Drink up thy zider! Writer of dozens of many West Country songs, Adge Cutler died on his way home from a gig in 1974. At the time his group The Wurzels had reached the top of the charts. In 2012, they continue to pack venues all over the country, with Adge's band-mates Tommy Banner and Pete Budd still setting the whole Scrumpy and Western scene. This long overdue biography brings Adge Cutler back to life, not only his eight crazy Wurzels years, but from his early days in his beloved Nailsea to the lively camaraderie of the Portishead B power station's labourers, the thriving Bristol jazz and folk scenes of the 50s and 60s, and his spell as Acker Bilk's 'worst roadie in the world'. We take the road to Spain, the Zummerzet Zound, enjoy a giant Wurzelrama and an amazing vanishing Wurzels stick, and read about Yvonne and Adge's legacy. Includes discography, 154pp in well illustrated softback.

Sub-titled 'Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice 1967-75'. In this "droll and very British" memoir, guitarist/songwriter Richard Thompson describes the founding of the band Fairport Convention and life on the road in its heyday. Thompson grew up in a typical 1960s suburban house, with its radiogram and G-Plan furniture. Aged 11 in 1960, Thompson was inspired by Cliff Richard's backing group The Shadows to dream of owning a Fender Stratocaster guitar. His dad brought home a damaged instrument, mended it, and Thompson acquired a beginner's manual. His first guitar teacher, Pete, disappeared when the squat he lived in was razed to the ground, but in spite of setbacks, by the age of 18 Thompson was a competent electric guitarist. His break came when he met Simon Nicol of the Electric Shuffle Orchestra who lived in a big house called Fairport on Hampstead's Fortis Green. Renaming themselves "Fairport Convention" they performed covers of the Byrds and Lovin' Spoonful and started to get bookings. In 1967 Fairport opened for Pink Floyd, a gig memorable for the fact that Floyd's Syd Barrett overdosed on LSD and Dave Gilmour had to play his guitar parts behind stage. Record producer Joe Hopkins of Sound Techniques, who had stage-managed Newport when Dylan went electric, signed Fairport up at that gig. Soon they were doing weekly live shows at Speakeasy, where Jimi Hendrix joined them onstage a few times. Looking down on the Beatles as mere pop artists, Richard refused a birthday party invite from Paul McCartney but with hindsight was embarrassed by his snobbery. In 1969 a fatal road accident killed Richard's girlfriend Jeannie and their superb drummer Martin Lamble. The band eventually reformed and meanwhile Richard's songwriting reflected his new interest in spirituality. Following his marriage to Linda in 1973 the couple made a life-changing pilgrimage to Mecca. The book ends with the decline of folk rock, the end of his marriage and the search for a new direction. 290pp, paperback with colour and other photos including promotional posters and Fairport performing at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music June 1970 and RT with Linda in Hampstead.

One of the greatest rock bands of all time, Led Zeppelin's blend of rock and heavy metal with blues, soul, folk, pop, Indian and Celtic ranks them as one of the all-time greatest bands whose influence is still felt today, and whose music is still covered. This glamorous pictorial publication takes a chronological look at their career from the heady days of 1968 when they brought their unique sound to a worldwide audience, through the early 1970s when they were billed as the 'biggest band in the work', and to the 1980s when they became household names on both sides of the Atlantic. Chapters include Whole Lotta Success, On A Stairway to Heaven, Ripping Up the Rule Book, Rock Royalty, Exiled in America, Dazed and Confused, The Cracks Begin to Show and Rock Gods Return. Under the maverick management of Peter Grant, the band flaunted regular rock business conventions in a way that allowed them total artistic freedom. They constantly played audiences with long and compelling performances, and elaborate album covers added to the whole mystique of the band. More than 50 years on, the band remain very much in the present tense. This book is a story of their legend. Packed with quotes from other people, just a bit of history, buy for the revealing pictures alone. Packed with full page colour photos and archive black and white photography, 128pp, 20.3 x 23cm.
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When schoolfriends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards encountered Brian Jones's phenomenal guitar skills, the nucleus of a historic group was formed. The three lived in unbelievable squalor in a Chelsea flatshare, but Mick was still hedging his bets by studying at LSE, while Brian's incredible self-importance, based on his musicianship but also the numerous children he fathered even as a teenager, nearly drove them apart. When the well-dressed bassist Bill Perks auditioned, he was doubtful whether he wanted to join such a motley crew, but he stayed and found fame as Bill Wyman, while the suave and debonair drummer Charlie Watts made up the fifth. Initially the group played R&B, but everything changed when the Beatles came to see them and Mick realised he wanted the fame and fortune that pop music could bring. In 1963 the Stones found a tough manager in Andrew Oldham, who forced them into Beatles-style clothes and got them a deal with Decca and a 60-concert tour. Photos from this era are candid and revealing, showing the lads posing for the cameras but not yet skilled in creating the cool masks of later publicity. Their ascent to stardom was meteoric and Jones coped least well. Even a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and Anita Pallenberg failed to stall his permanent acid high, and it was only when Jagger and Richards started making money out of songwriting that Jones realised his reputation was only as good as the last gig, while the others had a solid source of income. 1965 was the year of Keith's stratospheric hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", regarded by many as symbolising all the frustrations of the sixties. When Pallenberg transferred her affections to Keith, Brian's downward slide was assured and the days of the original band were numbered. Meanwhile Marianne Faithfull had left Mick and Bianca was on the horizon. This superb book takes the incredible story of the stupendous Stones into the 21st century. 112pp, colour and monochrome photos on most double spreads.
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Richard in his own words calls it 'The reference guide to go to.' 'It has the heft and visual history of a coffee table book, but it's also a nearly note-for-note musical biography of the pair that goes back to their childhood lives in Newhaven, Connecticut, where Richard Carpenter found the seeds of the group's sound in his father's records and a toy jukebox.' - Associated Press. Richard and his sister Karen signed to A&M Records in 1969 and the duo became one of the most successful and revered recording artists in pop music history. Here is the full story of The Carpenters told for the first time and from the perspective of the one person there for it all, Richard Carpenter. He reflects on their journey with heart and humour and speaks candidly about the high price of success. He includes more than 200 never-before-published photographs from his personal archive and sets the record straight. Brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter were not only incredibly beautiful to look at, but incredibly talented. The duo formed in the late 1960s. With Karen's timeless singing voice and impeccable phrasing, and Richard's gift for writing music, selecting, producing and arranging hit singles and sparkling album tracks, their classics came fast and furious starting in the summer of 1970 when 'They Long to Be (Close to You)' set a new gold standard for popular music. Of course, Karen died at the age of just 32, tragically, and her anorexia well known. Album covers, singles covers, facts like release dates and Billboard top chart positions, the full history of the sparkling stage show, big-name managers, record breaking European and Japanese concert tours in the mid 70s, television specials, here are the biggest names in music from the period as we fondly recall and sing along to A Song for You, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, watch Karen playing drums, driving a red sportscar, enjoying her 25th birthday cake, smiling to the camera in her fashionable clothing. The history continues 1983 to the present and new recordings, TV and film as the music they created lives on. Superb studio discography and the Silver, Gold and Platinum awards in a really heavyweight beautifully produced Princeton Architectural Press publication. 400 colour and archive photos, 23 x 30cm.
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All four of the band were born and raised in Birmingham - Anthony Frank Iommi 1948, William Thomas Ward 1948, John Michael Osbourne 1948 and Terance Michael Joseph Butler 1949 otherwise known as Geezer since schooldays. They were the sons of an ice cream vendor, dustman, tool room machinist and steel tube bundler. Ozzy worked at Lucas's factory as a car horn tuner, then in a slaughterhouse and on leaving there resorted to burglary as a means to get by. He was released from prison after six weeks on account of good behaviour, but that didn't last on the outside and he punched a policeman in the face. Local band The Music Machine took Ozzy on as their singer, and the rest is history. Year by year from 1969 to 1979, Black Sabbath were undoubtedly one of the biggest rock bands to come out of Britain yet despite their success never received the same acclaim and respect from the music press as their peers. It didn't seem to bother them much in the early years, but by the time of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath onwards, the diversity and quality of that record, from the songs to the sleeve design and the copious instrumentation credits, all showed a band hungry for and deserving of respect. It never came and the band's path descended after the last hurrah of Sabotage. The 1970s saw the rise of rock and metal as a force in record and ticket sales and right there was Black Sabbath. The book covers the career of the original foursome from early bands Polka Tulk and Earth and their original nine years of Black Sabbath when the band recorded such iconic albums as Paranoid and Masters of Reality as well. Includes new interview material from Rick Wakeman and engineers Mike Butcher and Robin Black among others. It is a comprehensive roundup of all the albums and singles from The Rebel until Never Say Die examined in detail alongside related archive releases and a section covers live shows and looks at key live recordings from every tour. 174pp, paperback with colour photos.

Taking in superstars such as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith and Frank Sinatra alongside the unheralded figures behind some of our most enduring songs, Stanley paints a stunning portrait of pop music's formative years, uncovering the silver threads and golden needles that bind the form together. Who were the earliest recording stars? Who were the likes of George Gershwin writing songs for? Why did swing, the hit sound for a decade or more, become almost obsolete after World War Two? 'An absolute landmark/joy/gossip-fest/door to Narnia: the history of pop music before rock'n'roll. Fascinating.' - Caitlin Moran. The prequel to Bob Stanley's Sunday Times bestselling 'Yeah Yeah Yeah', this is the only book that brings together all genres to tell the definitive story of the birth of pop, from 1900 and the invention of the 78 rpm record to the beginnings of rock and the modern pop age. There was the maximal rhythm of Count Basie and the minimal softness of Claude Thornhill; the furrowed Jerome Kern and the flighty P. G. Wodehouse; the bellow of Sophie Tucker and the squeak of Helen Kane; the Andes siren sound of Yma Sumac and the lounge-bound purr of Julie London; the rough Louis and the smooth Hutch, and throw in the silver threads of Billie Holiday and Rodgers & Hammerstein. It is an Anglo-American story, with early nods to sounds and styles from Vienna, together with outside influences from Hawaii, Cuba, Brazil and the tape recordings and technology brought home by victorious American soldiers. We will see how World War Two broke up swing bands, putting the post-war focus on solo singers like Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee, and how Tin Pan Alley's infantilism in the 1950s left the door open for the schism of rock'n'roll. 636 magnificent pages, illustrated. Please note contents same as code 94368.

Four stories in this highly collectable volume all illustrated by the great Frank Bellamy, the stories are The Eiffel Tower Demolition, The Nuclear Threat, The Hawaiian Lobster Menace and The Time Machine set on 11th January 2069. Aged ten years by travelling to 2078 in Professor Darien's time machine, Jeff and Scott Tracy find that a man called Lambert has sabotaged a dam above the Niagara Falls. Already badly weakened, the wall is now threatened by a drifting ship. A superb series to collect, all in fabulous facsimile and full colour. for ages 13 and up and of course adult nostalgia collectors. 48pp, 8.5 x 11.5".

Some of the comic strips used in this facsimile collection are exceedingly rare, so the print quality may vary, but on the whole it is absolutely superb and full of colour and action and adventure. All three stories in this volume are illustrated by the great Frank Bellamy and they are The Zoo Ship, Chain Reaction and Jungle Adventure, all set in 2069. F.A.B.! Thunderbird Two with its recognisable dome shape flies into rendezvous position. What's the drill, Virgil? You and Alan go back to the pod, Gordon. Stand by for me to drop you. I'll maintain hover position. F.A.B. Will stand by to pick up Scott as soon as he's placed the bomb... For ages 13 and up and adult nostalgia collectors. 48pp, 8.5 x 11.5".

A thrilling, futuristic volume of 1960s and 1970s Thunderbirds comic strips featuring The City of Doom, The Big Bang and The Mini Moon with dateline 4th April 2070 and artwork by John Cooper. The first story City of Doom is set in 2069 and the artist is Frank Bellamy. For the first time ever, photographers have been allowed into Project City, a secret community of scientists working on a top security system within the mighty Andes Mountains. The aircraft skipper does as he is told and puts the mammoth plane down on an old military airfield high in the Andes Mountains... the way those idiots are treating those crates is suicidal! Boom! Great to see that Egmont Publishers have reprinted this series for ages 13 and up and of course adult nostalgia collectors. 48pp, 8.5 x 11.5".