Reference

Becoming Elektra is an account of Elektra Records in the Jac Holzman years, from 1950 to 1973. It tells the story of Elektra's growth from a small independent folk label to a major, multi-faceted, hit making concern. Jac Holzman's role in founding and running the company is central to the story, and his capacity for lateral thinking - that led to innovations such as the first-ever sampler album, and a million-selling series of sound effects records - is a recurring theme. But the book is not just a story of one man's business success. It is also about the label's artists and the great music they produced, and other key people who gave the company its identity. Becoming Elektra places the label in a broad context. A gripping narrative drawing in elements of musical and cultural history, and biographies of the main participants in the story, the book opens with a pivotal moment in Elektra's history, when Holzman discovered The Doors. It then goes back to the previously untold story of Elektra in the 50s, when the label brought folk music to a wide audience through artists such as Jean Ritchie, Josh White, Theodore Bikel and Bob Gibson. Moving into the 60s the story takes in artists that have had an extraordinary resonance down the years including some, such as Tim Buckley, who are far more popular today than in their lifetime. His story is told, along with those of artists that read like an inventory of 60s and 70s musical innovation: The Doors, Love, Judy Collins, The Paul Butterfield Band (with Michael Bloomfield), Tom Paxton, Tim Buckley, Fred Neil, David Ackles, Phil Ochs, Bread, Queen, Mickey Newbury, The Incredible String Band, Carly Simon, The Stooges and The MC5.

Expert guitar historian Walter Carter provides a comprehensive pictorial history of the genuine classics to have emerged during the first 70 years of the electric guitar. The book's handy A-to-Z format details more than 350 models from 70+ manufacturers, richly illustrated in color throughout.

This definitive look at the British blues explosion centers around three guitarists: Peter Green, Mick Taylor, and especially Eric Clapton. Describing the groups they played in from 1965 to 1970 - including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Blind Faith and the Rolling Stones - the book is presented in an engaging day-by-day format. With a wealth of illustrations and never-before-published details, the book reveals the way the musicians behind the blues boom worked together, influenced each other, and pushed one another to ever greater achievements.

The Interactive Fender Bible is a two-part package that gives players and collectors a new look at the history and importance of Fender electric guitars and amplifiers. Part One is a broadcast-quality 70-minute DVD in which author Dave Hunter and guitarist Carl Verheyen take you on a tour of the Brian Fischer collection of vintage Fender guitars and amplifiers. Luscious Stratocasters, Twin Reverbs, Telecasters, Champs, and more are showcased, and there is a gallery of 22 gorgeous vintage Fender electrics, from custom color Strats and Teles to Duo-Sonics, Jaguars, and even a rarely-seen hollowbody LTD. Part Two is Fender Facts, a reference book full of detailed information about every Fender electric guitar and amplifier from 1945 to the present day. Fender Facts brings together the history and specifications of every si8ngle Fender electric guitar and amplifier, complete with cross-referenced indexing and full chronological information. The Interactive Fender Bible is a must for everyone from the first-time Fender owner to the seasoned collector.

This package provides an audio visual guide to Gibson's classic guitars, combining a detailed book listing all important products in Gibson's history with a DVD. In the DVD's main feature, author Dave Hunter and guitar legend Carl Verheyen tell the story of Gibson electric guitars while demonstrating original, classic examples of well-known models through classic amps of the period and modern high end boutique combos. They trade licks on a number of classic Les Pauls, the definitive Gibson model, explore the semi-acoustic range including the 335, and shine a light on some more exotic beasts - Firebirds, Explorers, Flying Vs and the like. The complementary Gibson reference book is packed with information and pictures covering the complete Gibson range.

On January 1, 1967, a contract between Colonel Tom Parker and his sole client, Elvis Presley, gave Parker a 50 percent cut of profits that Presley generated. It was a shameless grab for a bigger piece of a pie that had actually been shrinking for some time. Though Parker's plan to reestablish Presley as a star after he left the army proved successful at first (with the triumph of films like G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii), by 1967 Presley's singles struggled to break the top 20, and he hadn't hit number one for six years. Amazingly, by the end of 1968 he was artistically revitalized, reemerging in a TV comeback special and slimmed down for the now-iconic black leather suit. It was the pivotal moment of the second great period of Presley's career, which lasted through to the end of 1970, during which he recorded some of his most enduring records, including Suspicious Minds and In the Ghetto. Return of the King document's Presley reclamation of his crown, making an extraordinary transition from fading balladeer to engaged, vital artist.

In the fall of 1975 and spring of 1976, Bob Dylan led a travelling retinue of musicians around America on the two legs of the Rolling Thunder tour. Along for the ride were Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, David Blue, Kinky Friedman, T-Bone Burnett, Allen Ginsberg, Sam Sheppard, Mick Ronson, and dozens more musicians, friends, family and hangers-on. The circus was documented in the film Renaldo and Clara, the live album Hard Rain, and a TV concert special of the same name, while in between the two legs of the tour Dylan released the classic Desire album. It is this period of heightened creativity and personal drama that Dylan-authority, author, and musician Sid Griffin examines in Shelter from the Storm. Interviewing many of the tour's participants, including musicians Roger McGuinn, T-Bone Burnett, Arlo Guthrie, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and tour manager Louie Kemp, Griffin mixes meticulous musical analysis into a gripping narrative in this definitive account of the Rolling Thunder years.

Metallica, the seventh-biggest recording act in American history, are consummate musicians but it wasn't always that way. A significant proportion of their playing expertise was acquired from a pivotal three-year period in their history 1983 to 1986 during which their music, a potent variant of thrash metal, evolved from garage-level to sophisticated, progressive heights thanks to the teachings of their bass player, Cliff Burton. The San Francisco-raised Burton pushed the band to new musical levels with his musical training, songwriting ability, and phenomenal bass guitar skills. Cliff's life was short but influential; his death was sudden and shocking. With his death, Metallica's most critically acclaimed period of activity ended. They went on to record huge-selling albums, but by their own admission, never pushed the creative envelope as radically as they had done in the first four years of their career.

By turns fiercely confrontational, literate, primitive and sweetly melodic, The Velvet Underground remain one of the most influential bands in the history of rock. The ultimate cult band and the ultimate art rock experience, the VU's music and style have served as a blueprint for everyone from David Bowie to The Jesus and Mary Chain. Yet for all their enduring importance, they were unsuccessful in their day, selling minute numbers of records, with their monochrome look and photo-realist lyrics at odds with the garish colors and peace fantasies of the hippy era. It was only when David Bowie started to champion the band in the early 70s, after they had split up, that the VU's reputation started to spread. In White Light/White Heat, noted rock writer and historian Richie Unterberger analyses the band's career and influence in forsensic detail, drawing on many new interviews with band members and associates, previously undiscovered archive sources and a vast knowledge of the music of the times. The result is a comprehensive, articulate, immensely detailed history - the most thorough work on the band yet published.