John's Stellar Trip Through The 70s (hardcover) ... Book Ballantine, 2017. New Copy ... $5.99 30.00
A heady look at Elton John during his glory days in the 70s – a book that charts his rise in the late 60s and explosion to stardom in the following decade – penned in a style that mixes familiar facts with a fair bit of insider information too! Author Tom Doyle has worked for British ... read more Book
(The spine has a small remainder mark.)
Kant (Czech Republic), 2012. New Copy ... $6.99 45.00
New York drinking spots – all photographed in a really timeless way by Czech photographer Jiri Erml – a guy who clearly knows his way around a tavern! The images here are all from the early 90s, but they're also all black and white – and taken in a way that feels much older than ... read more Book
Back Bay, 2004. New Copy ... $5.99 17.99
The story of Hank Williams – written by Colin Escott, the man whose words we've loved in countless liner notes over the years – and who's an even better writer when he stretches things out in a full length format! Forget the cover image – which is designed to cash in on the 2015 ... read more Book
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Hal Leonard, 2011. New Copy ... $8.99 24.99
A heavy-duty look at one of our favorite instruments of all time – the mighty Hammond Organ, a keyboard that forever changed the sound of jazz, soul, and even rock and roll on the US scene of the 50s, 60s, and 70s! The book is huge – a fully-illustrated history of the electric organ in ... read more Book
Laurence King (UK), 2016. New Copy ... $6.99 24.95
A colorful tribute to the world of rubber stamps – not the boring black ones you'd use at the post office, but the cool kinds created by the world of arts and crafts – for modes that go way beyond simple stamping on paper! The book's as much an instruction manual as it is a love letter ... read more Book
Norton/Kicks, 2012. New Copy ... $10.99 13.95
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 ... read more Book
Yale University Press, 2015. New Copy ... $16.99 35.00
Coney Island is a hell of a place – a refuge for New Yorkers for over 100 years, and still pretty amazing today – with a surprisingly strong legacy that also includes the park's influence on more serious artists over the decades, a legacy that's presented beautifully in this oversize ... read more Book
Benjamin Franklin V —
Jazz & Blues Musicians Of South Carolina – Interviews With Jabbo, Dizzy, Drink, & Others (hardcover) ... Book University Of South Carolina Press, 2008. New Copy ... $5.99 19.98
South Carolina has been home to a surprising amount of jazz musicians over the years – a list of talents that includes Houston Person, Chris Potter, Webster Young, Etta Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Arthur Prysock, Nappy Brown, and a number of others – all of whom are featured in separate ... read more Book
Art Yard (Germany), 1994/2015. New Copy ... $71.99 72.00
An incredible book on Sun Ra & The Arkestra – one that's got all the beauty and heft of one of his rare albums on the Saturn Records label! This is the second edition of Omniverse (the first went out of print almost 20 years ago, and now goes for fabulous sums) – and it's even ... read more Book
William Morrow, 2014. New Copy ... $4.99 27.99
The story of Soul Train, brought to us by an author we trust more than most when it comes to music writing! Nelson George has already given us great books on Motown, hip hop, James Brown, and the decline of rhythm and blues – and he does an equally great job here with his examination of Soul ... read more Book
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Little Brown, 2018. New Copy ... $6.99 28.00
A detailed look at the moment when hip hop went from a sideline to a mainstream force in the music business – a time when producers became executives, major labels allowed smaller boutique imprints, and everybody started making a lot more money on the music! As you'd guess from the title, ... read more Book
(The spine has a small remainder mark.)
Duke University Press, 2018. New Copy ... $15.99 19.99
A beautiful book-length prose poem from David Grubbs – an artist that some know as a musician, some as a singer, and some as a writer for his previous essential volume on improvised music! The book is very narrative – and tells this dream-like story of a musician faced with the need to ... read more Book
Canongate (UK), 2017. New Copy ... $8.99 32.00
A mighty tribute to the legendary Jann Wenner – a humble editor by trade, but one who forever shaped the world of rock music and journalism with his magazine Rolling Stone! Wenner came along at just the right time to be able to provide just the right platform for a new sort of writer, and ... read more Book
Thames & Hudson, 2012. New Copy ... $8.99 44.95
A very cool book that goes deep into the world of some of the greatest cartoonists of the modern age – a lavish, full-color volume that presents unseen art from the private sketchbooks of some of the modern greats – including Joost Swarte, Seth, Gary Panter, Charles Burns, R Crumb, Kim ... read more Book
Fantagraphics, 2013. New Copy ... $8.99 35.00
Iconic images from the Hernandez Brothers – the team of California cartoonists who forever changed the world with their Love & Rockets comic! This beautiful oversize book presents the first 50 covers of Love & Rockets – plus some graphic novel covers as well – all with ... read more Book
Fantagraphics, 2018. New Copy ... $6.99 22.99
Nicole Hollander's best known for her work in the field of comics – but she's also a native of our fair city of Chicago – and does a really wonderful job here of detailing her childhood on the west side of the city! Hollander mixes illustration and narrative in a great way – ... read more Book
(Please note – these copies have a remainder mark on the spine and are slightly shelf worn.)
Rittor (Japan), 2014. New Copy ... $28.99
A sweet sweet discography on 70s electric jazz – one that's every bit as cool as the more classic entries in this series! The book's got loads of listings on some of our favorite albums of funky jazz and jazzy soul – plus lots more entries on obscure titles from around the globe, ... read more Book
Syl Johnson —
It's Because They Were Black – 100 Years Of Fraud And Forgery ... Book Strategic Book Publishing, 2020. New Copy ... $6.99 9.95
A short but strong treatise from a Chicago soul hero and titan – the great Syl Johnson! Syl is a bonafide legend to deeper digging soul fans around the globe, even if he's less than a household name to the mainstream and many thousands of people (or a couple million?) who bump their heads to ... read more Book
Equinox (UK), 2018. New Copy ... $24.99 29.99
The story of Mark Murphy – one of our favorite jazz singers of all time – written by Peter Jones, also a jazz singer himself! Jones is London-based, and as such, does a really great job of capturing the ongoing enthusiasm and excitement about Murphy's career that was always a big part ... read more Book
Hat & Beard, 2019. New Copy ... $52.99 60.00
A beautiful complement to the groundbreaking Big Ears music festival in Knoxville – an annual event that keeps on pushing the boundaries of listening, with a challenging roster of sonic activity that just keeps on getting better and better over the years! In the introduction, Ben Ratliff ... read more Book
(Also includes a download card – to download performances from the festival over the years!)
Space Shower (Japan), 2019. New Copy ... $32.99
A very cool book on rare funky records – one done in a style that's similar to some of the Japanese label discographies on the market, but which has a very special focus! This book features a well-selected array of funk, soul, and jazz records with an emphasis on the classic years of the 60s ... read more Book
Dey St, 2016. New Copy ... $5.99 27.99
George Jones is one of the most amazing talents in country music – and he was also one of the most messed-up cats on the Nashville scene – with a lifestyle and legend that maybe tops the decadence of some of the bigger rock stars of the 70s! Writer Rich Kienzle clearly loves Jones' ... read more Book
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Library Of America, 2017. New Copy ... $11.99 40.00
Jonathan Lethem has given us plenty of great writing on his own – and here, he teams up with Kevin Dettmar to co-edit a volume of seminal writing on rock, pop, and soul music of the past 50 years! This isn't one of those "best of the year" books, with content that will seem dated ... read more Book
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Museum Of Contemporary Art Denver, 2014. New Copy ... $12.99 40.00
A deep dig inside the mind of Mark Mothersbaugh – a musician that most folks know for his role in Devo, and his soundtrack material too – but also a visual artist with a legacy that's maybe even more mindblowing than his work on record! The book is the first we've ever seen to look at ... read more Book
Princeton Architectural Press, 2014. New Copy ... $6.99 35.00
A beautiful look at a legendary Times Square watering hole – the Terminal Bar, located right next to a strip show at the corner of 41st Street and 8th Avenue – home to a countless stream of colorful characters, and also photographer Sheldon Nadelman! From his spot behind the bar, ... read more Book
Bis (Netherlands), 2011. New Copy ... $4.99 20.00
A book that's maybe not what you'd guess from the title – or maybe only partly from the title – as the whole thing is a love letter to the font style of Cooper Black, used on the front – served up in a fantastic array of images from the late 60s onward! The rounded font has been ... read more Book
Pomegranate, 2008. New Copy ... $8.99 29.95
A beautiful book that really follows up the image on the cover – offering up dozens of full color illustrations of contemporary ceramic work with a very vintage vibe – all tiles created by the Motawi Tileworks company in Ann Arbor, Michigan! The book is full color – and although ... read more Book
Duke University Press, 2019. New Copy ... $20.99 29.99
A fantastic look at the music of Henry Cow – that important British band of the 70s, and a key bridge between the worlds of art, experimentation, politics, and improvisation at the time! Henry Cow trafficked in ideas that were fairly intellectual, but the group had a way of bringing them ... read more Book
Tortoise Books, 2019. New Copy ... $19.99 23.99
A beautiful little book from one of the more inspired creative talents on the Chicago scene – writer/artist Dmitry Samarov, who's always got a talent for getting to the heart of the city – and for being very open about what matters, and why! This book is Dmitry's love letter to the ... read more Book
(Limited edition first pressing!)
Dey St, 2016. New Copy ... $8.99 27.99
A detailed look at one of the most famous rock and roll concerts of all time – the ill-fated Rolling Stones 1969 performance at Altamont race track, in which the group made the mistake of inviting Hells Angels to handle security! The Angels were bullies, and famously stabbed a concert-goer ... read more Book
(The spine has a small remainder mark.)
St Martins, 2017. New Copy ... $6.99 35.00
A book that's heavy on images of Prince from the 90s – all captured by Afshin Shahidi, who worked with Prince on a variety of video and photographic projects during the decade! Most images are portraits, but there's also some performance and candid shots too – all presented in full ... read more Book
Rittor (Japan), 2019. New Copy ... $24.99
A loving tribute to the Technics 1200 – one of the most important turntables of all time, given its role in hip hop and a heck of a lot of other important styles too! The book is mostly in Japanese, and is more text than some other Japanese books we stock – but there are reproductions ... read more Book
City Files, 2015. New Copy ... $8.99 45.00
A beautiful combination of words and image – as the poetry of Patricia Smith is combined with vintage 70s photographs by Michael Abramson – the same sort of material that was featured in the Light On The Southside book/album from the Numero Group! This presentation is quite different ... read more Book
Viking, 2015. New Copy ... $4.99 28.95
John Szwed has given us pivotal books on Miles Davis and Sun Ra – and this time around, he's turning his eye to the life and music of Billie Holiday – offering up a very fresh vision of the oft-told tale of the singer and her career! As the title might imply, Szwed gets past the myth ... read more Book
Canongate, 2004. New Copy ... $5.99 16.00
Elvis Costello has given us his own detailed account of his life and music – but before that well-circulated volume was released, Grame Thomson did a pretty great job with this one – using his years of experience as a music journalist to plumb the depths of the man and his recordings! ... read more Book
Four Corners (UK), 2019. New Copy ... $22.99 24.99
One of the coolest record books we've ever seen – a smaller take on the album art format, but one that focuses exclusively on flexi discs – those thin little records which were usually given away free, and which are usually pretty hard-pressed to survive the passage of time! Yet author ... read more Book
Atria, 2018. New Copy ... $6.99 28.00
Tina Turner tells the story of her life and music, her loves and struggles – at a level that's surprisingly personal overall – a book that's as much as a tale of her own persistence and strength of will, as it is the music she gave the world! Written from the perspective of 2018, the ... read more Book
(The spine has a small remainder mark.)
Fantagraphics, 2018. New Copy ... $6.99 29.99
A pretty cool combination of music diary and graphic novel – done by cartoonist Carol Tyler as she explores the deeper reaches of her love of The Beatles back in the 60s! The book's adapted from a diary that Carol created in 1965 – and there's passages that follow that format, but ... read more Book
(Please note – these copies have a remainder mark on the spine and are slightly shelf worn.)
Backbeat Books, 2017. New Copy ... $6.99 29.99
Billy Vera's had a hell of a career in the music business – early years as both a performer and songwriter, then work behind the scenes as a producer and historian, a return to performing in the limelight – and lots of other surprising stops along the way! The book is told from Vera's ... read more Book
(Items 1 – 64 of 64)
