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As any regular shopper already knows Twist & Shout carries one of Denver's largest and most diverse sections of books relating to music including biographies, art, criticism, reference books, and counter-cultural scenes. To reflect this we will be featuring regular reviews of new books we've received so be sure to check back regularly to see what we have in store for you.





Krautrock: Cosmic Rock and Its Legacy by Black Dog Publishing


Price:  $29.95


Krautrock: Cosmic Rock and its Legacy charts the history of this influential music genre, from its roots in free jazz, psychedelia and the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, to the groundbreaking experiments of Faust, Kraftwerk and Can. The late 1960s in West Germany was a period of profound breakthroughs, upheavals and reversals. Out of this climate, a music scene exploded that would forever change the face of western rock; at times anarchic, at others mystical, magickal, or utopian, it pushed rock beyond any known limits. Illustrated with concert photos, posters, record cover art and other rare visual material, and also including essays by Michel Faber, Erik Davis, David Stubbs, Ken Hollings and testimonials from Gavin Russom (Delia and Gavin/Black Meteoric Star), Plastic Crimewave, Stephen Thrower (Coil/Cyclobe), and Ann Shenton (Add N to (X)) this is an essential compendium to a music whose spirit and ideas still vibrate through contemporary culture today.

   


The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison by Jerry Hopkins


Price:  $19.95


"He was rolling along, drunk much of the time, putting himself out there, pretty much letting life happen to him," writes Hopkins of rock star Morrison (1943-1971) in this refreshing addition to the already large shelf of books about The Doors and their lead singer. Neither mythmaker nor debunker, Hopkins (No One Here Gets Out Alive) views Morrison as a talented yet disturbed person, easy to dislike but impossible to dismiss. In particular Morrison fans will welcome the most vivid descriptions of the star's death ever published, an unusually sensitive treatment of his first wife, Pam Coruson, and a previously unpublished interview. Hopkins also dispels the rumors about Morrison's possible survival and describes the making of the Oliver Stone film that sparked a resurgence of The Doors' popularity. His polished style and sense of balance, evident throughout, add luster to this well-explored subject.

   


Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music by Marisa Meltzer


Price:  $14.00


In the early nineties, riot grrrl exploded onto the underground music scene, inspiring girls to pick up an instrument, create fanzines, and become politically active. Rejecting both traditional gender roles and their parents’ brand of feminism, riot grrrls celebrated and deconstructed femininity. The media went into a titillated frenzy covering followers who wrote “slut” on their bodies, wore frilly dresses with combat boots, and talked openly about sexual politics.

The movement’s message of “revolution girl-style now” soon filtered into the mainstream as “girl power,” popularized by the Spice Girls and transformed into merchandising gold as shrunken T-shirts, lip glosses, and posable dolls. Though many criticized girl power as at best frivolous and at worst soulless and hypersexualized, Marisa Meltzer argues that it paved the way for today’s generation of confident girls who are playing instruments and joining bands in record numbers.

Girl Power examines the role of women in rock since the riot grrrl revolution, weaving Meltzer’s personal anecdotes with interviews with key players such as Tobi Vail from Bikini Kill and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls. Chronicling the legacy of artists such as Bratmobile, Sleater-Kinney, Alanis Morissette, Britney Spears, and, yes, the Spice Girls, Girl Power points the way for the future of women in rock.

   


I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne


Price:  $26.99


"They've said some crazy things about me over the years. I mean, okay: 'He bit the head off a bat.' Yes. 'He bit the head off a dove.' Yes. But then you hear things like, 'Ozzy went to the show last night, but he wouldn't perform until he'd killed fifteen puppies . . .' Now me, kill fifteen puppies? I love puppies. I've got eighteen of the f**king things at home. I've killed a few cows in my time, mind you. And the chickens. I shot the chickens in my house that night.

It haunts me, all this crazy stuff. Every day of my life has been an event. I took lethal combinations of booze and drugs for thirty f**king years. I survived a direct hit by a plane, suicidal overdoses, STDs. I've been accused of attempted murder. Then I almost died while riding over a bump on a quad bike at f**king two miles per hour.

People ask me how come I'm still alive, and I don't know what to say. When I was growing up, if you'd have put me up against a wall with the other kids from my street and asked me which one of us was gonna make it to the age of sixty, which one of us would end up with five kids and four grandkids and houses in Buckinghamshire and Beverly Hills, I wouldn't have put money on me, no f**king way. But here I am: ready to tell my story, in my own words, for the first time.

A lot of it ain't gonna be pretty. I've done some bad things in my time. I've always been drawn to the dark side, me. But I ain't the devil. I'm just John Osbourne: a working-class kid from Aston, who quit his job in the factory and went looking for a good time."

   


Just Kids by Patti Smith


Price:  $27.00


In 1967, 21-year-old singer–song writer Smith, determined to make art her life and dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities in Philadelphia to live this life, left her family behind for a new life in Brooklyn. When she discovered that the friends with whom she was to have lived had moved, she soon found herself homeless, jobless, and hungry. Through a series of events, she met a young man named Robert Mapplethorpe who changed her life—and in her typically lyrical and poignant manner Smith describes the start of a romance and lifelong friendship with this man: It was the summer Coltrane died. Flower children raised their arms... and Jimi Hendrix set his guitar in flames in Monterey. It was the summer of Elvira Madigan, and the summer of love... This beautifully crafted love letter to her friend (who died in 1989) functions as a memento mori of a relationship fueled by a passion for art and writing. Smith transports readers to what seemed like halcyon days for art and artists in New York as she shares tales of the denizens of Max's Kansas City, the Hotel Chelsea, Scribner's, Brentano's, and Strand bookstores. In the lobby of the Chelsea, where she and Mapplethorpe lived for many years, she got to know William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Johnny Winter. Most affecting in this tender and tough memoir, however, is her deep love for Mapplethorpe and her abiding belief in his genius. Smith's elegant eulogy helps to explain the chaos and the creativity so embedded in that earlier time and in Mapplethorpe's life and work.

   


The Music of Django Reinhardt by Benjamin Givan


Price:  $29.95


When most people think of the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, they conjure up the unusual details of his colorful life: a childhood spent in gypsy encampments outside of Paris; the tragic caravan fire when he was eighteen that rendered his left hand nearly unusable; and his survival during World War II, when gypsies were massacred by the hundreds of thousands. The amazing story of Reinhardt’s life even became the basis for Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown. Yet, it is the music of Django Reinhardt that made him one of the most original guitarists in history. In particular, his partnership with violinist Stéphane Grappelli, in the Quintette du Hot Club de France, brought him international renown and the attention of some of the most important American jazz musicians of the day, including Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, and Duke Ellington. The Music of Django Reinhardt explores the story of the man and his music as never before. Benjamin Givan shows how one of jazz's greatest guitarists created his unparalleled sound. This book is an analytical study of his music, including his process, his improvisational style, and his instrumental technique.

   


The Beatles: Across the Universe by Andy Neill


Price:  $32.95


Culturally the Beatles were a global phenomenon - changing all facets of popular music for good, but not just because they were a band that made great recordings. How big a part did performing in concert play? Would they have achieved what they did without an early grounding in the dance halls and clubs of Liverpool and Hamburg? After their first year as a headline-grabbing attraction, why did The Beatles soon tire of the relentless pace of Beatlemania? Through print and images from the visually-astounding "Daily Mirror" archive, Across The Universe: On Tour And On Stage answers these questions, examining in detail the Beatles as a live act between the key Beatlemania years of 1963-1966 and to mark the event's 40th anniversary, The Beatles' last ever performance - an impromptu session on a central London rooftop. Across The Universe: On Tour And On Stage takes the reader on a magical mystery tour though ballrooms, theaters, airports, limos, and stadiums across the globe and along the way, illustrates why The Beatles were seen but not heard throughout the 1960s.

   


An A-Z of Franz Ferdinand by Helen Chase


Price:  $24.95


One of the UK's most successful pop bands in recent years, Franz Ferdinand formed in Glasgow, Scotland at the beginning of 2002. Since releasing their breakthrough single "Take Me Out" in 2004 to worldwide acclaim, they have gone on to sell more than six million albums and have received recognition in many quarters - they were the first band to receive a Mercury Prize, Brit Awards and NME Awards within the space of twelve months. Known for their guitar driven, disco influenced, catchy pop melodies and intelligent lyrics Franz Ferdinand oversee every aspect of their creative output believing that the imagery of a band is as important as the sound. They are currently writing and recording their third album. The band have a considerable UK and world fan base and appeal to both mainstream and indie types.

   


Elvis 1956: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer


Price:  $29.95


1956 was the year Elvis released his first record, made his first television appearance, and started his movie career. It was the year he became a star. Alfred Wertheimer, then a young freelance photojournalist, was there to document the extraordinary transition. Elvis 1956 features images that are a national treasure, including photographs of Elvis never before published: a unique visual record of one of the most exciting performers of his time, one of the most influential of all time, the first true icon of rock 'n' roll. Here is the first and last unguarded look at Elvis, featuring images of him in every aspect of his life - from performance and with the fans, to the recording studio and at home with his family.

Elvis 1956 serves as the catalogue for a nationally traveling exhibition exhibition developed collaboratively by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and the Govinda Gallery to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the legendary rock star's birthday. Lavishly illustrated with 72 tri-tone photographs and with an introduction by curator Chris Murray, essays by E. Warren Perry, Jr. and National Portrait Gallery historian Amy Henderson, Elvis 1956 is a remarkable window into a defining time for rock 'n' roll's most enduring presence.

   


Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag by Steve Chick


Price:  $19.95


They were the pioneers of American hardcore, forming in California in 1978 and splitting up 8 years later leaving behind them a trail of blood, carnage and brutal, brilliant music. Throughout the years they fought with the police, record industry and their own fans. This is the band's story from the inside, drawing upon exclusive interviews with the group's members, their contemporaries and the groups who were inspired by them. It's also the story of American hardcore music, from the perspective of the group who did more to take the sound to the clubs, squats and community halls in American than any other.

   


Downbeat: The Great Jazz Interviews edited by Frank Alkyer and Ed Enright


Price:  $24.99


Culled from the DownBeat archives - includes in-depth interviews with literally every great jazz artist and personality that ever lived! Features classic photos and magazine covers from DownBeat's vast archives. In honor of its 75th anniversary, DownBeat's editors have brought together in this one volume the best interviews, insights, and photographs from the illustrious history of the world's top jazz magazine, DownBeat. This anthology includes the greatest of DownBeat's Jazz Hall of Famers: from early legends like Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman; to bebop heroes like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis; to truly unique voices like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk; to the pioneers of the electric scene like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and Joe Zawinul. The Great Jazz Interviews delivers the legends of jazz, talking about America's music and America itself, in their own words.

   


Kiss Kompendium by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley


Price:  $75.00


Known as the fire breathing, blood splitting and larger than life co- founders of hard rock super group KISS, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley founded the band in the early 1970s. Since then, KISS has gone on to sell over 80 million albums and to perform over 2,000 shows around the world. Currently preparing their new album, the band is still touring and performing today. Gene Simmons also stars in A&E's hit reality show, Family Jewels. He is the author of Sex Money Kiss, Kiss and Make-Up, Ladies of the Knight, Kiss and Tell, and Kiss: The Early Years, which he co-wrote with Stanley.

   


Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah, A New Biography by Tim Footman


Price:  $19.95


Chronicling the highs and lows that have punctuated the life of a musical genius, this in-depth biography reveals new insight into the legendary songs of Leonard Cohen. Covering each stage in his prolific career—his early years as a poet and author in Canada, his relocation to New York City and subsequent impact within the folk and rock scenes, his years spent in a Buddhist monastery, and his recent rediscovery by a new generation of fans—this definitive history combines perceptive research with previously unpublished photos. Balancing his literary and musical influences with themes of religion, depression, sex, politics, and complex interpersonal relationships, fresh perspectives are highlighted through interviews with colleagues who have never before gone on record. His recent release of new music, current revival in popularity, and first tour in 15 years are fully detailed and cited as one of the most dramatic periods in the life of this eloquent songwriter.

   


Little Richard: The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll by David Kirby


Price:  $19.95


This book is a concise, evocative, and thoroughly researched study of one of the great rock'n'roll pioneers. After "Tutti Frutti," Little Richard began garnering fans from both sides of the civil rights divide. He brought black and white youngsters together on the dance floor and even helped to transform race relations. In June, 2007, Little Richard's 1955 Specialty Records single, "Tutti Frutti" topped "Mojo" magazine's list of "100 Records That Changed the World". But back in the early 1950s, nobody gave Little Richard a second glance. It was a time in America where the black and white worlds had co-existed separately for nearly two centuries. After "Tutti Frutti" Little Richard began garnering fans from both sides of the civil rights divide. He brought black and white youngsters together on the dance floor and even helped to transform race relations. Little Richard: The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll begins by grounding the reader in the fertile soil from which his music sprang. In Macon, Georgia, David Kirby interviews local characters, who knew Little Richard way back when, citing church and family as his true inspiration. Kirby sees Little Richard as a warrior, one fighting with skill and cunning to take his place among the greats. In the words of Keith Richards (on hearing "Tutti Frutti" for the first time), "it was as though the world changed suddenly from monochrome to Technicolor". Those sentiments have consistently been echoed by the music-listening world, and the time is ripe for a reassessment of Little Richard's genius and legacy.

   


Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found by Joe Bonomo


Price:  $19.95


The story of Louisiana hellcat Jerry Lee Lewis and his 1958 wedding scandal, when it was discovered that at 22 he had married his 13-year old second cousin, Myra, before he was divorced from his second wife long ago took precedence over the man himself and the music he makes. In Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, author Joe Bonomo lets others focus on the scandal and delves more deeply into the accidental intersection between fading American Rockabilly and ascending Beatlemania. By first taking a look at the critical years before his famed night in 1964 at West Germany's Star-Club and what that meant not only for him but the entire live album-making world then the tumultuous years that follow, culminating in his time on the American Country charts in the late 60s/ early 70s, Bonomo brings Jerry Lee Lewis to life in new and fascinating ways.

In spite of plummeting record sales and concert fees, a media savaging of his personal character, a change of record labels and management, and a considerable upturn in his drug and alcohol abuse, Jerry Lee Lewis has persevered. In between being betrayed and ignored, he would record one of the greatest rock & roll performances in history. Bonomo's thorough research includes new interviews with Live at the Star-Club producer Sigi Loch, members of the Nashville Teens, and other musicians and fans who were at the Star-Club performance, as well as with music industry figures ranging from famed Nashville producer Jerry Kennedy and legendary Memphis stalwart Jim Dickinson to Killer-influenced contemporaries John Doe and Dave Alvin. This passionate book examines and explains the almighty impact of the Father of Rock n Roll.

   


Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs selected by Graham Nash


Price:  $50.00


This handsome volume features vibrant photographs of some of the world's most recognizable musicians, selected by Graham Nash, an internationally acclaimed artist of two media photography and music who is uniquely qualified in both worlds. Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and Johnny Cash share pages with Kurt Cobain, Sting, Michael Stipe, and many others in shots by legendary photographers such as Daniel Kramer, Charles Peterson, Annie Leibovitz, and others. A rare collection, Taking Aim is destined for the shelves of both photo collectors and rock and roll fans.

   


Phish: The Biography by Parke Puterbaugh


Price:  $25.00


In the wake of Phish's wildly successful summer reunion tour, journalist and Rolling Stone contributor Puterbaugh delivers a consistently lucid and revelatory look at the 26-year-long career of the legendary jam band. Puterbaugh's solid and intelligent take on how Phish blends both seriousness and whimsy into rock, jazz, funk, country and experimental music (sometimes in the same song) will satisfy newcomers as well as the band's obsessively knowledgeable fans. In the process, Puterbaugh definitely demolishes the media's reflexively drawn comparisons of Phish to the Grateful Dead just because both played long improvisational concerts for hardcore fans. Much of the book's success stems from Puterbaugh's experience as in- house PR writer for the band from 1995 until its 2004 breakup. His insider access allows him to get never-before-published comments and insights from the band, its management, archivists, crew and close friends. His solid reporting produces the best account so far of Phish's college-era birth and growth in Burlington, Vt. And his exclusive interview with Trey Anastasio provides a frank look at how the guitarist's drug addiction brought down the band, how his recovery led to their reunion and why there's no reason that Phish couldn't go on for quite some time.

   


Hello Sunshine by Ryan Adams


Price:  $15.95


"Ryan Adams writes with equal parts precision and recklessness; the blood he draws from the text is easily as unnerving as its unapologetic tenderness. He is proof that poetry will find its writer.”—Mary-Louise Parker, actress

Ryan Adams may be acclaimed primarily for albums such as Cardinology, Heartbreaker, Gold (which includes the popular hit songs “When the Stars Go Blue” and “New York, New York”), and Easy Tiger, but the world-renowned singer/songwriter has always been a poet and fiction writer at heart.

With the release of Hello Sunshine, Ryan continues to break literary ground beyond what he established with his wildly popular first book, Infinity Blues. Ryan’s new work provides perhaps an even deeper insight into the man than is revealed through the songs that have resonated with his hundreds of thousands of fans.

Where his debut was characterized by the bitterness of heartbreak, Hello Sunshine is a graceful, sensual assertion of the other side of the emotional coin. This is a 2009 fever dream—inside Ryan's heart and mind—replete with unforgettable verse that will shock and delight those expecting a mere continuation of where Infinity Blues left off.

Ryan Adams is known for his prolific nature, which in the last ten years has resulted in various international hit albums. Ryan has also produced Willie Nelson’s album Songbird and contributed to records by Toots and the Maytals, Beth Orton, the Wallflowers, Counting Crows, and Cowboy Junkies; additionally, he has appeared on CMT’s Crossroads with Elton John.

   


Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell by Dave Thompson


Price:  $19.99


First-ever look at the intertwining, outrageous lives of three rock legends. When Lou Reed and Iggy Pop first met David Bowie in the fall of 1971, Bowie was just another English musician passing through New York City. Lou was still recovering from the collapse of the Velvet Underground, and Iggy had already been branded a loser... Yet within two years they completely changed the face of popular music with a decadent glamour and street-level vibe. With Bowie producing, Reed's Transformer album was a worldwide hit, spinning off the sleazy street anthem "Walk on the Wild Side." Iggy's Raw Power, mixed by Bowie, provided the mean-spirited, high-octane blueprint for Punk. Bowie boosted elements from both Iggy and Reed to create his gender-bending rock idol Ziggy Stardust. Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell is the story of this friendship and the incredible productivity and debauchery that emerged from it. Presented here for the very first time are their stories interwoven in a triple helix of sexuality, glam rock, and drugs - as seen through the eyes of the people who made it happen.

   


Bob Dylan Revisited: 13 Graphic Interpretations of Bob Dylan's Songs


Price:  $24.95


Rendered in striking, explosive graphic form, many of Bob Dylan’s most famous songs—illustrated as they’ve never been before. Mesmerized by the power of Bob Dylan’s lyrics and intrigued by the possibilities of translating his powerful, enigmatic personality into art, thirteen leading graphic artists banded together to create this unusual testament to the universality and transcendent vision of an American musical genius. With their vibrant, unexpected colors and dynamic, cinematic imagery, this group has assembled in Bob Dylan Revisited one of the most provocative interpretations of Dylan’s music in decades. Whether illustrating “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Hurricane,” or “Lay, Lady, Lay,” these artists capture the tender emotions, the ineffable sadness, and the romantic overtones of Dylan’s classic songs, at the same time reflecting the moral and political urgency of his music. Each artist’s style surprisingly complements Dylan’s lyrics and offers an irresistible window through which to reconsider one of America’s most enigmatic artists. A deeply respectful and brilliant homage to the extraordinary influence of Bob Dylan.