Styles

Celebrate 40 years of WHAM! with the Sunday Times bestseller from one half of the world’s most famous bands

‘I couldn’t put it down. Such a fantastic book’ Chris Evans, Virgin Radio
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School mates. Band mates. Soul mates . . .

When Andrew Ridgley took George Michael, the new boy at school, under his wing, he discovered a soul mate.

In Wham! George and Me, Andrew tells the story of how they rode a rollercoaster of success around the world while making iconic records and surviving superstardom with their friendship intact. It is a memoir of love, music, the flamboyant 1980s and living in a pop hurricane.

No one else can ever tell their story – because no one else was there . . .

Forty years on from their explosion into pop music, Andrew Ridgeley tells the inside story of Wham!, his life-long friendship with George Michael and the formation of a band that changed music.
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‘A joyous celebration of the Wham! years. For anyone who was a teenager in the early 1980s, it will take you on a nostalgia trip. It’s an honest but affectionate account of a remarkable duo who remained true to their origins and their friendship throughout it all’ Daily Express

‘As infectious as their music’ Daily Mirror

‘A remarkably generous memoir. In more than one sense, the biography of a friend’ Spectator

‘A great story’ Saturday Live, Radio 4

‘A lovely book. A love letter to George’ Graham Norton, BBC One

‘Charming, heartfelt . . . there’s a real poignancy to Ridgeley’s description of Wham!’s glory days’ Sunday Times

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‘In the Spring of 1989, shortly after my twenty-seventh birthday, as I stood in the sleet at a bus stop in Colchester, it dawned on me that I had probably, all things considered, failed in my mission to become Sting. At least, for the time being.’

Lost in Music is about growing up with pop music – about hearing it, buying it, loving it, and attempting to play it in public for money. A brilliant combination of the confessional and the unapologetic, this is a book for anyone who has ever treasured vinyl, or sung into a roll-on deodorant in front of the bedroom mirror and dreamed of playing Wembley.

Praise for Lost in Music

‘Very, very funny . . . Giles Smith is a wonderful writer’ Nick Hornby

‘A wonderfully funny pop-music memoir . . . You don’t have to know who Nik Kershaw is to laugh out loud at the chapter about him’ Sebastian Faulks, Spectator

‘One of the best books about music that you will ever read . . . It is impossible to read Lost in Music without laughing out loud’ Daily Telegraph

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Foreword by Bob Stanley

On a sunny Saturday morning in May 1956, a fifteen-year-old, then called Harry Webb, was mooching down Waltham Cross High Street. He heard some music blaring out of a parked car. It stopped him in his tracks.

The song was ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by Elvis Presley. It sounded like nothing he had ever heard before. In that instant, the schoolboy who was destined to take the hit parade by storm as Cliff Richard fell in love with rock and roll. It gave him the thrill, the purpose and the mission that has shaped his life ever since.

Cliff lives in and for music. And with 65 years as a hitmaker, the music filling his head is a broad category. His soundtrack begins by blasting us all back into that first life-changing explosion of rock and also includes great soul soul stars such as Aretha Franklin, longtime colleagues like Elton John, and much-missed close friends Cilla Black and Olivia Newton-John.

This book is meaningful to Cliff on many levels. The 30 or so songs here that make up the soundtrack to his life have each moved him deeply, but it’s also about the legendary artists he met, and often got to know. He shares those stories and memories with you, too.

A Head Full of Music is a vibrant personal journey for Cliff, and it’s a joy to accompany him on it. Get wired for sound with him and read on.

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One of the biggest mistakes when someone starts learning to play the piano is playing songs with their index finger instead of using all fingers and both hands. Most piano sheet music books for kids have notes for practicing with the right hand only, which encourages the ‘plinky-plonk’ playing that children should avoid.

In this book, however, all songs have treble and bass clef notes for practicing with both hands!

So, suppose you are looking for a diverse collection of large-print piano sheet music for kids, young learners, or adult students that are simple enough for beginners to play and show letters (note names), numbers (fingerings), and lyrics. In that case, this is the perfect book for you.

In this book, you will get:

• 55 BEGINNER PIANO SONGS FOR KIDS — All songs have been arranged especially for young learners. This means that all complex chords and rhythms have been simplified. Also, all the pieces are kept relatively short, only one or two pages long. This will allow your child to enter the magic world of piano without frustration.
• FROM EASIEST TO HARDEST – Are you tired of searching for piano pieces with the appropriate difficulty? At the beginning of this book, you will find very simple songs, and then they gradually get more challenging as the book progresses. This will keep your child motivated and enable them to progress through the levels.
• DIFFERENT TYPES OF SONGS – You will get a diverse selection of pieces: well-known children’s songs and nursery rhymes and simplified classical pieces, as well as famous English evergreens and international folk songs. This varied selection of easy sheet music will fuel your kid’s enjoyment when practicing the piano.
• WITH LETTERS AND NUMBERS – The most straightforward songs in this book are presented with letters above the music notes to help you know what keys to press. However, as the pieces get more complex, the note names have been deliberately left out to encourage note recognition. All songs include finger placements (numbers) in problem areas.
• LARGE PRINT – Most music notes for beginners are pretty small, so learners struggle to read them without squinting. To avoid this, all songs in this book have a clear layout and large print for students to follow the pieces easily.
• NOTES FOR BOTH HANDS – Most easy piano pieces for children have notes for practicing one hand only, encouraging them to play songs with only their index finger. The proper technique, however, is playing with all fingers and both hands. That’s why all pieces in this book are in both treble and bass clef (i.e., both right and left hand).
• FREE AUDIO FILES TO DOWNLOAD – Do you want to get an idea of what a piece should sound like? If you are unsure how to play a piece, our audio files will help you get a feel for the melody.

Buy this book NOW and enter the splendid world of piano and music.

This book also makes a perfect gift idea, birthday gift or Christmas present!

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Selected pieces for Trinity College London trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn exams from 2019. Each book has been compiled and edited by a panel of experts and contains a selection of repertoire from across a range of styles and genres, including accompanied and unaccompanied pieces. Demonstration recordings (Andrew Crowley, trumpet) and piano playalongs can be downloaded free.

Note: Trinity’s Brass 2019-2022 Syllabus has been extended to 2024, at which point a new syllabus and new publications will be released. Therefore, Trinity’s Trumpet Exam Pieces 2019-2022 books will be valid under overlap until 2025, 12-months after the release of new publications.

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THE OFFICIAL STORY OF A MUSICAL ICON – TOLD IN FULL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS OWN WORDS

‘Funny, smart and heartbreaking. Incredible… go listen to it or read it.’ Robbie Williams

‘In what might be the most entertaining music memoir since Elton John’s Me, Boy George’s Karma weaves a meandering path through several decades’ of fame, success, crash and burn, before delivering him into a kind of autumnal meditative serenity… This is George O’Dowd in all his exhausting glory.’ Observer

‘Joyously indiscreet’ Daily Mail

‘I went to a lot of trouble to create Boy George and then I went through a whole battle for years about not wanting to be him. But now I enjoy and embrace it in a way that I wasn’t able to as a young person…. I’m finally learning to be George Alan O’Dowd from Eltham.’

Karma is the definitive autobiography from the incomparable Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello award-winning lead singer of Culture Club and LGBTQ+ vanguard: Boy George. Told in his inimitable style, Karma tells the story of the charismatic frontman – the drama, the music, his journey of addiction and recovery, surviving prison, meeting legends like David Bowie, Prince and Madonna, and the highs and lows of a life lived in the spotlight and in the headlines.

This is the explosive and searingly honest account of Boy George’s life as a child growing up in sixties London, coming out to his Irish Catholic family and exploring his sexuality through the hedonism of the seventies – the glam rock and punk rock revolution that birthed Culture Club – and the heydays of the nineties, to finally embracing the man and artist that he is today. With all the humour, honesty, sarcasm (and hats!) that you’d expect, Karma gives us a unique insight into Boy George’s incredible story and the true evolution of a music icon.

‘Culture Club is always going to be one of those lovers I go back to. I’ve railed against it and that Boy George character I created. For years I convinced myself I was a creature of habit, unchangeable, immovable. But eventually you have to look in the mirror. Not looking for spots, looking for something deeper. Why the hell am I here? I would say life is the point of life.’

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An insider’s guide to achieving that dream career by one of the brightest stars in musical theatre.

Being in a West End or Broadway musical is the dream of thousands of talented performers. But competition is intense and reaching the spotlight can often require a leap into the dark. So You Want To Be In Musicals? is your comprehensive guide to building – and sustaining – a successful career in musical theatre, and introduces you to everything you need to know about:

• Training how to select a drama school, what to do to get in, and what to do once you’re there
• Auditioning how to choose and prepare your pieces, and foster a positive attitude towards auditions
• Rehearsing how to construct your character, work with the director, and develop your own creative process
• Performing how to deal with nerves, what to do as an understudy, and how to sustain that eight-show-a-week routine
• Working how to get an agent, how to market yourself effectively, and how to maintain a healthy body and mind

Along with a wealth of honest, straightforward advice, the book is packed with instructive anecdotes from Ruthie’s own glittering career.

Written with Daniel Bowling music supervisor and director on many of the West End’s biggest shows – including The Phantom of the Opera, Joseph, Mary Poppins and Avenue Q – So You Want To Be In Musicals? provides an extraordinary wealth of inside information and advice, that would usually take years of hard work and determination to obtain, in one essential volume.

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‘A Christmas cracker’ – Record Collector

So here it is…

The perfect gift for music lovers of all ages, The Official Christmas No. 1 Singles Book is jam-packed with facts, figures and photos to get your toes tapping along to the sounds of seven decades of festive chart-toppers.

Have you ever wondered how many Christmas number ones actually have the word ‘Christmas’ in their title? Or how many TV talent-show winners have claimed the festive top spot?

Do you know which artist has racked up the most Christmas number ones? Or which single is the biggest-selling seasonal chart-topper of all time?

Can you name the only song to have topped the Christmas chart twice by two different artists? Or the only artist to have been Christmas number one twice with the same song?

The answers to all these questions – plus many more – can be found in this exclusive festive companion, published in conjunction with the Official Charts Company.

With a fully illustrated double-page spread for every year since the UK singles chart began in 1952, Michael Mulligan’s fun and authoritative journey through the Christmas archives will delight curious browsers and dedicated pop nerds alike. Featuring top-ten countdowns, fascinating trivia about the highest-charting Christmas singles and plenty of entertaining infographics, this is the ideal family stocking-filler, celebrating all that is wonderful, whimsical and unpredictable about the festive season’s most hotly contested musical event.

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– THIS IS A RENWED VERSION WITH UPDATED COVER / CONTENT / ILLUSTRATIONS –

“Take a Peek into the Psychology of Modern Korean People Through Slang”-李宇龙, SM Entertainment-

“The Kpop Dictionary is a fun mix of common slang and adages frequently found in Kpop and Korean Dramas which will help provide a base for understanding that goes far beyond subtitles. As a YouTube personality who focuses on the ever-changing world of Korean entertainment, I see this book being an extremely useful resource to anyone interested in improving their comprehension of Korean Dramas and Kpop.”- Stephanie Ishler, Hallyu Back –

“This will be the Bible of Korean Culture”-Seunghyun Shin, Funtastic Korea

Learn to understand what your favorite K-Pop idols are saying on MV, TV Shows, and Dramas!

– 500 Essential K-Pop Words and Phrases

– Pronunciation Guide for Accuracy

– Definitions and Their Cultural Background- Real Life Conversation Examples

Have you just started following K-Pop and K-Drama but can’t understand the lingo? Do you want to be a part of K-Pop and K-Drama fandom but can’t blend in because you don’t know the jargon everyone is using? Or are you an experienced K-Pop / K-Drama fan wanting to expand your vocabulary? Then this book is for you!

The K-Pop Dictionary is designed to help you learn the most up-to-date vocabulary used in K-Pop, TV shows, and K-Dramas. As the title of this book suggests, this is not an ordinary dictionary: It is specifically designed to teach you what the words mean in a K-Pop and K-Drama context, because without knowing the cultural background of the words, they are just a bunch of enigmas.

So we have included essential information such as where the words originated, plus where, when, and how they are used. Without this, you are missing out on all the news and updates other fans are talking about!We have also included real life examples of their use. You will gain a thorough understanding of the vocabulary, its nuances, and its origins. You can use this as a quick reference book any time you run into K-Pop and K-Drama lingo, or as a study reference by utilizing the conversation examples included on every page. Oh wait! We included intuitive illustrations to help your understanding!

Whatever your goal, this is a great way to expand your K-Pop and K-Drama knowledge; your window into the fascinating world of Korean culture!A dictionary of honest human interaction, Korean pop culture, and everyday K-POP life. A resource for language learners confused by real-world Korean, and a tool to help you understand the world of a K-POP fan. But more importantly, great entertainment for everyone.

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From the messed-up mind of music sensation YUNGBLUD comes the follow-up to 2019’s smash hit graphic novel The Twisted Tales of The Ritalin Club! Now eighteen, and having graduated from Blackheart’s High School; YUNGBLUD, plus his super-powered friends Harmony, Scout, Zombie Joshua, Em, and Encore are now enrolled as students at Quarry Bank University. At first, it seems like university life is all drugs, sex and relationship drama. But when a new foe with a familiar face arrives from the Manga Dimension, the Ritalin Club find themselves caught in a trip that may cost them their very lives.

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A progressive rock supergroup? In the 1980s? Who would want such a thing critics asked, as they immediately went on the attack. But music fans disagreed. John Wetton, Geoff Downes, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer had played with the likes of King Crimson, Roxy Music, Yes and ELP to name just a few and they lived up to the supergroup tag. Asia’s self-titled debut album went to number one for nine weeks on the US charts, went top twenty in the UK and sold over ten million copies worldwide. Asia was all over MTV, had a sold-out world tour, several hit singles and a Grammy nomination. After 1983’s Alpha album, Wetton left to be replaced, bizarrely by Greg Lake was in, then Wetton was back and Howe was gone, replaced by Mandy Meyer for Astra in 1985. Fans needed a scorecard to keep track of it all, then the group split. Geoff Downes would struggle to keep the flame alive with John Payne from 1991-2005 until the original line up reunited in 2006 with newfound respect accorded them by both the media and fans until Wetton’s sad passing in 2017. This book covers every studio album as well as key live albums, compilations and solo projects in detail, making it a comprehensive guide to the music of this enigmatic and ever-changing band.

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Renegade Snares is the definitive book on drum x26 bass music. Pieced together using original interviews conducted with all the scene s main players, it traces the history of jungle/drum x26 bass from its early roots in soundsystem culture and rave music right through to the present day. With its hyper-speed breakbeats, warping bass pressure, and vast spectrum of sounds, drum x26 bass quick spawned a whole new movement in youth culture. What began as an outlaw street reverberation from the inner cities of Britain developed into a Mercury-winning, chart-topping, world-conquering genre in just a few short years. The frontier-breaking sorcery that emanated from its foundational producers and DJs pushed new levels of sonic science into the music world, and it has influenced all other electronic music genres in assorted ways. From the shock of the new to a global phenomenon, drum x26 bass has morphed from frowned-upon marginalisation to establishment approval — and back again. A multicultural triumph, it is a story of resistance and resilience that takes in pioneers such as Goldie, Roni Size, Kemistry x26 Storm, Photek, Fabio x26 Grooverider, and many more renegade mavericks — even, at one point, David Bowie. With vivid descriptions of key tracks and a detailed lineage of the scene s development, Renegade Snares traces the genre s gestation while also examining its musical twists and turns, worldwide spread, and enduring popularity. And, ultimately, it asks: surely a genre of music with such a significant grounding in black music culture, developed by so many black pioneers in its formative years, could never be whitewashed . . . could it?

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Julian Cope’s highly acclaimed autobiography and its long-awaited sequel in one extraordinary volume.

Julian Cope shot to fame with eighties band ‘Teardrop Explodes’ during the Punk era. Hailed as a visionary by those people who recognise his genius and a madman by those who find him perplexing, he has become a cult figure in the music world.

Head-On/Repossessed is written in Cope’s own inimitable style and follows his journey through a time of incredible change within the music industry.
Head-on is the highly acclaimed autobiography that The Observer viewed as “book of the year” when it was first released. Repossesed picks up in 1983 where Head On ends and continues up until 1989.

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Forged in a West London fire ritual in 1979 and reborn with their original line-up in 2008, Killing Joke have been creating uncompromising music for 44 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 15 studio albums and almost 200 songs of Killing Joke’s vocation to date. It’s a celebration of a band who are often challenging, always provocative, but ultimately life-affirming.

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Beginning in 1994 and closing in the first months of 1998, the UK passed through a cultural moment as distinct and as celebrated as any since the war. Founded on rock music, celebrity, boom-time economics and fleeting political optimism – this was ‘Cool Britannia’. Records sold in their millions, a new celebrity elite emerged and Tony Blair’s Labour Party found itself, at long last, returned to government. Drawing on interviews from all the major bands – including Oasis, Blur, Elastica and Suede – from music journalists, record executives and those close to government, The Last Party charts the rise and fall of the Britpop movement. John Harris was there; and in this gripping new book he argues that the high point of British music’s cultural impact also signalled its effective demise – If rock stars were now friends of the government, then how could they continue to matter?

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Bob Dylan is the magician who sprinkled poetic fairy dust on to the popular music of the early sixties and his songwriting sparked a revolution and changed rock music forever. The diminutive poet/singer claimed he was merely a ‘song and dance man’ but Dylan altered popular music from intellectually bereft teenage rebellion into a serious adult art form worthy of academic study. Dylan headed for the sixties as a Little Richard rock ‘n’ roller but soon turned acoustic folkie and after absorbing the music and words of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson and Brecht, he became a vagabond social troubadour. Basking in Rimbaud he transformed into a poetic symbolist before later immersing himself in lysergic beat surrealism. The chameleon of Dylan in the sixties was bewildering to his followers. His first album was a raw debut folk/blues. Then followed three acoustic poetic gems, three ground-breaking surreal ,electric wonders and four that were more mundane and country-tinged. But by the mid-sixties he was a strung-out polka-dotted rock star. He crashed (physically and mentally) before leaving the sixties as a clean-cut country crooner. Dylan had mutated more times than a trilobite. Dylan’s ground-breaking music changed the world and his amazing story is revealed by exploring the eleven albums that he released between 1962 and 1970.

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The Work is a book of lyrics and illustrations by the late Scott Hutchison, lyricist, vocalist and songwriter of Frightened Rabbit. This paperback follows the sold-out limited hardback edition and presents the band’s complete lyrics (including B-sides and rarities) with handwritten excerpts by Scott, alongside his illustrations. The book is meant both as a celebration of and tribute to Scott’s unbridled creativity. It aims to fulfil his wishes by being the book that he wanted to create and had spoken of creating before his death.

Readers are advised that The Work includes content about topics that some may find upsetting, including references to suicide.

“Seeing this book come to life has been something of a bittersweet experience. Reading the lyrics without music really brings home the stark reality of what Scott was going through and at the same time highlights the talent of someone who I consider to be one of the best songwriters in the world. This would’ve been a different release had Scott been involved but we all felt it was important that his lyrics be celebrated and given the spotlight they deserve. As Scott has said, these words were always meant to be accompanied by music, but the impact of digesting them without is no less great. Pick up this book of words, hold it, share it and immerse yourself in the world Scott created by opening not only his heart but his whole soul to the world.” Grant Hutchison (Scott’s brother and drummer of Frightened Rabbit)

Contents:

The Greys

Music Now

Yawns

Be Less Rude

Go-Go Girls

Behave!

Square 9

Snake

It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop

The Modern Leper

I Feel Better

Good Arms vs Bad Arms

Fast Blood

Old, Old Fashioned

The Twist

Head Rolls Off

My Backwards Walk

Keep Yourself Warm

Poke

Floating In the Forth

Who’d You Kill Now?

Don’t

Soon Go

Things

Swim Until You Can’t See Land

The Loneliness and The Scream

The Wrestle

Skip The Youth

Nothing Like You

Footshooter

Not Miserable

Living In Colour

Yes, I Would

Fun Stuff

Learned Your Name

Scottish Winds

Fuck This Place

The Work

State Hospital

Boxing Night

Home From War

Off

Wedding Gloves

Acts of Man

Backyard Skulls

Holy

The Woodpile

Late March, Death March

December’s Traditions

Housing (In)

Dead Now

Nitrous Gas

Housing (Out)

The Oil Slick

If You Were Me

Snow Still Melting

Escape Route

Today’s Cross

Architect

Default Blues

Radio Silence

Candlelit

Death Dream

Get Out

I Wish I Was Sober

Woke Up Hurting

Little Drum

Still Want to Be Here

An Otherwise Disappointing Life

Break

Blood Under the Bridge

400 Bones

Lump Street

Die Like a Rich Boy

The Wreck

Wait ‘Til the Morning

A Lick of Paint

Roadless

How It Gets In

Rained On

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To this day, they were, their fans believe, the best band in the world. Critics and sales figures told a similar story. Yet for all their brilliance and adoration – their famously energetic live shows routinely interrupted by stage invasions – The Smiths were continually plagued by their reticence to play the game, and by the time of 1987’s Strangeways Here We Come, they had split.

Tony Fletcher’s A Light That Never Goes Out – part celebration, part paean – moves from Manchester in the nineteenth-century to the present day to tell the complete story of The Smiths. The product of extensive research and unprecedented access, it will serve to confirm The Smiths as one of the most important and influential rock groups of all time.

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