The Dreamer: An Autobiography by Cliff Richard

$16.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: near fine

Published to coincide with his 80th birthday, a tour and another new album, national treasure Sir Cliff Richard has emerged stronger than ever after devastating false accusations threatened to ruin his life. As he celebrates 60 years in music, he tells his incredible story in his first, full autobiograp hy. A living history of pop.'Before Cliff Richard and The Shadows there was nothing worth listening to in British music.' John LennonCelebrating sixty years in music, with a hit in every decade since the 1950s, Sir Cliff Richard surely has a story to tell: coming of age in 1950s London, playing at the 2is Cafe where it all began, and now approaching is 80th birthday with record sales of 250m and counting.Cliff Richard was a pioneer - an original, with a new sound style, exploding out of London's post-war skiffle scene. His debut single 'Move It' is widely credited as the record that kick started British rock 'n' roll. Pre-Beatles, Cliff was the teen idol. His story takes us in front of screaming fans across the UK and beyond, onto TV's first pop show Oh Boy!, then through 40 years of Top of the Pops, first with the Kinks and latterly the likes of McFly. He's seen era-defining pop groups and iconic TV shows come and go. He's still making new music, and this summer he's playing to sell-out arenas.His recent struggles have only intensified the devotion of his fans, and spurred him on to a new phase of creativity. He feels the time is right to tell his own story and cement his legacy in the history of pop culture. ...Show more

Touched by the Sun - My Friendship with Jackie by Carly Simon

$15.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: near fine

A New York Times Bestselling AuthorA chance encounter at Martha's Vineyard party blossomed into an enduring friendship. Carly Simon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis made an unlikely pair -- Carly, a free and artistic spirit; and Jackie, one of the most celebrated and unknowable women in American history. Nonetheless, over the next decade they forged a connection deeper than either could have foreseen. Their shared time brought a welcome lightness and comfort to their days, but their conversations often veered into more profound territory as they helped each other navigate the shifting waters of a life lived, publicly, in the wake of great love and great loss. ...Show more

The Butterfly Effect - How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America by Marcus J Moore

$16.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: near fine

'Kendrick Lamar understands and employs blues, jazz, and soul in his music, which makes it startling. His work is more than merely brilliant; it is magic' Toni Morrison 'Lamar is a man living on a real and metaphorical peak, with one eye trained on the heavens, the other searching for stories in the va lley below' Guardian __________ Kendrick Lamar is at the top of his game. He has been described as the poet Laurette of hip-hop, perceptive, philosophical, unapologetic, fearless, and an innovative storyteller whose body of work has been compared to James Joyce and James Baldwin. He is a visionary who will go down as history as one of the most important artists of all time. But what's so striking about Kendrick Lamar, aside from his impressive accolades, is how he's effectively established himself as a formidable opponent of oppression, a force for change. Through his confessional poetics, his politically charged anthems, and his radical performances, Lamar has become a beacon of light for many people in America. Written by veteran journalist and music critic Marcus J. Moore, this is the first biography of Kendrick Lamar. It's the definitive account of his coming-of-age as an artist, his resurrection of jazz, his profound impact on a racially fraught America, and his emergence as the bona fide King of Rap. The book traces not only Lamar's powerful impact on music but also on our current society, especially under the weight of police brutality, divisive politics, and social injustice. With exclusive interviews with his family, friends, and record producers, this book is the must-read for any fan. The Butterfly Effect is the extraordinary, triumphant story of a modern lyrical prophet and an American icon who has given hope to those buckling under the weight of systemic oppression, reminding everyone that through it all, "we gon' be alright". __________ 'By the end of listening to his first full album, I felt like I knew everything about him. He brings you into his world with his lyrics in a way that really paints a clear picture' Eminem 'I love everything about his music. I can literally listen to his music and become a kid growing up with all the struggles in the inner city, but at the same time [learn] all the lessons it taught that we use as men today.' Lebron James 'For a gentle dude, he throws a righteous punch; I wouldn't get in the way of it. No single artist will ever be the antidote to a generation's malaise, but just identifying some of the problems really helps' Bono 'Kendrick Lamar is a master of storytelling' New Yorker ...Show more

You Are the Music: How Music Reveals What it Means to be Human by Victoria Williamson

$12.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: very good

'You are the music / While the music lasts' T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets Do babies remember music from the womb? Can classical music increase your child's IQ? Is music good for productivity? Can it aid recovery from illness and injury? And what is going on in your brain when Ultravox's 'Vienna', Schoen berg's Verklarte Nacht or Dizzee Rascal's 'Bonkers' transports you back to teenage years? In a brilliant new work that will delight music lovers of every persuasion, music psychologist Victoria Williamson examines our relationship with music across the whole of a lifetime. Along the way she reveals the amazing ways in which music can physically reshape our brains, explores how 'smart music listening' can improve cognitive performance, and considers the perennial puzzle of what causes 'earworms'. Requiring no specialist musical or scientific knowledge, this upbeat, eye-opening book reveals as never before the extent of the universal language of music that lives deep inside us all. ...Show more

The Cookbook Tour Europe: Adventures in Food and Music by Flip Grater

$16.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: very good

Kiwi songstress Flip Grater took her guitar to Europe, she slept on couches, took in the sights and must-sees of Europe, performed her music in seven countries - and ate some great food. The book describes the places, people and experience of touring. Includes 50 recipes that Flip either cooked herself or were cooked by the people she stayed with. Includes a CD of Flip Grater's music. ...Show more

Bogan: An Insider's Guide to Metal, Mullets and Mayhem by Dave Snell

$10.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: very good

'When I was twelve years old I was introduced to the music of AC/DC. My dad had bought a cassette tape called The Razor's Edge. The cover was metallic silver, with the band's logo bursting through it in bright red. The tape had it all: the chanting crowds, the pounding drums, the guitar building up in t he background. It made me want to put on a cap, lace up some steel caps and stand in front of millions singing about how great it is to be a working man. It became the only tape that I would let my family listen to.' Bogans are a special breed and inhabit a special place in New Zealand society. They are simultaneously pop cultural icons and working-class heroes, while also prone to being noisy neighbours and childish pranksters. They are carved in black denim with mullets blowing in the wind. Bogan celebrates the culture and community that goes with being a bogan. Dave Snell, self-proclaimed Doctor of Boganology, interviews a dozen bogans from all walks of life: musicians, radio DJs, petrol-heads, an insurance salesman and a couple of boganettes. What emerges is a hard-case and at times hard-hitting picture of life in the thrash lane. ...Show more

Little Black Songbook: Johnny Cash by Jefferson Bass

$10.00 NZD

Category: Music | Series: Little Black Songbook | Reading Level: very good

Contains sheet music and audio-CD

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp - An Autobiography by Richard Hell

$10.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: very good

The sharp, lyrical, and no-holds-barred autobiography of the iconoclastic writer and musician Richard Hell, charting the childhood, coming of age, and misadventures of an artist in an indelible era of rock and roll...From an early age, Richard Hell dreamed of running away. His father died when he was se ven, and at seventeen he left his mother and sister behind and headed for New York City, place of limitless possibilities. He arrived penniless with the idea of becoming a poet; ten years later he was a pivotal voice of the age of punk, starting such seminal bands as Television, the Heartbreakers, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids--whose song "Blank Generation" remains the defining anthem of the era. Hell was significantly responsible for creating CBGB as punk ground zero; his Voidoids toured notoriously with the Clash, and Malcolm McLaren would credit Hell as inspiration for the Sex Pistols. There were kinetic nights in New York's club demi-monde, descent into drug addiction, and an ever-present yearning for redemption through poetry, music, and art."We lived in the suburbs in America in the fifties," Hell writes. "My roots are shallow. I'm a little jealous of people with strong ethnic and cultural roots. Lucky Martin Scorsese or Art Spiegelman or Dave Chappelle. I came from Hopalong Cassidy and Bugs Bunny and first grade at ordinary Maxwell Elementary." How this legendary downtown artist went from a prosaic childhood in the idyllic Kentucky foothills to igniting a movement that would take over New York's and London's restless youth cultures--and spawn the careers of not only Hell himself, but a cohort of friends such as Tom Verlaine, Patti Smith, the Ramones, and Debbie Harry--is just part of the fascinating story Hell tells. With stunning powers of observation, he delves into the details of both the world that shaped him and the world he shaped.An acutely rendered, unforgettable coming-of-age story, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp evokes with feeling, clarity, and piercing intelligence that classic journey: the life of one who comes from the hinterlands into the city in search of art and passion. ...Show more

Crowded House - Private Universe by Chris Twomey; Kerry Doole

$25.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: very good

An illustrated biography of New Zealand band, Crowded House, telling the story of the band from the early days to the present.

The Mechanics of Popular Music - A New Zealand Perspective by Mike Chunn; Jeremy Chunn

$12.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: very good

Anton Von Webern - A Chronicle of His Life and Work by Hans Moldenhauer

$35.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: very good

Alban Berg - A Biography by Karen Monson

$25.00 NZD

Category: Music | Reading Level: good-very good