Books — Recently Added

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! ... Book

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 ... Book

A collection of essays on a great range of musical topics from Chuck Eddy – a writer whose work you might know from Creem or The Village Voice – and who covered a surprising amount of music in his decades in publication! The book brings together columns from a four decade stretch that ... Book

A really special selection of work from British artist David Harrison – a large volume that focuses mostly on his paintings of the early 21st Century – a time in his career when Harrison was creating these amazing paintings that were both representational and fantastic at the same time! ... Book

There's a man standing on the cover, but you might have to look close to see him – and that's part of the style of Liu Bolin – a Chinese artist who paints himself to blend in with his surroundings! The approach is pretty darn amazing – sometimes more successful than others, and ... Book

Images of America at play in the early 70s – all shot by photographer Bill Owens in Northern California, and brought together as a really beautiful document of the time! As with Owens' Working book, this one features a huge range of different subjects – golfers, dirt bikers, movie ... Book

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, ... Book

The first big voices of MTV tell the tales of the early days of the influential music network – as Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn all spent quite a bit of time as on air "VJs" – which was the music television version of a radio jock! Back at the ... Book

A stunningly beautiful book on the 60s work of director Federico Fellini – one that's oversize, and overflowing with images that include film stills, publicity shots, candids, film posters, and other vivid representations of his cinematic imagination – all put together in a special ... Book

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 ... Book

Way more than just a simple book of record cover images – and instead a love letter to the sound and style of the disco generation – put together from classic album artwork, and augmented by thoughtful musings by the author! The book features full color reproductions of over 250 album ... Book

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 ... Book

We've been living with the comics of Daniel Clowes for so many years, we sometimes forget how great he is – so fortunately, we've got this wonderful book to remind us of his genius all over again! Clowes is incredible – a comic stylist who's not only drunk deep of the best modes of the ... Book

The continuing genius of Steve Ditko – served up here in a batch of obscure work for Charlton Comics at the end of the 50s – material that's hardly ever gotten any exposure outside of its initial release! Like the previous volume, the stories here are all shorter horror and sci fi ... Book

A very cool book put together by Kidrobot – documenting the many changes in the world of vinyl collectibles over the past few years – as things move way past standard figures and blind boxes! The book features a huge range of global artists – dozens of folks who are transforming ... Book

A huge volume of modern art from the Kunstmuseum in Bern, Switzerland – presented here partly as a way of undoing some of the damage of the Nazis, and the restrictions they made on German and European art during the 30s! The book features a number of essays on the topic of "degenerate ... Book

Gary Giddins' great second chapter in the career of Bing Crosby – handled with all the same detail and deep knowledge of the music as the first volume – and continuing this much-needed look at one of the most important figures in pop music during the 20th Century! Crosby helped forge ... Book

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 ... Book

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 ... Book

A very hefty look at the early years of television – a time when the format was trying to really set itself apart from other American media, especially radio – and was brimming over with new ideas and fresh opportunities! The author writes from a deeply historical perspective – ... Book

Hank Williams only managed to spend 29 short years on our planet – but he packed a hell of a lot of life and creative activity into a space just short of three decades – all covered in great detail here by author Mark Ribowsky! The book's nice and hefty – and not only spends a ... Book

Nearly 30 years of work from one of the best writers on rock and roll – served up here in a nearly-endless succession of columns all based around a single format – one that many other publications have copped over the years, but which Greil Marcus virtually invented at the Village Voice! ... Book

Group soul harmony gets some great treatment here – in a well-done book that follows the music from the street corner to the airwaves – all with a thoughtful mixture of oral history and the larger issues of the time! Author Stuart Goosman focuses especially on harmony groups on the ... Book

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 ... Book

Painter Duncan Hannah dropped into the New York scene right at the start of the 70s – and spent most of the decade being right where the action is – from shows, to clubs, to parties, and a host of other cultural hotspots – eventually leading the kind of life most of us can only ... Book

A well-written book, and one that's about way more than just the records hinted at in the cover – as music critic Rashod Ollison tells his tale of growing up in the south during the 80s, living with upheavals in his household, struggles with his own sexual identity, and other issues that ... Book

A beautiful book from the Numero Group – one that was part of a larger LP package, but which more than stands alone on itself here! The hefty volume features dozens of pages of photographs at the core – all taken by photographer Sory Sanle during the early years of independence in ... Book

The secret history of Chicago house music – a side of the scene that's even more obscure than its many rare records or long-departed clubs! The book is a fantastic follow up to the first volume – and like that one, features rare flyers, posters, and ads for some of the underground ... Book

Chris Connelly is a hell of a singer – a man with a god-like voice that we'd rank right up there next to David Bowie and Scott Walker – and we're sometimes so entranced by the sound of his voice that we actually forget to listen to the lyrics of his songs, which are equally great! This ... Book

That typo in the title is intentional – well, not entirely intentional, but reflected in the image on the front cover – which is one of hundreds inside this fantastic book – a really cool set of found tributes to the greatness of Madonna! The full color volume features sketches, ... Book