Criticism category: 58377 books
The Holy or the Broken
Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"
Language: English
Release Date: December 4, 2012
“A venerated creator. An adored, tragic interpreter. An uncomplicated, memorable melody. Ambiguous, evocative words. Faith and uncertainty. Pain and pleasure.”
Today, “Hallelujah” is one of the most-performed rock songs in history. It has become a staple of movies and television shows...
Me, the Mob, and the Music
One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells
Language: English
Release Date: February 16, 2010
Now in paperback, after five hardcover printings, Tommy James’s wild and entertaining true story of his career—part rock & roll fairytale, part valentine to a bygone era, and part mob epic—that “reads like a music-industry version of Goodfellas” (The Denver Post).
Everyone knows the...
The Year of Reading Dangerously
How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life
Language: English
Release Date: December 9, 2014
An editor and writer's vivaciously entertaining, and often moving, chronicle of his year-long adventure with fifty great books (and two not-so-great ones)—a true story about reading that reminds us why we should all make time in our lives for books.
Nearing his fortieth birthday, author and...
The Rest Is Noise
Listening to the Twentieth Century
Language: English
Release Date: October 16, 2007
The scandal over modern music has not died down. While paintings by Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock sell for a hundred million dollars or more, shocking musical works from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring onward still send ripples of unease through audiences. At the same time, the influence of modern...
Fargo Rock City
A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota
Language: English
Release Date: November 1, 2007
Empirically proving that—no matter where you are—kids wanna rock, this is Chuck Klosterman's hilrious memoir of growing up as a shameless metalhead in Wyndmere, North Dakotoa (population: 498).
With a voice like Ace Frehley's guitar, Klosterman hacks his way through hair-band history, beginning...
by Aaron Copland
Language: English
Release Date: February 1, 2011
Language: English
Release Date: February 1, 2011
Now in trade paperback: “The definitive guide to musical enjoyment” (Forum).
In this fascinating analysis of how to listen to both contemporary and classical music analytically, eminent American composer Aaron Copland offers provocative suggestions that will bring readers a deeper appreciation of the most viscerally rewarding of all art forms.
Pitch Perfect (movie tie-in)
The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory
Language: English
Release Date: September 4, 2012
A musical tale of collegiate a cappella filled of high notes, high drama, and high jinks that inspired the hit films Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2.
Get ready to be pitch slapped.
The roots of unaccompanied vocal music stretch all the way back to Gregorian chants of the Middle Ages,...
The Glass Teat
Essays
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2014
The classic collection of criticism about television and American culture from the late, multi-award-winning legend.
From 1968 through 1972, Harlan Ellison penned a series of weekly columns, sharing his uncompromising thoughts about contemporary television programming for the Los Angeles Free...
by David Pogue, Scott Speck
Language: Spanish
Release Date: May 14, 2013
Language: Spanish
Release Date: May 14, 2013
Agradable introducción a la música clásica, que presenta de forma muy comprensible las distintas épocas, corrientes, compositores e intérpretes para que el lector curioso pueda familiarizarse con ella. Anécdotas, trucos y curiosidades enganchan al lector, que, sin darse cuenta, adquiere una...
by Ted Gioia
Language: English
Release Date: April 8, 2011
Language: English
Release Date: April 8, 2011
Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic--acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world. Now Gioia brings his magnificent work completely up-to-date, drawing on the latest research and revisiting virtually every aspect of the music, past and present. Gioia tells the...
The First Four Notes
Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination
Language: English
Release Date: November 13, 2012
A TIME Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2012
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year
Los Angeles Magazine's #1 Music Book of the Year
A unique and revelatory book of music history that examines in great depth what is perhaps the best-known and most-popular symphony ever written and its four-note...
Everybody Loves Our Town
An Oral History of Grunge
Language: English
Release Date: September 6, 2011
Twenty years after the release of Nirvana’s landmark album Nevermind comes Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, the definitive word on the grunge era, straight from the mouths of those at the center of it all.
In 1986, fledgling Seattle label C/Z Records released Deep Six,...
Love Is a Mix Tape
Life, Loss, and What I Listened To
Language: English
Release Date: January 2, 2007
“The happiest, saddest, sweetest book about rock ‘n’ roll that I’ve ever experienced.”—Chuck Klosterman
Mix tapes: We all have our favorites. Stick one into a deck, press play, and you’re instantly transported to another time in your life. For Rob Sheffield, that time was one...
Songs of America
Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation
Language: English
Release Date: June 11, 2019
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A celebration of American history through the music that helped to shape a nation, by Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Meacham and music superstar Tim McGraw
“Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw form an irresistible duo—connecting us to music as an unsung force in our nation's...