Monsters of River and Rock

Biographies & Memoirs

Smith, Adrian

Arts & Literature

BMG Books

Released 50 years ago, and celebrated in this new book, the Zombies' final album Odessey and Oracle is a masterpiece of '60s rock 
I remember first hearing 'She’s Not There' on the radio in my bedroom. So ethereal. So spooky ... the DJ said it was The Zombies from England. 'Of course,' I thought. 'That is exactly what a zombie rock group would sound like.'” -Tom Petty
To mark the 50th anniversary of the recording of their classic Odessey and Oracle album, The Zombies have assembled an eclectic collection of rare and unseen photos, original artwork and personal memories that offer readers an intimate snapshot of one of the more influential bands to emerge from the UK music scene of the 1960s.
 The superbly illustrated book includes handwritten lyrics for 22 songs. From early hits “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No,” through every song on Odessey and Oracle—including the hit single “Time of the Season” —and all the way up to today, each selection is accompanied by a running oral history by original band members Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Chris White and Hugh Grundy.
 Renowned artist Terry Quirk, who created the look of Odessey and Oracle, designed the book’s cover and contributed new artwork throughout, while Vivienne Boucherat created a unique piece of art to accompany each of the 22 songs. Additionally, The Odessey is rich with reflections from music journalists, friends and fans, including Tom Petty, who wrote the foreword, Brian Wilson, Carlos Santana, Susanna Hoffs, Paul Weller, Graham Nash, Clive Davis, Nate Ruess of FUN and members of Cage the Elephant and Beach House.

The "Odessey": The Zombies in Words and Images

Arts & Photography

Bomar, Scott B.

Photography & Video

Its Chris Jaggers turn to lift the lid on one of the most colourful and exotic periods in British cultural history. He unrolls an insiders tale of growing up among the bombsites and ration books of post-war Dartford, weaving through the glittery underground of late 1960s countercultural London, and spending months in India before most trod that path. He covers the highs and lows of acting and film work, and the pursuit of his own unique musical adventures that have resulted in a number of albums and gigs across the world. Ultimately though its the beguiling story of a close-knit family and deep brotherly ties.

Talking to Myself

Jagger, Chris

The story of Metal Blade Records is the story of Brian Slagel-a metal-obsessed Southern California kid who launched a fanzine and landed a record store job before cobbling together what he assumed would be a one-off compilation of fledgling bands from the L.A. scene. Released in 1982, the Metal Massacre LP included the debut recordings of local groups such as Steeler, Malice, Ratt, and Metallica. In the wake of the album's unexpected success Slagel virtually stumbled into creating a proper record label, issuing the first releases by Bitch, Armored Saint, and Slayer the following year. 
For The Sake Of Heaviness is an inside look at how Brian built Metal Blade from a one-man operation in his mom's non-air-conditioned garage to the preeminent international home of heavy music that it is today. He shares his insights into signing and working with Amon Amarth, Anvil, As I Lay Dying, Behemoth, The Black Dahlia Murder, Cannibal Corpse, Cirith Ungol, Corrosion of Conformity, D.R.I., Fates Warning, Flotsam and Jetsam, Gwar, King Diamond, King's X, Lizzy Borden, Manowar, Mercyful Fate, Overkill, Raven, Sacred Reich, Six Feet Under, Trouble, Unearth, Voivod, Whitechapel, and others. 
Always hard at work on a diverse range of projects, Brian reveals the early advice he gave that helped guide Mötley Crüe's career; how he helped Metallica replace their bassist-twice; his detailed work on Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper reissues; his behind-the-scenes role in the careers of Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Goo Goo Dolls, and Lamb of God; and his unlikely ventures with kindred metal heads-from hockey star Ken Baumgartner, to celebrity chef Chris Santos, to The Howard Stern Show's Richard Christy, to comedians Jim Florentine, Don Jamieson and Jim Breuer. 
Throughout For The Sake Of Heaviness, Brian steps aside to present first-person insights and extended guest interviews featuring friends, colleagues, Metal Blade staffers, and a long list of artists, including Metallica's James Hetfield, Slayer's Kerry King, King Diamond, and many more. 
Brian highlights the ins and outs of his 35 year metal odyssey, from promoting small shows in California's San Fernando Valley in the early days, to forging a major partnership with Warner Bros. Records; from weathering the Parents Music Resource Center's attempts to regulate lyrical content, to squaring off with Time Warner over Gwar's envelope-pushing themes; from nearly going bankrupt after underestimating the impact of the rise of CDs, to surviving and thriving in today's rapidly changing music business environment. 
Featuring a Foreword by Metallica's Lars Ulrich, For The Sake Of Heaviness pulls back the curtain to reveal the definitive look at how Metal Blade began, what they've accomplished, and where they're going. With the help of co-writer Mark Eglinton, Brian Slagel invites the reader into a personal conversation about his life's passion, and the passion that drives Metal Blade-finding, exposing, and promoting the best heavy music on the planet.

For The Sake of Heaviness

Slagel, Brian

Eglinton, Mark

Ulrich, Lars

Wanda Jackson's debut single, "You Can't Have My Love," reached the Top 10 while she was still a sixteen-year-old high school student. She hit the road after graduation, playing package shows with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley, who gave Wanda his ring and asked her to be "his girl." With Presley's encouragement, the Oklahoma native began recording rock music, often releasing singles with country on one side and rock on the other during her decade-and-a-half tenure on Capitol Records. 
Known for her energetic stage shows and pioneering presence as a female artist, Wanda stormed the charts with a series of hit singles, including "Let's Have a Party," "Right or Wrong," and "In the Middle of a Heartache." With more than 40 albums to her credit, Wanda has proven to be an enduring and genre-defying legend of American music. 
In Every Night is Saturday Night, Wanda tells her own story of getting discovered by Country Music Hall of Famer Hank Thompson; shy she refused to return to The Grand Ole Opry for more than fifty years; the challenges she and her integrated band, The Party Timers, faced in the early 1960s; finding the love of her life; her recent work with rock luminaries Jack White and Joan Jett; and how her deep faith has sustained her over more than seven decades of rocking, shocking, and thrilling audiences around the globe.

Every Night Is Saturday Night

Jackson, Wanda

Award winning songwriter, musician, author, playwright, poet, visual artist, and Appalachian Renaissance man Billy Edd Wheeler is best known for penning "Jackson," which was popularized by Johnny Cash and June Carter with their Grammy-winning recording from 1967. In addition to his own albums and singles as a highly regarded singer/songwriter (including the Top 5 hit, "Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back"), Billy Edd has penned numerous songs for artists such as Elvis Presley, Judy Collins, The Kingston Trio, Neil Young, and Kenny Rogers. Wheeler's memoir is populated by a fascinating cast of characters which he encountered on his journey. Songwriting changed his life, bringing him a long lasting career that saw the birth of classic tunes such as "The Reverend Mr. Black," "High Flyin' Bird," "The Coming of the Roads," "It's Midnight," "Coal Tattoo," and others. Peppered with the folksy wisdom of his beloved Appalachia, Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout is like pulling a chair up next to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer by a warm fire; you won't want to leave.

Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout: A Hillbilly Poet's Journey From Appalachia to Yale to Writing Hits for Elvis, Johnny Cash & More

Wheeler, Billy Edd

Fascinated by the collision of country and soul music in the Southern states, Hoskyns and photographer Muir MacKean set out on a journey through the American South to explore the phenomenon of primarily black singers and primarily white musicians joining forces in the 1960s to create musical magic in an era of racial tension. From Memphis to Muscle Shoals to Nashville, they sat down with dozens of the architects of what’s come to be known as Country Soul to capture a story that is as inspiring as it is historically important.

Say It One Time For The Brokenhearted: Country Soul In The American South

Hoskyns. Barney

Music

Earl Dibbles Jr. is the comic alter-ego of country singer Granger Smith. With a social media following of 3.5 million fans, and nearly 50 million views of his official YouTube videos, Earl's followers can't get enough of his take on country life. In this illustrated book, Earl walks through 50 different scenarios, comparing and contrasting how city folks and country folks do things. Earl pontificates on fast food, huntin’, fishin’, shootin’ the breeze, neighborliness, and politics. From hipsters to hip-stirs and different ways of chasin’ a buck, Earl's hilarious take on the country versus city debate will have diehard fans and new converts regularly returning for a good laugh. As an added bonus, If You're City, If You're Country includes a CD with Earl reading the audiobook and performing five of his greatest hits.

If You're City, If You're Country

Humor & Entertainment

Dibbles Jr., Earl

Humor

Perhaps the only subject more fascinating than the mysterious world of dreams is the mysterious world of Bob Dylan. Dreaming of Dylan brings the two together for a weird and wonderful romp through the ways the mercurial musical master shows up in our subconscious states. Celebrated writer and musician Mary Lee Kortes lovingly curated this off-kilter collection of nocturnal visions. Paired with over 100 original images and illustrations, these dreams will captivate you in ways you never expected. Bob Dylan once sang, “I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.” And be in them he has! There are plenty of musical dreamers here, from the incomparable Patti Smith to Squirrel Nut Zippers frontman Jimbo Mathus to Kevin Odegard, whose guitar is heard on the memorable intro to “Tangled Up in Blue,” and others. Not to mention the everyday dreamers, from plumbers to poets and pastors, from dentists to attorneys and psychotherapists. Some dreams are poignant; some are disturbing; and others are nothing short of bizarre. Taken together they’re an enthralling look at what the famously enigmatic singer/songwriter represents in the deepest recesses of our minds.

Dreaming of Dylan

Religion & Spirituality

Founded in the late 1980s by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, Seattle-based Sub Pop Records released early recordings by then-upstart regional bands such as Green River, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Tad, Nirvana, Flaming Lips, Afghan Whigs, and Screaming Trees. 
When the world went grunge crazy in the 1990s, Sub Pop was suddenly the epicenter of Seattle cool. Emerging organically from Bruce Pavitt’s Subterranean Pop fanzine, the story of Sub Pop Records is the story of a couple of irreverent music lovers who stumbled into the record business because they simply loved working with bands they wanted to listen to themselves. From barely paying the bills to the trappings of major music industry success to the inevitable fallout, this is the inside story of the musicians, producers, staffers, and stars who built Sub Pop into an independent powerhouse. 
World Domination takes you deep inside the chaotic early days of the label’s founding, all the way to the present. It’s a fascinating snapshot of a label that has promoted Death Cab for Cutie, the White Stripes, the Shins, Iron &amp; Wine, the Postal Service, Sleater-Kinney, Band of Horses, Flight of the Conchords, Fleet Foxes, Sunny Day Real Estate, Shabazz Palaces, the Head and the Heart, Father John Misty, and many others. Author Gillian G. Gaar, a longtime Seattle-based writer, draws on firsthand interviews, deep research, and her years of covering the Seattle scene as a local music journalist to bring together the first in-depth historical narrative of one of America’s more influential independent record labels.

World Domination: The Sub Pop Records Story (RPM Series)

Gaar, Gillian G.

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