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The critically acclaimed definitive biography of Kate Bush, revised and updated for 2024, with a new foreword by Sinéad Gleeson.
Detailing everything from Bush's upbringing to her early exposition of talent, to her subsequent evolution into a stunningly creative and endlessly fascinating visual and musical artist, Under The Ivy is the story of one woman's life in music. Written with great detail, accuracy and admiration for her work, this is in equal parts an in-depth biography and an immersive analysis of Kate Bush's art.
Focusing on her unique working methods, her studio techniques, her timeless albums and inescapable influence, Under The Ivy is an eminently readable and insightful exploration of one of the world's most unique and gifted artists. The text has been updated to include coverage of Bush's return to the top of the charts in 2022 following the extraordinary resurgence of 'Running Up That Hill.' An eye-opening journey of discovery for anyone unfamiliar with the breadth of Bush's work, Under The Ivy also rewards the long-term fan with new insights and fresh analysis.
Behind The Locked Door is Graeme Thomson's rich, insightful account of George Harrison's extraordinary life and career.
As a Beatle, Harrison underwent a bewilderingly compressed early adulthood, buffeted by unprecedented levels of fame and success. Beatlemania offered remarkable experiences and opportunities but ultimately left him unsettled and unfulfilled. His life became a quest for deeper meaning which travelled far beyond the parameters of his former band and, indeed, music itself.
This elegant, in-depth biography tracks him assiduously through his many changes and conflicts, from schoolboy guitarist to global superstar, God seeker to independent filmmaker, Formula One enthusiast to UNICEF fundraiser, and marks the perennial struggle of a man attempting to walk a spiritual path lined with temptation.
Drawing on scores of new interviews with close friends and collaborators, rigorous research and critical insight, Behind The Locked Door is a fascinating account of the motives and varied achievements of an often misunderstood man. It offers full analysis of Harrison's music, including his earliest songs for The Beatles, his landmark solo album All Things Must Pass, his work with The Traveling Wilburys, and the posthumous Brainwashed, as well as his pioneering forays into Indian and electronic music. It is also an intimate character study, beautifully illustrating the eternal yin and yang of Harrison's nature.
Behind The Locked Door is the definitive account of a compelling, contradictory life.
In 1992, Johnny Cash was battered and bruised. In constant pain through heart problems, broken bones and the aftermath of a second bout of drug addiction, his career wasn't in much better shape than his body. One of his last singles for CBS, before they dumped him in 1986 after nearly 30 years, had been Chicken In Black. At the age of 60, all the signs were that Cash was ready for the museum. In fact, he was building one. Already an exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame, when he wasn't playing small, shabby venues like Roadie's Roadhouse in Mississauga, Ontario, or Butlins Southcoast World in Bognor Regis, he was preparing to open the Cash Country theme park in Branson, Missouri.
Cut to a little under two years later. December 1993. Cash is playing the Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard in front of 150 of the hippest people in America. He is introduced by Johnny Depp; the audience includes Sean Penn, Juliette Lewis and assorted Red Hot Chili Peppers. They cheer him to the rafters for the full ninety minutes. He has just completed recording his landmark American Recordings, made with Midas-like hip-hop and metal producer Rick Rubin. He won a Grammy for that record and a fistful more for his five other American Recordings albums. He played an unforgettable Glastonbury set in 1994 and was feted by one and all, from Nick Cave and Bono to Trent Reznor. From thereon until his death in 2003 (and beyond), Cash was, once again, the epitome of hip. Big Daddy cool. The Resurrection Of Johnny Cash tells the story of perhaps the most remarkable turnaround in musical history. As well as acknowledging Cash's drug, drink and religious travails in the fifties and sixties, the book digs much deeper, focusing on a lesser known but no less remarkable period of his life: the inglorious fall post-1970 and the almost biblical rebirth in his later years.
A well-written, sympathetic biography of a complicated but important musical figure.--Booklist STARRED
Small Hours is an intimate, unflinching biography of one of the great maverick artists.
Though Martyn never had a hit single, his extraordinary voice, innovative guitar playing and profoundly soulful songs secured his status as a much admired pioneer.
Covered by Eric Clapton, revered by Lee Scratch Perry, and produced by Phil Collins, Martyn influenced several generations of musicians. But beneath the songs lay a complicated and volatile personality. He lived his life the same way he made music: improvising as he went; scattering brilliance, beauty, rage, and destruction in his wake.Did any musician in the Seventies fly so free as John Martyn did on Bless The Weather, Solid Air, Inside Out, and One World? Did any fall so far?
Drawing on almost 100 new interviews, Small Hours is a raw and utterly gripping account of sixty years of daredevil creativity, soaring highs, and sometimes unconscionable lows.
In this new, updated edition of the Graeme Thomson's critically acclaimed biography, a near-exhaustive survey of Kate Bush's life surveys everything from her upbringing in South London to her stunning return to live performance in August 2014.
The original edition of Under The Ivy was called one of the best music biographies ever, and this new and updated edition adds in a wealth of new research to make it include the complete scope of Bush's oeuvre. With over 70 new interviews, an in-depth analysis of her triumphant return to the stage after 35 years, and three sections of fantastic photographs, this is the most complete Kate Bush biography on the market, and is a must for any fan.
Detailing everything from her upbringing to her early exposition of talent, to her subsequent evolution into one of the most stunningly creative and fascinating visual and musical artists alive today, Under The Ivy truly is the story of one woman's life. This is in no way a superficial rumour-mill, however, as Thomson writes with great detail, accuracy and above all admiration for her work, this is in equal parts a biography and an analysis of Kate Bush's art.
Focusing on her unique working methods, her studio techniques, her timeless albums and inescapable influence, Under The Ivy is a true exploration of one of the world's most underappreciated yet gifted artists. Eminently readable, this book will be an eye-opening journey of discovery for somebody unfamiliar with Bush, but will also reward a long-term fan with new insights and fresh analysis.
Complicated Shadows paints a detailed and accurate portrait of an intensely private and complex individual.
It draws on nearly 50 exclusive interviews with schoolmates, pre-fame friends, early band members, journalists as well as members of The Attractions, producers, collaborators and musicians from all stages of his life and career.
Thomson also unearths many previously unknown details about Costello's early years and his personal life, as well as examining his entire musical output using the recollections of those who were there at the time, the majority of whom have never talked on the subject before.
Ask the gangsta rap devotee. Ask the grizzled blues fanatic and the bearded folk fan. Ask the goth and the indie kid. Ask and they will all tell you the same thing: death and popular music have forever danced hand-in-hand in funereal waltz time. The pop charts and the majority of radio stations' playlists may conspire to convince anyone listening that the world spins on its axis to the tune of I love you, you love me and traditional matters of the heart. The rest of us know that we live in a world where red roses will one day become lilies and that death is the motor that drives the greatest and most exhilarating music of all.
Death music is not merely a byword for bookish solemnity, or the glorification of murder, drugs and guns. Over the course of the last hundred years it has also been about teenage girls weeping over their high school boyfriend's fatal car wreck; natural disasters sweeping whole communities away; the ever-evolving threat of disease; changing attitudes to old age; exhortations to suicide; the perfect playlist for a funeral; and the thorny question of what happens after the fat lady ceases to sing. Which means that for every Black Angel's Death Song there is a Candle in the Wind, and for every Cop Killer there is The Living Years. Death, like music, is a unifying force. There is something for every taste and inclination, from murderous vengeance to camp sentimentality and everything in between. Drawing upon original and unique interviews with artists such as Mick Jagger, Richard Thompson, Ice-T, Will Oldham and Neil Finn among many others, I Shot a Man In Reno explores how popular music deals with death, and how it documents the changing reality of what death means as one grows older. It's as transfixing as a train wreck, and you won't be able to put it down. as an epilogue, I Shot A Man In Reno presents the reader with the 40 greatest death songs of all time, complete with a brief rationale for each, acting as a primer for the morbidly curious listener.