Arts & Music Books > Popular Music Arts & Music Books > B

Advantages: A book for the Beach Boys fan, who wants to know in-depth information without tabloid rubbish
Disadvantages: Interviews with Carl Wilson are not mentioned.

This book is not really a overview of the songs and albums The Beach Boys made, but a biography that gives a good in-depth view about all kinds of aspects in their musical carriere. The author, Kingsley Abott, made a study on a number of articles (known and unknown) and created a representative and critical source of information. Ofcourse the 'Pet Sounds' and 'Smile' period are extensively written about. This was the most important period in the ... Read review

Advantages: Funny, serious, ironic - knows when to take the subject seriously, and when not to
Disadvantages: None

The very idea of a columnist with The Guardian owning up to having been a fully paid-up fan of the Bay City Rollers must raise a few eyebrows at least. But yes, almost every teenage girl must dream of meeting her pop idol sooner or later. Caroline's admission to having pursued the Tartan-clads across the United States during their brief heyday and even after their sudden fall from the dizzy heights is moving in an odd sort of way, very funny, and ...
...story, but I enjoyed her account of how she lost one job after another in her desperate chase to meet the lads. Looking back on the whole mad venture twenty years later, she has portrayed the madness of the 70s through the eyes of innocent adolescence very well, and also revealed a few stark truths about the less pleasant aspects of the pop star business. With an awakening of interest in the Rollers, talk of their reforming and recording a new album ... Read review

Advantages: It contains all 194 songs recorded by The Beatles
Disadvantages: I can't think of any

...covers ALL the songs The Beatles ever wrote and recorded themselves, with the exception of instrumentals and Lennon-McCartney songs recorded only by other artists. Every song is even dated so you can find out the year the song was first recorded. The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook presents The Beatles' songs in a format designed for a guitarist singing the songs unaccompanied, or with others. For this reason the chord shapes have been simplified ...
...the original recordings. However, The Beatles did occasionally detune their guitars when recording (for example "Lovely Rita Meter Maid" used guitars with strings tuned down a semitone). Also if you are playing along with the record you may need to tune slightly sharp or flat on some songs. This slight deviation from concert pitch occurs for a number of reasons, including the fact that The Beatles experimented with "vari-speeding" their tapes. (Meaning ... Read review

Advantages: Quite nostalgic for anyone who grew up with Britpop
Disadvantages: End is hurried.

...evening. Admittedly, I've always been bit of a fan of Alex James (but then that's why people would choose to read it), so I may be a little biassed, but I found it a fascinating insight into the lifestyle of one of the Britpop revolution's rich and famous. And what a lifestyle! The account of his early years, not too short not too long, sets the scene for the notorious years very well and provides a great description of how Blur came to be. Perhaps ...
...the rest of the band- it really is about HIM and what he was thinking, feeling and what motivated him at the time. The account of his life life post-Britpop seems a little hurried and seems a little disjointed from the rest of the book but is interesting nonetheless. As you'd expect from the autobiography of a pop star, the writing isn't the most poetic ever but it seems honest and that's why it makes such a good read. ... Read review

Advantages: hugely informative, overwhelming amounts of knowledge
Disadvantages: can be confusing at first, book is written in fragmented format

...the subject can change (by performing the change on you). Tricks Of The Mind is an incredibly enjoyable and informative education read and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the world of the human mind, beliefs and expectation, hypnosis and NLP, body language and psychic abilities. ... Read review