Music Books - Page 3

Wishful Drinking

Carrie Fisher

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Finally, after four hit novels, Carrie Fisher comes clean (well, sort of ) with the crazy truth that is her life in her first-ever memoir. In Wishful Drinking, adapted from her one-woman stage show, Fisher reveals what it was really like to grow up a product of "Hollywood in-breeding," come of age on the set of a little movie called Star Wars, and become a cultural icon and bestselling action figure at the age of nineteen.

Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?). It's an incredible tale: the child of Hollywood royalty -- Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher -- homewrecked by Elizabeth Taylor, marrying (then divorcing, then dating) Paul Simon, having her likeness merchandized on everything from Princess Leia shampoo to PEZ dispensers, learning the father of her daughter forgot to tell her he was gay, and ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.

Wishful Drinking, the show, has been a runaway success. Entertainment Weekly declared it "drolly hysterical" and the Los Angeles Times called it a "Beverly Hills yard sale of juicy anecdotes." This is Carrie Fisher at her best -- revealing her worst. She tells her true and outrageous story of her bizarre reality with her inimitable wit, unabashed self-deprecation, and buoyant, infectious humor.

The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

FROM THE BRAIN TRUST BEHIND PITCHFORKMEDIA.COM -- THE WEBSITE THE LOS ANGELES TIMES DECLARED "AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE IPO D GENERATION'S LEXICON, A MUST-READ" -- A FRESH GUIDE TO THE 500 BEST SONGS OF THE PAST THIRTY YEARS.

Named the "best site for music criticism on the web" by The New York Times Magazine, Pitchforkmedia.com has become the leading independent resource for music journalism, the place people turn to find out what's happening in new music. Founded in 1995, Pitchfork has developed one of the web's most devoted followings, with more than 1.6 million readers monthly who tune in for daily reviews, news, features, videos, and interviews.

In The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present, Pitchfork offers up their take on the 500 best songs of the past three decades. Focusing on indie rock (Arcade Fire, the Shins), hiphop (Public Enemy, Jay-Z), electronic (Daft Punk, Boards of Canada), pop (Madonna, Justin Timberlake), metal (Metallica, Boris), and experimental underground music (Suicide, Boredoms), it features all-new essays and reviews written with the sharp wit and insight for which the site is known.

Kicking it off in 1977 with the birth of punk and independent music, The Pitchfork 500 runs chronologically, with each chapter representing a distinct period and offering a narrative of how the musical landscape of the day influenced its artists. The book opens with David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Kraftwerk, and Brian Eno, the "art-rock godfathers" who set the tone and tenor for the next thirty years, and wraps up in the present, when bands connect with new audiences through social networking sites and prime-time TV placements -- and when a single mp3 can turn a niche indie artist into a global sensation. Sidebars like "Yacht Rock," "Runaway Trainwrecks," "Nanofads," and "Career Killers" call out some far-from-classic musical trends and identify the guiltiest offenders.

Modernizing the music-guide format, The Pitchfork 500 reflects the way listeners are increasingly processing music -- by song rather than by album. These 500 tracks condense thirty years of essential music into the ultimate chronological playlist, each song advancing the narrative and, by extension, the music itself.

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

esoteric drivel 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 13 people found this review helpful.

It is an indication that something is wrong if you have to go read another book or two on history and philosophy of Buddhism in order to understand the esoteric dogma she is talking about.

Now to put all this in simple terms the jest of the book seams to be:

We are all going to die and we should think about it all the time.
There is no hope and we should not even try
All is suffering and we should not try to do anything about it
All is pain and we should try to find more pain.
We do not have a soul and if you think you do you are deluded

These are not good messages for someone who is really in a state of depression or flux
I can not see what anyone gets out of this book

Her point if there is one is almost un-understandable through all the esoteric drivel

Editorial Review:

To listen to an audio excerpt online in MP3 format, click here.

How can we go on living when things fall apart—when we are overcome by pain, fear, and anxiety? Pema Chödrön’s answer to that question contains some spectacularly good news: there is a fundamental happiness readily available to each one of us, no matter how difficult things seem to be. To find it, according to traditional Buddhist teaching, we must learn to stop running from suffering and instead actually learn to approach it—fearlessly, compassionately, and with curiosity. This radical practice enables us to use all situations, even very painful ones, as means for discovering the truth and love that are utterly indestructible.

2 CDs, 2 1/2 hours, abridged 

Born Country: How Faith, Family, and Music Brought Me Home

Randy Owen, Allen Rucker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Terrific Book....Even better than I expected !!! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I want to say first off I have been a big fan of Alabama ever since 1979 when I first heard 'My Home's In Alabama' so I had extremely high hopes for this book and I wasn't disappointed at all...as a matter a fact it's even better than I could have imagined.

The book starts out with Randy going for his morning drive around Lookout Mountain to start his day.....His and his daughter's dogs all go on this drive through the country with Randy describing the area and how beauiful it is and how much he loves it....From that first chapter you feel like you are going along for a ride with Randy and he is talking to you telling you his story...The book is written in such an easy fun style to read...It makes it very enjoyable...I read it in less than 2 days (for me that is pretty remarkable---never read a book of almost 300 pages that fast before )...I just couldn't put it down !

You will read so many things you never knew..... Like when you hear them sing about a place in one of their songs...you find it's a REAL place that they went to and wrote it into their songs....There is a line in one of their songs called 'Vacation'...Where he talks about going swimming in the Blue Hole...Come to find out in this book....there really is such a place...but you probably wouldn't know that if you didn't live up there....Another cool one is the song 'Ole Baugh Road' on the Southern Star album.....He really did grow up on Baugh Rd !

Liking Alabama as long as I have I feel like I was right there with them all these years and knew the guys (Randy, Teddy, Jeff and Mark) pretty well....but there are so many things that you don't know since they are all private people and don't want to be all over the news (that's a good thing !)....Anyway...some of the things you will remember right along with Randy and some will be brand new ! (For example---In the video 'Tar Top'....That is his son Heath riding the bicycle)...Growing up reading everything I could back then about Alabama...I didn't know that.

He also mentions Dale Earnhardt in here a couple of times (Dale is a big hero of mine) and I didn't know they had known each other since 1981...I knew they were good friends..but had no idea it was for such a long time.


Randy talks alot about his wife (Kelly) and his 3 kids (Alison, Heath and Randa)....His parents also play a huge role in the book.....St Jude's Childrens Hospital is also metioned obviously since it's such an important part of his life....I just can't see how the book could be any better...He intertwined his personal life with his life with the group Alabama so perfectly.....you really get to learn about the whole person...not just the singer.

Honestly I would recommend this book for anyone to read it's just a terrific book, period....but for fans of Alabama this is a must read !....All my friends are wanting copies after seeing mine and hearing me talk about it....Oh yeah I almost forgot...there are some wonderful pictures in it I had never seen before too !

Editorial Review:

Randy Owen, the front man and lead vocalist for one of the biggest music groups of all time, was raised in rural Alabama, grew up working on a small sharecropper farm, and today lives on this same land that his family worked for generations. Born Country weaves together never-before-shared stories about life on the road with the legendary band Alabama, Randy's family, his experiences with temptation in the face of superstardom, and how he held on to his traditional Christian values through it all. Born Country is an inspiring story about how a poor country boy came to touch the lives of millions of fans.

Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music

Ted Gioia

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The definitive account of how the rough sounds of the Mississippi Delta changed the course of American popular music.

The blues grew out of the plantations and prisons, the swampy marshes and fertile cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta. With original research and keen insights, Ted Gioia—the author of a landmark study of West Coast jazz and the critically acclaimed The History of Jazz—brings to life the stirring music of the Delta, evoking the legendary figures who shaped its sound and ethos: Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and others. Tracing the history of the Delta blues from the field hollers and plantation music of the nineteenth century to the exploits of modern-day musicians in the Delta tradition, Delta Blues tells the full story of this timeless and unforgettable music. No cultural force boasts such humble origins or such world-conquering reverberations. In this evocative rags-to-riches tale, Gioia shows how the sounds of the Delta altered the course of popular music in America and in the world beyond. 38 illustrations.

Godel, Escher, Bach

Douglas R. Hofstadter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 245 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not my kind of philosophy 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is boring. It doesn't really tell you anything, kind of "all form, no substance". A cloud of a book.

I approached it a few times in the past, seeing it on top of many bestseller charts, but each time got scared away by apparent lack of clarity - when you open this book at random, you always face something unexpected - math, music, art, insects, human brains, DNA, viruses, zen, artificial intelligence, talking turtles, you name it, and always in different form.

Anyway, I thought to myself one day - it still must be a special book, it is rated so high, and it looks mysteriously clever, and so I have to read it through to understand. And I did. Geez, was it boring.

This book is 800 pages of chasing its own tail. It is full of curiousities, but no rigor, no plot, no structure. For the first 200 pages or so, reading tales seems fascinating, just imagine (you think to yourself) what the author has to offer when it gets to the point ! Never happens. As you reach page 600, you clench your teeth still hoping that there must be some sort of revelation ahead, even if on the last page. None.

These three things is this book about:

1. Self-reference. The great deal of the book is dedicated to approaching the proof of the Godel's theorem which in some sense says that a system cannot understand itself.

2. Form vs. substance. This ranges from extracting meanings from messages on different levels, to having different levels of interpreting the situation.

3. Infinity and different sorts of infinities. This only helps to fog things up. Can't spit without hitting a paradox. And this is presented rather informally.

Speaking of which, EVERYTHING in this book is presented informally. There is no facts, no proofs, no math, no logical reasoning, no conclusions, just a stream of consciousness, which twirls around and around.

It doesn't ask nor answer any single question straight. It's a philosophy, I see, but even a philosopher has to take sides, but the author does not. There is no side here really.

The discussed topics are indeed interesting and mind-provoking, for the first 200 pages even fascinating, like I said, but then it becomes pointless and boring. The only thing I want to ask after reading this book is "SO WHAT ?".

I wish I spent the time on some other book. Something with a plot.

Editorial Review:

Douglas Hofstadter’s book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel Escher and Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

21 Nights

Prince

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Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

21 Nights--a first book by Prince and celebrated photographer Randee St. Nicholas is a stunning multimedia volume offering a rare glimpse into the life, lyrics and mystique of one of the most notable and prolific musicians of our time. This beautifully designed photographic essay flows from Prince's sensational, unprecedented, record-breaking, sold-out 21 concerts in 21 Nights at London's 02 Arena in 2007. Giving insight into his dueling worlds of performance and solitude, 21 Nights incorporates Prince's evocative poetry and lyrics to new songs and other selections, and 124 full-color, sumptuous never-before-published images by Randee St. Nicholas. As part of the multi-dimensional experience, it will also include "Indigo Night," a CD--available only with the book--capturing Prince's after-hours, live after-show sessions--rare and profound moments of musical genius.

21 Nights takes the reader from the passenger seat of a limousine zipping through the streets of London to his sleeping quarters in a luxury hotel. In between we see him and his phenomenal band of musicians, singers and dancers backstage in the make up room to onstage, bathed in purple lights and a fog of gray smoke. Like a movie-in-a-book, readers are taken on his journey from London to Prague, in a style that takes glam rock to a new level.

Then there is poetry and lyrics that reveal the heart and soul of Prince--in addition to his incomparable talent. Going beyond the catchy hook, he expresses himself on everything from the destructive forces of war, greed and superficiality the life giving energy of love, beauty, and--of course--music.

Don't Mind If I Do

George Hamilton, William Stadiem

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Spend a few hours with George Hamilton?

Don't Mind If I Do

Don't let that tanned, handsome, charming surface fool you. Beneath the bronzed façade is a mischievous mind with a wicked wit. George Hamilton doesn't miss a thing. With a front row seat for classic Hollywood's biggest secrets and scandals, George has the intelligence, heart, and unflappable spirit to tell his story, and the story of Tinseltown's heyday, with great good humor and delicious candor -- as only he can. From Where the Boys Are to Dancing with the Stars; from Mary Pickford to Elizabeth Taylor; from smalltown Arkansas to the capitals of Europe -- it's all here, and George has lived to tell and to laugh about it.

As the child of a Dartmouth-educated bandleader father and a glamorous Southern debutante mother whose marriage crumbled early on, George had a childhood filled with misadventures and challenges that his mother always seemed able to turn from tragedy to comedy. Her idea of changing the family's fortunes involved a trip cross-country with three sons and a poodle in a Lincoln Continental, making stops along the way to search for husband/father number three. And she was quick to recognize that George's potential success lay in Hollywood.

George starved nobly for his art in the late 1950s, but was soon starring in major motion pictures directed by the likes of Vincente Minnelli and Louis Malle. He has forgotten more about Hollywood than most movie experts will ever know and shares intimate and hugely entertaining stories of his friendships with Cary Grant; Brigitte Bardot; Robert Mitchum; Merle Oberon; Mae West; Sammy Davis, Jr.; and Judy Garland -- not to mention Lyndon B. Johnson and Elvis's Colonel Tom Parker as well as the King himself -- among others. The world is Hamilton's oyster, and this ultimate insider is ready to share it with us. So fasten your seat belt. We'll tell you when it's safe to move about the cabin again.

Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method)

Tom Kolb

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

gonna be very helpful 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I'm one of those who has to know every step on the way to big picture. For those who need to KNOW how to play rather than just bang it out.

Well-Structured Book, Wealth of Material 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I think the irony with many standard guitar methods, at least the better ones, is that they usually expect you to have a basic knowledge of music theory to allow the exercises to really sink in from the very beginning. Conversely, I think the irony with starting a music theory course or method is that it normally expects you to have already begun contextualizing the material on the instrument of your choice before you can even begin to make practical sense of the material and apply it. It seems very much like a Catch-22.

What Tom Kolb manages to do in the opening chapters of this book is quickly and thoroughly provide the vital concepts you need to really get going with both: a diagram of the fretboard with all of the notes on it (without the high register), a nice explanation of the different types of notation, the terms you need to begin to develop your musical language abilities, scales and key signatures, intervals, and triads (the most basic chord forms). He uses a bottom-up approach; however detailed or complex the material gets, he usually manages to apply it to the larger context. And I use the word "usually" because it's very apparent that music theory becomes an infinitely large topic the more you cover. The latter chapters contain some very heady concepts that require playing experience to contextualize.

This book is loaded with material, and can be challenging depending on how much you invest yourself in it. If you use a healthy balance of memorization and application all the way through, there is no doubt that you will benefit.

Editorial Review:

Guitarists of all levels will find a wealth of practical music knowledge in this special book and CD package. Veteran guitarist and author Tom Kolb dispels the mysteries of music theory using plain and simple terms and diagrams. The accompanying CD provides 94 tracks of music examples, scales, modes, chords, ear training, and much more!

Clapton: The Autobiography

Eric Clapton

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Total reviews: 317 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“I found a pattern in my behavior that had been repeating itself for years, decades even. Bad choices were my specialty, and if something honest and decent came along, I would shun it or run the other way.”

With striking intimacy and candor, Eric Clapton tells the story of his eventful and inspiring life in this poignant and honest autobiography. More than a rock star, he is an icon, a living embodiment of the history of rock music. Well known for his reserve in a profession marked by self-promotion, flamboyance, and spin, he now chronicles, for the first time, his remarkable personal and professional journeys.

Born illegitimate in 1945 and raised by his grandparents, Eric never knew his father and, until the age of nine, believed his actual mother to be his sister. In his early teens his solace was the guitar, and his incredible talent would make him a cult hero in the clubs of Britain and inspire devoted fans to scrawl “Clapton is God” on the walls of London’s Underground. With the formation of Cream, the world's first supergroup, he became a worldwide superstar, but conflicting personalities tore the band apart within two years. His stints in Blind Faith, in Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and in Derek and the Dominos were also short-lived but yielded some of the most enduring songs in history, including the classic “Layla.”

During the late sixties he played as a guest with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as well as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and longtime friend George Harrison. It was while working with the latter that he fell for George’s wife, Pattie Boyd, a seemingly unrequited love that led him to the depths of despair, self-imposed seclusion, and drug addiction. By the early seventies he had overcome his addiction and released the bestselling album 461 Ocean Boulevard, with its massive hit “I Shot the Sheriff.” He followed that with the platinum album Slowhand, which included “Wonderful Tonight,” the touching love song to Pattie, whom he finally married at the end of 1979. A short time later, however, Eric had replaced heroin with alcohol as his preferred vice, following a pattern of behavior that not only was detrimental to his music but contributed to the eventual breakup of his marriage.
In the eighties he would battle and begin his recovery from alcoholism and become a father. But just as his life was coming together, he was struck by a terrible blow: His beloved four-year-old son, Conor, died in a freak accident. At an earlier time Eric might have coped with this tragedy by fleeing into a world of addiction. But now a much stronger man, he took refuge in music, responding with the achingly beautiful “Tears in Heaven.”

Clapton is the powerfully written story of a survivor, a man who has achieved the pinnacle of success despite extraordinary demons. It is one of the most compelling memoirs of our time.