Styles
-
David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God: David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God
The story of how David Bowie’s search for meaning inspired him to write the music that defined a generation.
In this wide-ranging biography, Peter Ormerod explores the quest for spirituality that powered David Bowie’s creativity from his earliest recordings to his death-defying final album. Bowie’s genre-expanding, era-crossing genius had an extraordinary impact on popular culture but his life-long search for spiritual truth and enlightenment has been overlooked.
From Bowie’s first musical encounters as a choirboy, this book traces his spiritual obsessions over the years. As a young musician at the start of his career, he was enraptured by Tibetan Buddhism. It was the first step in a spiritual journey that would generate his most profound lyrics and music. From the Kabbalah-influenced tracks of Station to Station to Ziggy Stardust’s messiah complex and the profound affinity between Heroes and Christian thought, Ormerod sheds new light on the spiritual traditions behind Bowie’s genius.
Taking Bowie’s spiritual explorations and faith seriously, Ormerod shows us how this quest for meaning propelled him through his darkest moments and biggest successes, lending his music a timelessness and depth that has spoken to so many people across the world. Whether experiencing a dark night of the soul in LA during his occult phase or reciting the Lord’s prayer in front of thousands of concertgoers, Bowie was always searching for that universal truth that lies beyond everyday reality.
Read more
From £16.35£20.00 -
Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner
From the award-winning composer/co-lyricist behind such iconic projects as Hairspray, Sister Act, Mary Poppins Returns, and Smash comes a wickedly funny, no-holds-barred memoir.In Never Mind the Happy, musical dynamo Marc Shaiman looks back on five decades of Broadway triumphs, Hollywood hijinks, and unforgettable collaborations. Along the way, he charts the personal highs and heartbreaks that have shaped him—spending his teenage years in community theater, starting a decades-long collaboration with Bette Midler in the ’70s, surviving the AIDS crisis of the ’80s, his award-winning film music career in the Hollywood of the ’90s, right up to the peaks (and valleys) of creating Broadway musicals from 2000 on.
Candid, hilarious, and deeply human, Shaiman’s story is a tribute to the power of music, the pull of the spotlight, and the beat that never stops.
Part showbiz tell-all, part love letter to the melancholy that fuels creativity, told with perfect comic timing—along with a few wrong notes, and plenty of standing ovations.
Read more
From £23.99 -
Pet Shop Boys Volume: The complete visual record
Marking the fortieth anniversary of Please, the duo’s first album release, Pet Shop Boys Volume presents their entire visual output to date in a contemporary literary format.Pet Shop Boys – Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe – are the most successful duo in the history of pop music. Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, including No. 1 hits such as ‘West End girls’, ‘It’s a sin’, and ‘Always on my mind’, and platinum-selling albums Please, Actually, and Very.
Uniquely spanning the worlds of music, art, film, theatre, design, and fashion, Pet Shop Boys have forged an identity as unforgettable as their sound. From the seminal graphic design of their record sleeves to their groundbreaking videos and innovative stage shows, they have set the bar for the visual presentation of pop.
Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the release of their first album in 1986, Pet Shop Boys Volume is the definitive retrospective of the duo’s career. Expanding upon Pet Shop Boys Catalogue, published two decades ago, it presents their entire visual output to date, year by year. Sleeve artworks and packaging, stills from every video, film, and performance, stage sets and costume designs, photoshoots, publications, and even Christmas cards all feature, as does every collaboration with luminaries including Mark Farrow, Wolfgang Tillmans, Martin Parr, Bruce Weber, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Derek Jarman, Scott King, Zaha Hadid, Tom Scutt, and Es Devlin.
Concise commentaries by Chris Heath and Philip Hoare provide illuminating insights into the genesis of each project. Hoare’s original introduction is accompanied by a new introduction from Libby Sellers who considers the importance of Pet Shop Boys within the history of design, while a new foreword by Jeremy Deller reflects on the enduring impact of their music and image.
With a jacket designed by Farrow and a new conversation between Heath, Tennant, and Lowe, Pet Shop Boys Volume is a visual feast and a sumptuous tribute to four decades of creative innovation.
Read more
From £4.45 -
Rush and 2112: Fifty Years (The Great Albums)
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of an undisputed prog rock masterpiece with this richly illustrated and highly giftable slip-cased volume.Just in time for the band’s Fifty Something tour, Rush and 2112: 50 Years tells the complete tale of the most revered prog rock album of all time with bold photography, insightful interviews and commentary, and rarely seen performance and off-stage photography.
Rush formed in Toronto in 1968 and debuted their first album in 1974. Their second and third albums received middling reviews, then 2112 shot them into the stratosphere of global rock and began a wave of successful albums as their sound continued to evolve.
Rush fans new and old can expect:
- A deep dive into how 2112 came together and why it is regarded as a masterpiece
- Track-by-track analyses of the studio cut as well as insight into the 20-minute “2112” suite and why it works
- Historical insight and analysis about the state of rock in the mid-’70s and evolving ’80s, and how Rush created and sustained an unforgettable sound
- And much, much more
Rush holds an outsized place in popular culture, and this book showcases why: The virtuosity of the lyrics and music, the raw talent of its original trio of Lee, Lifeson, and Pert, and bold compositions in the ever-changing soundscape of the ’70s and ’80s led to a storied career, and over 40 million records sold. Many critics and fans consider Rush one of, if not the greatest rock band of all time, and this book helps explain how Rush rose to the forefront of musical stardom and sustained that popularity for decades.
Written by noted rock historian and avid Rush fan Daniel Bukszpan, this book is sure to delight new and old Rush fans alike from all over the world.
The Great Albums series presents authoritative explorations of rock’s most revered records, beautifully packaged for fans to treasure. Delve into even more groundbreaking releases with: Pink Floyd and The Dark Side of the Moon, The Who & Quadrophenia, Prince and Purple Rain, Queen & A Night at the Opera, Bruce Springsteen and Born to Run, and many more to come.
Read more
From £10.89£14.66Rush and 2112: Fifty Years (The Great Albums)
From £10.89£14.66 -
Theology in Hymns?: A Study of the Relationship of Doxology and Theology According to A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780)
Of the many hymnbooks published by John and Charles Wesley, the most important was A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780). Taking this volume as a case study and concentrating on the Charles Wesley hymns included in it, Teresa Berger clarifies the relationship between the language of doxology of worship and praise of God and the substance of theological reflection. She identifies the central theological themes and emphases in this body of hymnody, and raises the question of how theology can be embodied in hymns. Central to her argument is the claim that the theological analysis of doxological material is possible only when it takes care to recognize and safeguard the characteristics, the criteria of authenticity, and the tests of authority and legitimacy peculiar to doxological language. Part One of the book sets the whole discussion within the context of a renewed interest in doxological and liturgical traditions across Christianity by showing how the relationship of doxology and theology is an important topic of theological discussion in Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and ecumenical circles. Part Two is devoted to a thorough theological analysis of the central themes and images of the 1780 Collection. Part Three attempts to clarify the nature of doxology in its relation to theology.Read more
From £8.03
