Books — Recently Added

Groundbreaking work from David Grubbs – a name you might know from his decades as a musician, singer, and improviser in a variety of settings – or from his more recent emergence as an author – heard from here in a book that unifies both sides of his creative personality! In some ... 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

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 ... Book

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 ... Book

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 ... 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 ... Book

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 ... Book

That's not a typo in the title – as this "haus" is the city of Berlin in the 80s – or more specifically, East Berlin – home to a punk rock underground that had a surprising amount of political power as the decade moved on! Berlin on the other side of the wall was home ... 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

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

A wonderfully wide look at the growth of American comedy in the 20th century – a book whose subject matter is definitely hinted at by the cover image! The author goes into great depth, and follows a fascinating path of the shifting venues for comedic expression – which also shift the ... Book

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 ... Book

A beautifully-done book on the scene in one of Germany's hippest cities in the 70s – the Dusseldorf world of electronic music – home to Kraftwerk, Neu, DAF, and many others! The book was put together by Ridu Esch, bass player in Die Krupps – themselves a pretty cool group – ... Book

One of the best writers on Memphis gives us a journey through his musical hometown – portrayed through chapters that focus on some of the city's most legendary figures – including James Carr, Sam Phillips, Jim Dickenson, Robert Johnson, Charlie Feathers, Jeff Buckley, Tav Falco, Bobby ... Book

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 ... Book

Ralph J Gleason might just be one of the coolest cats to ever write about music – a key part of the San Francisco scene during the postwar years – where his talents helped illuminate both the worlds of art and music during the beat generation – then really helped shine a spotlight ... Book

An overstuffed edition of the Goldmine Jazz Price Guide – filled with great information! First off – forget the prices in this one, because we hate price guides, and we don't suggest that they actually have any correspondence to the real world – because people buy records at all ... 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

Not rare tapes by The Smiths – but a book of rare interviews conducted by journalist Howard Smith – an overlooked counterculture figure whose questions and commentary here go way past the usual fluff! The book features complete interviews conducted between 1966 and 1972 – key ... Book

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