Music

The 1990s were a chaotic and gritty and utterly magical time for music, a confounding barrage of genres and lifestyles and superstars, from grunge to hip-hop, from sumptuous R&B to rambunctious ska-punk, from Axl to Kurt to Missy to Santana to Tupac to Britney. In 60 SONGS THAT EXPLAIN THE '90s, Ringer music critic Rob Harvilla reimagines all the earwormy, iconic hits Gen Xers pine for with vivid historical storytelling, sharp critical analysis, rampant loopiness, and wryly personal ruminations on the most bizarre, joyous, and inescapable songs from a decade we both regret entirely and miss desperately.

Abbey Road studios have been on the cutting edge of recording for eighty years, hosting some of the biggest names in music over the decades: the Beatles, of course, who immortalized it with the title of their 1969 album; Pink Floyd; Kate Bush; Duran Duran; Radiohead; Florence and the Machine. Any number of albums made here have gone gold or platinum, picking up Grammys and other awards along the way.

Famed producers and sound engineers at the studios have developed groundbreaking new techniques, including automatic double tracking at the instigation of John Lennon. And it's also been a landmark in moviemaking: here were recorded John Williams's original scores for five Star Wars films, as well the scores for the Lord of the Rings trilogy-two of them awarded Oscars.

This gorgeous book includes a full history and time line, facts and figures, a discography with famous album covers from the 1930s to now, and a wealth of never-before-seen photos and treasures from the studio's own archive. It's an incredible document of cultural history, for anyone who values music and how it's made.

'Kevin does what I pretend to do. Kevin's a proper musician.' David Bowie

'Kevin Armstrong has been around, and around.' Iggy Pop

Growing up in a world of punk squats and the London pub-rock scene, suburban rookie guitarist Kevin Armstrong found himself signed to EMI as a solo artist in the early 80s, but fate had other plans for him, his life and career changing in an instant when he was called for a studio date with an unnamed star at Abbey Road.

That unnamed star was soon revealed to be David Bowie, and that afternoon's recording catapulted this unlikely lad onto the world's grandest stages alongside some of the biggest names in the business. Kevin has gone on to carve out a singular career as a producer, songwriter, and guitarist, performing live and recording with everyone from Grace Jones to Paul McCartney, Iggy Pop to Roy Orbison, Sandie Shaw to Alien Sex Fiend.

Absolute Beginner is the story of what it takes to survive as a self-taught musician. It provides an honest and funny glimpse into the backstage world of the artists Kevin has worked with, and is packed with acerbic, laugh-out-loud observations on popular music and musicians from someone who has had a prime seat at the high table of rock'n'roll for more than forty years.

In Absolutely on Music, internationally Haruki Murakami sits down with his friend Seiji Ozawa, the revered former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, for a series of conversations on their shared passion: music. Over the course of two years, Murakami and Ozawa discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from Bartók to Mahler, and from pop-up orchestras to opera. They listen to and dissect recordings of some of their favorite performances, and Murakami questions Ozawa about his career conducting orchestras around the world. Culminating in Murakami's ten-day visit to the banks of Lake Geneva to observe Ozawa's retreat for young musicians, the book is interspersed with ruminations on record collecting, jazz clubs, orchestra halls, film scores, and much more. A deep reflection on the essential nature of both music and writing, Absolutely on Music is an unprecedented glimpse into the minds of two maestros.

The premier rock biographer and author of When Giants Walked the Earth Mick Wall writes the compelling story of the enduring rock band that has sold 200 million albums

Megan Fox wears the band's T-shirts. Keith Richards says Malcolm Young is a better guitarist than he is. Like the Rolling Stones, AC/DC survived every musical trend and industry change to remain both at the top of their game and the charts.

From their start in Australia in 1973--with two Scottish brothers, Angus and Malcolm Young, at the core--AC/DC launched an assault on punk in both England and the U.S., in a wild rebel return to real rock roots that's still chart-topping and selling albums today: over 71 million in the U.S. alone. AC/DC ruthlessly shed band members, managers, producers, and anyone who stood in the way of world domination. Like the Rolling Stones, they've survived every musical trend and industry change to remain both at the top of their game and the top of the charts.

In AC/DC: Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be, world-renowned rock writer Mick Wall unearths previously unheard stories from all the key players in the AC/DC story. At the center is a tight-knit clan who became and stayed musically successful because they took no hell from outsiders. Wall also uncovers the truth behind the mysterious death of lead singer Bon Scott in 1980, and writes with unflinching insight into the dizzying highs and abysmal, self-inflicted lows of that band's career with Scott's replacement Brian Johnson.

The Young brothers and AC/DC have survived drugs, death, divorce and the damnation of critics to become one of the best-known and most listened-to rock bands in the world. This is their story: rock n' roll.