Books — Recently Added

A pretty great book about folks who almost made it in the music business, but who never quite hit the stardom they were destined for – even though a few of these figures have become legendary over the years! The book looks at rock and soul artists from the 60s and 70s, almost all of them ... Book

The future of jazz is now, even if it's in the past – as the editors here bring together a selection of essays that document the forward-thinking movements in jazz from the mid 60s onwards – some of which are only getting full appreciation all these many years later! There's a nice ... Book

A beautiful memoir from one of our favorite songwriters of the 60s – the legendary Jimmy Webb, who first sprung on the charts with a variety of hits at a very young age! Only just a boy, Webb displayed a sensitivity with words and ear for unusual arrangements that beat the work of so many of ... 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 fantastic look at the use of images in political activity on the British scene – a great legacy that runs from the early 20th century to the present – presented here a book of stunning full color images! Most of the work here focuses on the strong role that posters, billboards, and ... Book

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 ... Book

A beautiful portrait of one of the most important jazz clubs on the west coast scene of the 70s – the legendary Keystone Korner, a name you might recognize from the dozens of great albums that were recorded at the venue! The book has a very cool approach – in that it lets the many ... Book

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 – ... Book

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 ... Book

A beautiful book that looks at the rise of the cheesecake album cover in the 50s – partly in the world of easy listening and mood music, but also in some other surprising genres too! The book is put together by the Japanese Rittor company, who've given us other great "disc guides" ... Book

One of the coolest books on turntable culture we've ever seen – a really lovely book that features dozens and dozens of Japanese portable turntables – each laid out with lots of photos, model information, and listing of the features too! The book is similar to some of the Japanese ... Book

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, ... Book

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, ... Book

One of the greatest books we've ever seen on The Velvet Underground – and one that definitely lives up to the promise of the title! The volume brings together interviews, essays, and other material over the space of the group's career, and beyond – but all mixed with vintage images, ... Book

The complete discography of the legendary Japanese jazz label Three Blind Mice – one of the most innovative imprints of the 70s! The book features a page for every single title issued by the label – with a black and white cover image, and details on all the players and other record ... Book

A special sort of Japanese disc guide – one that focuses on the key recordings in gangsta rap from the 80s onward – served up here in the usual format of these publications! As you might guess, the text is all in Japanese – but the book is filled with hundreds of album covers, ... Book

One of the most unique books to ever look at the music of Sun Ra – and one that's very near and dear to our hearts, given that the role of Chicago is seen as vital to the development of the music! The book digs very deep into Ra's early years – time that isn't covered in as much ... Book

A beautiful treatise on the lasting power of classic soul music – yet a book that also goes way beyond the simple readings and overdone cliches that are often attached to accounts of the music! Instead, author Emily J Lordi looks at not just the source recordings, but also the evolving ... Book

A small book of notes from author Dave Hoekstra – designed to accompany the documentary of the same name, and like that film – a volume to tell the overlooked tale of this lost center of Midwestern music! The 42 page book is less of an historical tome, than added notes for the film ... Book

Iceberg Slim, eat your heart out! Andre Williams finally has a book of his own – a set of late life writings that are surprisingly great! The work came out of a post-rehab effort to get his thoughts down on paper, but without putting them in song – and the material is surprisingly ... 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

A fantastic collection of images from Times Square, pulled from the years before Disney took over – at a time when the action moved 24 hours a day, and at a non-stop pace! Bill Butterworth was right on the streets during the early 80s – and presents stunning full color shots of a range ... Book

Here's a book that will immediately wipe away any Orange Is The New Black fantasies you might have about prison – as the heavy volume is filled with images from the Cook County jail, located in our fair city of Chicago – presented here with an unwavering eye, in a series of portraits, ... Book

Not the first book on the groundbreaking comedy of the National Lampoon – but a very detailed document of the fantastic story of the magazine – a publication that not only shaped our sensibilities in the 70s, but also had a pretty big impact on radio, recording, and film as well! The ... Book

A really insane guide to video game music – one that features album and CD releases, but also music that only saw issue within the games too – hence the "beyond the discs" in the title! The book follows a similar format to other Japanese disc guides – and the contents ... Book

One of the most unusual disc guides we've ever seen – a book that coins its own genre of music, Walearic – then finds a whole host of vintage records that fall under that new category! The book is filled with listings of rare records from Japan – music in many styles, and which ... Book

40 years back, we never would have used the words "Houston" and "rap" in the same sentence, much less in the title of a book – but the city's had a surprisingly strong legacy in the world of hip hop – and has become every bit the southern powerhouse as Atlanta – ... Book

A great reworking of the photographs of Janette Beckman – an artist who captured some of the earliest days of hip hop in black and white images – which are then expanded here by new color contributions from a range of various artists! Beckman's photographs of hip hop have been ... Book

An unusual Japanese book on the music of the genius German group Can – one that's half history, half discography – including a fair bit of listings for later projects and related works by members of the group! If you can't read Japanese, there's not much for you in the first half of ... Book

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 ... Book