... LP, Vinyl record album

The hugely influential debut of Possessed – and a major metal milestone! Hard rock and heavy metal bands from mainstream heroes to underground genre heavies dabbled with devilish lyrics and paired the sounds of lumbering heaviness and lightning speed before, but Possessed break so much sacred ground here in pushing those sounds forward. This one is oft-cited as the first death metal album and it'd be hard to argue there were many forbears! Includes "The Exorcist" (complete with the "Tubular Bells" inspired intro), "Pentagram", "Burning In Hell", "Evil Warriors", "Fallen Angel" and the genre-inspiring closer "Death Metal". LP, Vinyl record album

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 nature of the material too – in a trajectory that's slightly related to musical development in the 20th century too! The chapter titles give a good idea of the book's pathway – and include "Vaudeville Comedians", "Radio", "Nightclubs", "Television", "The Emergence Of Las Vegas", "Stand-Up's Great Change", "First Comedy Clubs & The 1970s", "Hippie Madness At Decade's End", and "The Stand-Up Comedy Boom". The hefty hardcover is 425 pages, with a section of illustrations in the middle. Book