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الاستماع والقراءة

Keith Domone

Monika Domone

Barclay James Harvest are surely overdue for greater recognition. They have Long been feted in Germany and in other parts of Continental Europe, but remain largely unknown at home in the U.K. except to a fiercely loyal cognoscenti. Formed in the Saddleworth area of north-west England in 1967, the band released a series of outstanding albums showcasing their pastoral, classically-influenced brand of rock, before hitting the heights of their success, culminating in a massive open-air concert in Berlin in front of an estimated quarter of a million people. With only one line-up change, the departure of keyboard maestro and founder member Woolly Wolstenholme in 1979, they continued to record until 1998, when the band finally split into two separate groups, led by original members John Lees and Les Holroyd respectively. 
The core of this book covers Barclay James Harvest’s output from 1968 to 1997, with analysis and background information for every studio album and every song released from that period, but there is also room for an overview of their live albums and of the member’s activities after the break up of the original group. It is required reading for anyone with more than a passing interest in one of the rock world’s most underrated bands.

Keith and Monika Domone have both been Barclay James Harvest aficionados from an early age, even meeting through their shared love of the band’s music. They graduated from running the band’s official fan club to writing and curating the Barclay James Harvest and John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest web sites, in between work and parenting. They were also responsible for penning two editions of The Barclay James Harvest Story, the only biography of the band to have appeared in print to date, and now out of print. They have two grown-up children, living in Hampshire, UK.

Sonicbond Publishing

On Track

Barclay James Harvest: Every Album, Every Song

Opher Goodwin

In the realm of singer-songwriters, few have been as influential as Neil Young, whose music has always been creative and relevant throughout six decades. Neil is a chameleon for whom boundaries of genres do not exist. Throughout a long career that continues to this day, he has delved into folk, country, r&b, rock ‘n’ roll, grunge, hard rock, electronic and pop and made them his own. But the sixties were his launch pad. 
This book follows his music through that seminal period when he played with The Squires, Mynah Birds, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crazy Horse and The Stray Gators. During this seminal period, Young wrote or co-wrote some of his greatest songs, including ‘I Am A Child’, ‘Southern Man’, ‘Helpless’ and – most importantly – ‘Ohio’. He was also involved in some seminal albums, including his eponymous debut solo album, After The Gold Rush and Déjà Vu.
This is the story of how one of the most seminal artists of the last fifty years learned his trade, by delving in detail into every band, every twist and turn, and every track.

Opher Goodwin is the author of many books on rock music and science fiction and taught the first 'History of Rock Music' classes in the UK. He was fortunate to spend the sixties in London, the epicentre for the underground explosion of rock music and culture, where he was able to see everyone from Pink Floyd, Hendrix and Cream to The Doors, Captain Beefheart and Roy Harper. He was introduced to Captain Beefheart in 1967 and attended that first amazing gig at Middle Earth. He never fully recovered but now lives happily in East Yorkshire, UK.

Neil Young 1963-1970: Every Album, Every Song

James Romag

The J. Geils Band were the original Bad Boys from Boston, blowing audiences away night after night. With classic albums like Full House, Bloodshot, Love Stinks, and the massively successful Freeze-Frame, Geils have been nominated for the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame no fewer than five times since 2005. From their early days as r&b and blues purists, through defining tracks like 'Looking for a Love,' the instrumental 'Whammer Jammer,' and the US Top 40 'Give It to Me,' to global fame with radio staples' Love Stinks,' 'Centerfold,' and 'Freeze-Frame,' The J. Geils Band created a unique sound and turned every show into a house party. Though it took time for record sales to catch up to their live reputation, by the early 1980s, there were few hotter acts than J. Geils.

 The definitive companion to the music of this hard-drivin' outfit, this is a comprehensive overview of every track on Geils' 11 studio albums, with a look at their official live releases and a rundown of the musicians' projects beyond the band. The book makes clear why Geils, often referred to as America's answer to The Rolling Stones, were the funkiest band in the land.

 

The author

James Romag is a lifelong music fan and enjoys hot, sweaty live concerts where music is blasting and everybody's having a ball. He worked in several record shops while attending the college of musical knowledge and holds degrees in journalism, finance and marketing, and publishing. He has edited several books and published a handful of short stories. James is a US Air Force veteran who lives in Colorado at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This is his second book for Sonicbond's On Track series, the first being about REO Speedwagon.

J. Geils Band: Every Album, Every Song

Michael Kulikowski

In ten short years, Roxy Music made two of the most experimental albums in popular music history and one of the most smoothly romantic. Conceived by Bryan Ferry at the turn of the 1970s, the band released its first album, Roxy Music, to wide acclaim in 1972 and swiftly followed up with the ground-breaking single ‘Virginia Plain’. Ferry, Andy Mackay, and Phil Manzanera remained Roxy’s core players over seven more albums in three distinct phases.

 The debut and For Your Pleasure (1973) featured all manner of electronic weirdness from Brian Eno, while Stranded (1973), Country Life (1974), and Siren (1975) marked the peak of Ferry’s songwriting and struck a delicate balance between edgy art and gorgeous craft. Finally, Manifesto (1979), Flesh + Blood (1980), and Avalon (1982), the last two without powerhouse founding drummer Paul Thompson, framed Ferry’s tales of doomed romance within a sophisticated wash of sound that used the studio itself as an instrument.

 The members of Roxy Music have had long and distinguished careers outside the band, but nothing can surpass the eight albums they made together. This book tells the musical story of this most enigmatic of British bands.

 

Michael Kulikowski’s day job is teaching about ancient Rome as the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History and Classics at Penn State University, USA. He is the author of academic books and articles, as well as Imperial Triumph (2016) and Imperial Tragedy (2019), which are written for the general reader and narrate the history of ancient Rome from its height around AD 100 to the end of the western empire in the fifth century. He writes regularly for the London Review of Books and has been listening obsessively to Roxy Music for forty years.

Roxy Music: Every Album Every Song

Martin Hutchinson

The Stranglers, or Meninblack, were once considered the bad boys of punk despite never really being a punk band. Formed in Guildford in 1974, they celebrate their golden anniversary as a band that have continued to tour and record throughout their history, giving us some classic tunes like ‘No More Heroes’, ‘Peaches’ and ‘Golden Brown,’ just part of a legacy that includes 40 top 40 UK singles hits and 18 studio albums. They have courted controversy, been jailed, been reviled and lauded – in fact, everything that can happen to a band has happened to The Stranglers.
Still led by original bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel, The Stranglers have created some thought-provoking music with a sense of melody, which proves that their musicality and intelligence were often greater than their contemporaries.
This book examines every album and single recorded by the band, as well as rarities and their many videos throughout their history. With a foreword by current guitarist and vocalist Baz Warne, the band’s colourful history is explored as we discuss every song created by one of the most interesting and eclectic bands in rock music.

Martin Hutchinson lives with his wife Michaela (and cat Sydney) in Horwich near Bolton, UK. He has written comedy sketches for TV and Radio, compiled quizzes for TV and has penned over 270 CD liner notes for EMI and others. For over thirty years, he has concentrated on music, supplying articles and interviews for around 20 provincial newspapers and three magazines. He is also, for his sins, a lifelong Bolton Wanderers fan. This is his second book for Sonicbond, the first being The Kinks On Track.

The Stranglers: Every Album, Every Song

Stephen Lambe

Yes are the archetypal 1970s progressive rock group. Playing powerful and adventurous music when it was briefly part of the mainstream, the band thrilled millions with their iconic albums and epic live shows. Records like Fragile and Close To The Edge helped define an era and although the band dissolved at the end of the decade, Yes emerged once again with 90125, a streamlined, modern sound in the 1980s and a US number one hit single in ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’. Now in their sixth decade, the band continues to release albums and play live into the new millennium, despite numerous, sometimes controversial, lineup changes.
This book examines each one of Yes’s studio albums, highlighting the many high points, and the rarer missteps, as well as focussing on the changes in band dynamics which led to some varied – but always interesting – music. This new, expanded edition celebrates a flurry of recent Yes activity, including new albums The Quest and Mirror To The Sky as well as a detailed examination of the band’s live recordings, making this the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the band’s music yet written It is essential reading for Yes' legions of fans worldwide.

Stephen Lambe is an author, publisher and festival promoter. He is an acknowledged expert on progressive rock, having written the best-selling Citizens Of Hope And Glory – The History Of Progressive Rock for Amberley in 2011 – and has discussed the subject on BBC Radio. He has co-hosted the Summer's End Progressive Rock Festival since 2006 and is a former Chairman of the Classic Rock Society. His first live concert – of many hundreds – was Yes at Wembley Arena in 1978. He lives in Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, UK.

Yes - expanded edition: Every Album, Every Song

Mark Marrington

Wendy Carlos is one of the most influential electronic musicians of the 20th century, whose groundbreaking LP, Switched-On Bach, was pivotal in elevating the Moog synthesizer to iconic status. Her highly evocative score for Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange redefined the sound of electronic music for a generation of popular musicians in the US and Europe. Best known for her adventurous sonic re-imaginings of the music of classical composers, Carlos was also an accomplished composer in her own right, whose original work on albums such as Sonic Seasonings and Beauty In The Beast deserves equal recognition for their progressive compositional innovations and sound design techniques. 
With the aim of addressing this imbalance, this book offers a detailed track-by-track survey of all of her album releases from Switched-On Bach to Tales of Heaven And Hell, placing each recording in context in relation to musical influences, technology and thematic concepts, as well as providing analytical pointers to help navigate her classically influenced musical aesthetic. To provide a fully rounded picture the last section of the book considers a number of Carlos's miscellaneous one-off projects and evaluates the remastered editions of her earlier LPs released on the East Side Digital label during the early 2000s.

Mark Marrington is a musician, teacher and writer based in the North of England, UK. He has a wide range of musical interests including the classical guitar (about which he has written an award-winning book), quirky electronic music (some of which has appeared on BBC radio and the Dr Demento Show) and heavy metal, on which he has written several articles for academic books and journals. He is currently an Associate Professor in Music Production at York St. John University in the UK, where he gives classes on the history of record production and the techniques of electronic music composition.

Wendy Carlos: Every Album, Every Song

Brian J Robb

Ultravox made an indelible mark on the popular music of the 1980s despite never reaching the UK number one at any point: famously, 'Vienna' stalled at number two, while their only other top five single was the zeitgeist-capturing 'Dancing With Tears in My Eyes', reaching number three in May 1984. Between 1981's 'Vienna' and 1984's 'Love's Great Adventure', Ultravox scored 17 UK Top 40 hit singles and seven top ten album releases.
Fronted first by John Foxx, then Midge Ure, the band went from being an acclaimed but hitless art rock outfit to a Blitz club-era chart-storming quartet. They also proved to be a formidable live band, mixing in-vogue electronic synthesisers with drums and guitar and Billy Currie's trademark classical violin. The band became one of the most successful acts of the era, capped by their 1985 appearance at the Live Aid concert. They also made their mark with arty, distinctive, and influential music videos.
Having split following 1986's controversial U-Vox album, the 1980s Ultravox line-up regrouped in 2009, celebrating the 30th anniversary of 'Vienna' with a series of UK, US, and European tours. That led to a belated new album, 2012's Brilliant. Every album, every song - this is Ultravox.

Brian J. Robb is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling biographer of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt. He has also written books on silent cinema, the films of Philip K. Dick, Wes Craven, Laurel and Hardy, the Star Wars movies, Superheroes, Gangsters, and Walt Disney, as well as science fiction television series Doctor Who and Star Trek, and Depeche Mode for Sonicbond Publishing. His illustrated books include an Illustrated History of Steampunk and Middle-earth Envisioned, a guide to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (Winner, Best Book, Tolkien Society Awards). He is a Founding Editor of the Sci-Fi Bulletin website and lives near Edinburgh, UK.

Ultravox: Every Album, Every Song

Dominic Sanderson

Few artists can boast a career like Nick Cave, which has gone from strength to strength since the debut album from his band The Bad Seeds in 1984. Most musicians in their 60s are relegated to the periphery as the quality of their output becomes tired and predictable but Nick Cave is an exception. His 2019 album Ghosteen may arguably be his best, still sounding as potent as those Old Testament, drug-fuelled 80s albums or the mid-90s streak of classics for which the band are most renowned. Cave’s eclectic career has been fruitful, not only as a musician but as a literary mastermind whose lyrics have been analysed and theorised about on countless occasions, as he consistently and compellingly mulls over themes of religion, love, redemption, loss and death. 
This book delves into the music and lyrics of every track in The Bad Seeds’ catalogue, starting with the post-punk beginnings of From Her To Eternity through to the ambient, synth-driven soundscapes of Ghosteen. Hidden gems from the band’s two B-side compilations as well as their thrilling live albums are also included in this appraisal of a band that are still very much alive and kicking today.

Dominic Sanderson is a musician and a writer, having written for Reader’s Digest and various online blogs about anything and everything music-related. He released an EP in September 2020 and when he is not composing and recording ideas for his future musical endeavours you can find him working on his MA in English literature at the University of Liverpool. He completed his BA in Popular Music and English Literature with first-class honours and his final dissertation focussed on the alternative religious framework that Nick Cave has constructed for himself through his writing. His hometown is Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK.

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds: Every album, every song

Carl Ewens

While David Bowie was alive, his songs and their strange commentaries on modern life had some kind of deep significance that made sense of it all for many people. His music evokes something futuristic and prophetic to his fans. This book shed light on Bowie’s songwriting in the early, most-lauded part of his career, his much-vaunted sense of alienation and his desperate search to make music that was art.

 Everything he did was infused with a kind of indescribable oddness, like his two mismatched eyes. He had a lifelong interest in ideas about life on other worlds, and yet one of his many songs associated with this theme, ‘Life On Mars’, is more concerned with the failings of this planet. When he sang ‘Starman’ on Top Of The Pops in 1972, his arm draped around the shoulders of his talented lead guitarist Mick Ronson, he lit up a million teenage hearts.

 This is a complete examination of all the songs from Bowie’s golden years, which extends from his days as a mod saxophonist through to his astonishing 1980 hit album, Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). His songs run the gamut from extraordinary to esoteric but were always written from the heart.

 

Carl Ewens, born in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1960, has previously published an absurdist science fiction novel, two books of poetry and a similar book about the songwriting of Marc Bolan. He also produces music under the pseudonym Psyfolk. His interests range from reading novels to football, art, photography, film and history, as well as UAPs and spirituality. He also has a degree in Social Anthropology and Comparative Religion. He is a lover of real ale but isn’t keen on the currently trendy obsession with hazy IPAs as he thinks they all taste of grapefruit. He lives in West Sussex, UK.

David Bowie 1964 -1982: Every album, every song

Chris Sutton

AC/DC are a global rock institution and big brand name. The secret to their success has always been that they are a rock ‘n’ roll band, pure and simple, undiluted by trends with a solid authenticity and no frills or pretentiousness. Chris Sutton examines the recorded output of the band in detail, helped by new interview material with former members, collaborators and friends in manager Michael Browning, drummers Peter Clack, Noel Taylor and Tony Currenti, engineer/producer Mike Fraser, logo designer Gerard Huerta, bassist Ian Hampton and engineer Dave Thoener. 
They have one of the world’s biggest-selling albums in Back In Black, but is it their best album, and which are their best songs? As well as commentary and analysis of every track on every studio album, space is also given to B-sides and out-takes, while the live albums and box sets are also discussed. The background to each album is also covered as the band navigate tragedy and setbacks with a determination to keep going – rock or bust!
Whether you wish to revisit old favourites or learn about those gems you missed, AC/DC On Track is the essential guide to this legendary band’s music.
Chris Sutton manages Smethwick Heritage Centre Museum and has written several publications for them. He has also written several plays. This book is his fourth for Sonicbond Publishing, with several more to follow. He lives in Great Malvern, UK.

AC/DC on track

G. Mick Smith

As well as his time in Mott The Hoople, Ian Hunter has had a long and adventurous solo career. In this book, we unlock the secrets behind every lyric, riff, and melody. From the soul-stirring anthems that defined an era to the hidden gems that eluded the spotlight, we leave no chord unheard. It is an immersive voyage into the evolution of a songwriter extraordinaire, as we explore the stories, inspirations, and the mind of the creative maverick that brought these songs to life. With a mix of anecdotes, in-depth analyses, and a touch of rockstar charisma, this book isn't just a collection of pages, it's a front-row seat to Hunter's musical legacy. 
Whether you've been inspired by ‘All The Young Dudes’ since its debut or you're just discovering the magic of the Defiance series, Hunter’s music has become the soundtrack to so many people’s lives. It’s a deep dive into the heart and soul of Hunter's almost unparalleled musical journey. This book will appeal to all casual or diehard fans of Mott The Hoople's legendary frontman, making it the ultimate backstage pass Hunter fans have been waiting for.

G. Mick Smith, PhD, The Doctor of Digital, is a consultant and recovering academic. He is the Chief Digital Officer at The Doctor of Digital Podcast and Smith Consulting, having formerly been an Executive Region Director and Campus Dean. Smith earned a PhD in the History of Religions from UCLA, and nine certificates in executive management and educational technology. Mick currently resides far from the madding crowd in sunny California, enjoying his parent's first new car, a 1957 Buick Special. He co-hosts The Aftermath Podcast, and wrote Burning America: In The Best Interest Of The Children?

Ian Hunter On Track

Peter Braidis

Forming when punk was starting to become a force, The Police – led by drummer Stuart Copeland and singer/bassist Sting - used this emerging new form of music to create a sound that was both fresh, energetic and sophisticated. An early incarnation with guitarist Henry Padovani ended when Andy Summers joined the band, and under the innovative management of Miles Copeland, The Police took on the world.
From 1978 to 1983, the band released five magnificent albums that took in rock, reggae, and world music. A succession of massive hit singles, including ‘Message In A Bottle’ and the classic and often misunderstood ‘Every Breath You Take’ also cemented their success. By 1983, they’d become arguably the biggest band in the world, but egos and arguments took their toll, and the group split in 1986. Sting would go on to massive solo success, but a reunion tour in the 2000s broke box office records and finally closed the door on the band.
This book details every song and album from the first single to the last, making it a comprehensive guide to the music of one of the greatest bands in music history, with sales of over 100 million worldwide.

Peter Braidis is a graduate of Rutgers University with a B.A. in History and Journalism. He currently works in education at Haddon Township High School in the state of New Jersey, USA. Music (especially Thin Lizzy) and helping children and animals are his passions, as well as pretty much any pasta dish. He has written on sports and music for the Philadelphia Inquirer, several magazines and authored the book Unstrung Heroes: Fifty Guitar Greats You Should Know. This is his second book for Sonicbond Publishing, having written Asia On Track in 2020.

The Police On Track

Andy McArthur

The Byrds were just a little bit ahead of their time. By releasing six genre-defining albums in three years, their transformative powers took electric guitars to traditional folk music, brought jazz into psychedelic pop and helped introduce what we now know as Americana, being the first major rock band to embrace the sound of Nashville. They were heralded as the pioneers of folk rock, acid rock and country rock, not to mention space rock, abstract electronics and all the inter-genre crossover material that defines most of their albums. They influenced so many of the musical movements that followed as they constantly progressed, hungry to push the boundaries of popular music.
This book examines each one of the band’s 12 studio albums, highlighting the many high points, especially from their mercurial 1965 – 1968 era, and the less successful later years when the law of diminishing returns took over. Also discussed within the ‘Connected Flights’ part of each chapter, are the band’s contemporaneous non-album singles and B-sides. Previously unreleased tracks that were later released as part of their extensive reissue campaigns will also be covered, making this book one of the most extensive guides to The Byrds’ music yet produced.

Andy McArthur is a retired teacher, who, in a previous life, worked in finance. He now works part-time in the education charity sector. Having always loved writing, he previously contributed to a national newspaper’s football fanzine section. This is his first book. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife, Karen, and daughters, Amy and Zoe. When not walking Mojo the dog up the Braid Hills, Andy loves listening to music, watching Ayr Utd and drinking zesty ales in pubs (where he bores people by telling them how The Byrds changed popular music three times in the space of three years).

The Byrds on track

Paul Tornbohm

The brother and sister team of Karen and Richard Carpenter rank as one of the most successful acts in pop music history. Between the first Carpenters’ album released in 1969 and their final studio album together in 1981, they achieved three Grammy awards, 18 hits in the US Top 20 (and ten in the UK) and multiple platinum discs, leading to eventual sales of over 100 million copies worldwide. Although the group’s career was brought to a tragic and premature end by the untimely death of Karen Carpenter in 1983, they remain a much-loved band.
The Carpenters crafted their own distinctive sound with multi-part harmonies and lush arrangements. A unique singer and gifted interpreter of songs, Karen was also passionate about playing the drums, with Richard’s talents extending to keyboards, singing, composing, arranging and producing. 
This book explores the background to each of their studio albums and classic singles, as well as their solo recordings, live albums and compilations of rare tracks. From their earliest recordings in a jazz trio through to Richard’s reinterpretations of their best-known songs with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a solo pianist, this appraisal looks at over 55 years of Carpenters material.

Paul Tornbohm is a songwriter and musician. As befits a Carpenters fan, he has recorded an album of his songs, August Afternoons, with his sister Cathy on lead vocals. A former member of the ‘ghost-rock’ group Piano Magic, Paul has also released the solo EP Down an English Lane. Additionally, he composes for Spontaneous Productions, a theatre company in Sydenham, London. Paul has a Masters in music production from Kingston University, teaches music qualifications at a sixth-form college in Surrey and lives in Crystal Palace, London, with his wife, the composer Yumi Mashiki. This is his first book.

Carpenters On Track: Every album, every song

Peter Childs

Even after 40 years, critics of Tears For Fears have tended to describe them as an 80s band. This is understandable when songs like ‘Mad World’ appear in films that typify that period and ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ has had a prolonged life as one of the most played songs on streaming services. 
Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith quickly transformed from their first band, mod revivalists Graduate, to introspective studio obsessives with The Hurting, to global hitmakers on Songs from the Big Chair, before releasing The Seeds of Love - epic both in terms of vision and cost. Musical differences and strained relations led to the dissolution of the original partnership at the end of that decade, while Orzabal carried on under the Tears for Fears banner into the 1990s. 
Everybody loves a happy ending, and in 2004 the reformed duo released that jocularly titled album. Then followed a long wait for a new record, a period occasionally punctuated by extensive touring around the world. The patience of their loyal followers was rewarded in 2022 with the universally lauded The Tipping Point. Taking in Graduate and the duo’s solo work, this book covers the band’s complete career, album by album and song by song.

Paul Clark is a writer, freelance journalist, musician, and lecturer. He has previously worked as both a sports and music journalist. For over 18 years, he has lectured in news, sports, and music journalism. He is an avid gig-goer and record collector and can often be found crate digging in the region’s record stores. Born in Liverpool, he now lives in St Helens, UK.

Tears for Fears on track

Nic Ransome

Forged in a London fire ritual in 1979 and reborn with their original line-up in 2008, Killing Joke have been creating uncompromising music for over 40 years. In addition to their incandescent self-titled debut in 1980, they have released essential albums in each of the past four decades: Night Time (1985), Pandemonium (1994), Killing Joke (2003) and Pylon (2015). But Killing Joke are more than a band; they are a primal force that exerts an intangible gravity on both its members and its fans. They have influenced countless groups across multiple genres – including Metallica, Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails – while their own style ranges across post-punk, dub, industrial, world music, electronica and alt-metal. Their equally eclectic lyrics traverse social alienation, dystopian futures, the folly of hubris, Cold War dread, paganism and the occult. Above all, their work embodies a process of self-discovery whose aim is nothing less than the revelation and integration of our darkest urges.
Killing Joke On Track covers the fifteen studio albums and almost 200 songs of Killing Joke’s vocation to date, including obscure gems, live albums and compilations. It’s a celebration of a band who are often challenging, always provocative, but ultimately life-affirming.

Nic Ransome spent most of the past 20 years as a screenwriter and is currently researching toward a PhD. Straight out of school in the mid-1980s, he self-published a rock fanzine then played bass in a short-lived space-punk band, before dabbling in theatre. He spent the next ten years doing a series of bullshit jobs to earn a living before rekindling a teenage obsession with movies, which eventually led to a seven-year stint at legendary British film company Hammer. This book is Nic turning full circle back to his first love as an adult: writing about music, specifically a band of which he’s been a fan going on 42 years. He lives in Suffolk, UK.

Killing Joke on track

Brian J. Robb

For four decades, Depeche Mode dominated electronic music, from the naïve melodies of 1981’s Speak & Spell through to 2023’s Memento Mori. Through changing line-ups featuring Vince Clarke, Alan Wilder, and Andy Fletcher, singer Dave Gahan and main songwriter Martin Gore have been the band’s core. Starting as teenagers and now in their 60s, they have survived worldwide fame, addictions to drink and drugs, and near-death experiences, while continuing to innovate as technology and the music business evolved.

An acclaimed live band, it is through their fifteen studio albums that Depeche Mode have best expressed themselves, from the industrial darkness of Black Celebration (1986) to their popular breakthroughs with Music For the Masses (1987) and Violator (1990) and the emotional upheaval of 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion.

The band survived the chaotic fallout from that album and tour in the mid-1990s, with Gahan experiencing a near-fatal drug overdose, to regroup with Ultra (1997). They continued their explorations of love, death, sex, and politics on acclaimed albums Playing the Angel (2005), Delta Machine (2013), and Spirit (2016). Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, proven survivors Depeche Mode have their story told here in song-by-song detail.

 Brian J. Robb is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling biographer of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt. He has also written books on silent cinema, the films of Philip K. Dick, Wes Craven, Laurel and Hardy, the Star Wars movies, Superheroes, Gangsters, and Walt Disney, as well as science fiction television series Doctor Who and Star Trek. His illustrated books include an Illustrated History of Steampunk and Middle-earth Envisioned, a guide to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (Winner, Best Book, Tolkien Society Awards). He is a Founding Editor of the Sci-Fi Bulletin website and lives near Edinburgh, UK.

Depeche Mode on track

Richard Butterworth

Pink Floyd are one of the most innovative and enduringly successful bands in history. 1973's Dark Side of the Moon, though far from the first concept album, established a new model for quasi-symphonic, long-form investigations into the human condition. It is a record of thoughtfully poignant lyrics and some of the most powerful, genre-defining rock music ever made.

 Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Nick Mason and the tragically brilliant Syd Barrett fused English whimsy with electrifying voyages through inner and outer space. Their underground gigs are the stuff of psychedelic legend, but between 1968 and 1971, with Barrett replaced by David Gilmour, their sonic inquiries were never braver. Some were delivered instantly while others were revealed slowly, but all played crucial parts in rock's development. During the 1970s, the music matured as the messages darkened. While Floyd continued to prove that emotional weight can be forged from deceptively modest arrangements, the band's live spectaculars reached a pitch of technical complexity and extravagance none has matched.

 With insightful analysis and witty objectivity, Richard Butterworth appraises afresh Pink Floyd's official recorded canon, from 'Arnold Layne' to The Endless River and beyond to 2022 and the first all-new Floyd music for 28 years.

 

Richard Butterworth's grown-up career began in advertising, first as a paste-up artist and later as a graphic designer. Settling on copywriting, for years he reaped the pleasures, pains and penury of freelancing. As a lifelong believer in the healing and redemptive power of music, however, he knew that humankind's highest art form would eventually saddle up and ride him into the sunset. Today Richard lives in Cornwall, UK with his partner Sue, two golden retrievers, a tenor saxophone and a justifiably ancient laptop computer, on which he still writes about the music he loved before he was a grown-up.

Pink Floyd on track

Dennis Remmer

New Order have produced some of the most influential popular music of the last 40 years. A unique vision of alternative electronic rock, forged in Manchester and exported to the world, the band connected with the alternative-minded as well as the club-centric; the football fan and the artist; the boffin and the aesthete.

The journey of New Order to the world has been nothing short of incredible: their punk-ignited founding as Warsaw; the eternally astonishing Joy Division and the rise and fall of Factory Records and The Haçienda. There were many remarkable associations including Martin Hannett, Peter Saville, Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton, Arthur Baker and Michael Shamberg. There were side hustles as BeMusic, Electronic, Revenge, The Other Two, Monaco, Bad Lieutenant, and The Light. Then there were their tragic losses, their unholy messes, their resilience, and, most importantly, the magnificent leftfield music written variously by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, Phil Cunningham, and Tom Chapman.

This book reviews every song New Order has officially released to date across every album from Movement to Music Complete, plus the many singles, compilations, soundtracks, and other releases. This book is ‘remixed’ (with updated and additional information) from the author’s hugely popular and band-endorsed NewOrderTracks blog.

Dennis Remmer lives in Brisbane, Queensland – the capital city of Australia’s own ‘north’; a city renowned for its independent music scene. A lifelong devotee of New Order, Dennis has been applying their influence on a lifetime’s exploration of indie, electronic, and alternative music. Dennis (and his partner Anna) formed the Brisbane record label Trans:Com in 1994, and in 2014 published BNE - The Definitive Archive, which documents the city’s secret history of electronic music production.

On Track - سلسلة الكتب

On Track - سلسلة الكتب

On Track كتب بالترتيب

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