Whether you are looking to add a good book to your personal library or seeking out early holiday gift ideas, there are a number of wonderful new titles available in print now.
Title: Ghosts of the Congo
Author: Richard Blade
Publisher: BladeRocker Books
Hardcover: 335 pages
Tell me more: One of America's best-known and popular DJs, Richard Blade hosts a daily show on SiriusXM's 1st Wave and on KCBS. He has recently earned well-deserved acclaim for his writing, penning an autobiography (World In My Eyes), a collection of interviews conducted during the pandemic (The Lockdown Interviews) and a series of exciting novels including SPQR, Birthright and Imposters. Blending the action-packed adventure of an Edgar Rice Burroughs classic with the pulse of an edgy contemporary political thriller, Blade's latest novel Ghosts of the Congo will keep readers engaged and entertained. Blade has a gift for using sharp dialogue, winning characters and colorful detail to propel his suspense-filled storytelling across every page. From the ravaged streets of America's broken cities and top levels of power in Washington, D.C. to the most remote jungles of West Africa, the events that play out in Ghosts Of The Congo blur the line between fiction and modern history. The story revolves around a thrilling rescue mission to save a group of America's most important VIPs, including the nation's First Lady and the Vice President. Read this thrilling novel before some savvy producer makes it into a cinematic blockbuster. Information: RichardBlade.com.
Title: Bowie at 75
Author: Martin Popoff
Publisher: Motorbooks
Hardcover with slipcase: 208 pages
Tell me more: Acclaimed author/rock music aficionado Martin Popoff has turned his expertise and wordcraft to celebrate the legacy of the late David Bowie. The essential Bowie at 75 is a fascinating and well-researched volume that chronicles distinct sides of Bowie's wide-ranging career that sadly ended with the release of his final album Blackstar on his 69th birthday — that masterwork was released a mere two days before his death on Jan. 10, 2016. Popoff brings the reader on a fast-moving chronological journey through 75 "career highlights" of Bowie's life. The result is both a well-aimed introduction and exhaustive appreciation of his singular journey as a pioneering singer-songwriter, genre-defying rockstar and acclaimed actor. Fully illustrated with historic photographs (including 250 color images), memorabilia such as concert posters, 7-inch picture sleeves and more, this is an important and objective appreciation of one of one of rock music's most influential names. Information: quarto.com.
Title: Belle and Sebastian: Illustrated Lyrics
Authors: Lyrics by Stuart Murdoch; Illustrations by Pamela Tait
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Hardcover: 128 pages; 40 illustrations in color and B&W
Tell me more: Scottish chamber pop outfit Belle and Sebastian has enjoyed acclaim for a winning parade of albums dating back to their 1996 debut Tigermilk. Now band leader Stuart Murdoch has teamed with illustrator Pamela Tait on the new hardcover title Belle and Sebastian: Illustrated Lyrics. The lovely collaboration features enticing visual reinterpretations of many of Belle and Sebastian's best-known songs including "If You're Feeling Sinister," "The Boy with the Arab Strap," "Piazza, New York Catcher," "Another Sunny Day" and "Nobody's Empire." A fateful project to be sure, Murdoch first fell in love with Tait's intricate and expressive illustrations when he rediscovered an old fan email sent to him by her a decade earlier. Now fans of Belle and Sebastian — as well as Tait's signature artwork - can share in the magic. Information: ThamesAndudsonUSA.com.
Title: Through the Prism: Untold Rock Stories from the Hipgnosis Archive
Author: Aubrey Powell
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Hardcover: 320 pages
Tell me more: Those looking for a behind-the-scenes close-up look at the world of a number of classic rock masters will want to pick up Through the Prism: Untold Stories from the Hipgnosis Archive. Fans of Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Who, The Police, Paul McCartney and others will all enjoy insights courtesy of designer, photographer and filmmaker Aubrey "Po" Powell. The multi-talented artist founded the graphic design studio Hipgnosis with Storm Thorgerson in 1968; this is a lavish edition to be sure with more than 250 illustrations and photographs spread across the volume's 320 pages. What's more, Powell is brutally honest as the shares previously-untold tales featuring a notable cast of musicians, actors, managers, comedians and world leaders. From the founding of Hipgnosis in the midst of rock and roll's golden age to surviving drug busts and sharing details about the birth of the most famous album cover of all time (Dark Side of the Moon), this is a must have title. Information: ThamesAndudsonUSA.com.
Title: Disturbing The Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave
Author: Bill Kopp
Publisher: HoZac Books
Paperback: 362 pages
Tell me more: Wire Train, Romeo Void, Red Rockers, The Nuns, Roky Erickson and Translator are only a few of the groundbreaking artists with ties to seminal San Francisco-based 415 Records in the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. Now author Bill Kopp is revisiting the Bay Area's thriving indie music scene of that era via the wonderful Disturbing The Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave. Based on nearly 100 interviews with artists, industry executives, friends, producers, journalists and more, the book also features hundreds of photos, gig posters and memorabilia from the personal archives of those who were in the midst of the burgeoning music scene championed by 415 (pronounced four-one-five) Records. The book also features a foreword by Joel Selvin. Information: 415book.com.
Robert Kinsler
