"On August 15, 1969, a music festival called 'Woodstock' transformed one small dairy farm in upstate New York into a gathering place for over 400,000 young music fans. Concert-goers, called 'hippies,' traveled from all over the country to see their favorite musicians perform. Famous artists like The Grateful Dead played day and night in a celebration of peace, love, and happiness. Although Woodstock lasted only three days, the spirit of the festival...

Documents the story of the creation of Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" album against a backdrop of the political and cultural turmoil of 1968 Boston, examining how other artists raised awareness about key historical events and issues.

"Drawing on new interviews with surviving members and people in their inner circle--along with the group's extensive archives and his own research from years of covering the group--David Browne, longtime music journalist and contributing editor at Rolling Stone, does more than merely delve into the Dead's saga. By way of an altogether unique structure--each chapter centered around a significant or pivotal day in their story--he lends this ... musical...

Two of the world's preeminent music journalists tackle the liveliest debate in rock history: which band is the greatest ever-the Beatles or the Rolling Stones? More than two dozen topics of debate are addressed, with cases being made both for the lads from Liverpool and rock's proto bad boys. From the Cavern and Crawdaddy clubs through head-to-head comparisons of specific albums (e.g., Exile or "the White Album"?), members' roles within the bands,...

Revolver How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'N' Roll. Beatles Authority Robert Rodriguez breaks through the old myths and opens up a new discussion sure to stir controversy among many Beatles historians: received wisdom has always put Sgt. Pepper at the head of the class, but Rodriguez argues it was Revolver that truly signaled the Beatles' change from a functional band to a studio-based ensemble. More than any rock record before or after, Revolver...

"A deep-dive into the unique connections between the two titans of the British cultural psyche--the Beatles and the Bond films--and what they tell us about class, sexuality, and our aspirations over sixty dramatic years"-- "The Beatles are the biggest band in the history of pop music. James Bond is the single most successful movie character of all time. They are also twins. Dr No, the first Bond film, and Love Me Do, the first Beatles record, were...

It's 1967, the Summer of Love, and Bob Dylan is holed up in Woodstock with a group of musicians once known as The Hawks, laying down a set of recordings that will soon turn the music world on its head. These recordings—the Basement Tapes—would not be released commercially by Dylan at first, but would emerge in the form of cover versions by acts such as The Byrds, Manfred Mann, and Peter Paul & Mary. Together, they would inspire a homespun, back-to-basics...

Written in 1968 and revised in 1972, Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom was the first book to celebrate the language and the primal essence of rock 'n' roll. But it was much more than that. It was a cogent history of an unruly era, from the rise of Bill Haley to the death of Jimi Hendrix. And while telling outrageous tales, vividly describing the music, and cutting through the hype, Nik Cohn would engender a new literary form: rock criticism. In his book's...

[This book] is the definitive story of the extraordinary rise and fall of progressive ("prog") rock. Epitomized by such classic, chart-topping bands as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Emerson Lake & Palmer, along with such successors as Rush, Marillion, Asia, Styx, and Porcupine Tree, prog sold hundreds of millions of records. It brought into the mainstream concept albums, spaced-out cover art, crazy time signatures, multitrack recording,...