How we relate, how we know what we think we know, how past mingles with present, how a bike stays upright, how the butt can bear that puny perch — a lot more than pedals and wheels goes around in Cycling in Plato's Cave. Just like a bike, the poems are simple but have deftly moving parts that roll us along, offer fresh perspectives, and let us feel the air. And just like on a sunny Sunday in June, or is it September, or maybe it's cloudy and broody outside, it's all about the ride.

'The greatest book ever written on British independent music' Guardian'One of the best British music books of the last ten years' MojoFounded by Alan McGee in 1983, Creation Records achieved notoriety as the home of Primal Scream, the Jesus and Mary Chain and other anti-Establishment acts. During the Britpop boom of the mid-90s, the astonishing success of Oasis brought Creation fame on the world stage. In 1999, however, McGee announced his s...

Goodnight and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Shape Modern Britain is a social history, a diary of a nation's changing culture, and an in-depth appraisal of one of our greatest broadcasters, a man who can legitimately be called the most influential figure in post-war British popular music.Without the support of John Peel, it's unlikely that innumerable artists - from David Bowie to Dizzee Rascal, Jethro Tull to Joy Division - would have received...

WINNER OF THE RALPH J. GLEASON AWARDINCLUDES FOREWORD BY JOHNNY MARRAward-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author Jon Savage's definitive history of punk, its progenitors, the Sex Pistols, and their time: the late 1970s.A pop-culture classic full of anecdote, insight and exclusive interviews, England's Dreaming tells the sensational story of the meteoric rise and rapid decline of the last great rock 'n' roll band and the cultural moment the...

SUNDAY TIMES MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEARROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEARMOJO BOOK OF THE YEARIn 1975, Viv Albertine was obsessed with music but it never occurred to her she could be in a band as she couldn't play an instrument and she'd never seen a girl play electric guitar.A year later, she was the guitarist in the hugely influential all-girl band the Slits, who fearlessly took on the male-dominated music scene and ...

I was only sixteen when I bought an electric guitar and joined a band. A year later, I formed an all-girl band called the Marine Girls and played gigs, and signed to an indie label, and started releasing records.Then, for eighteen years, between 1982 and 2000, I was one half of the group Everything But the Girl. In that time, we released nine albums and sold nine million records. We went on countless tours, had hit singles and flop singles, were reviewed and interviewed to within a...

This is a comprehensive in-depth exploration of the career and work of one of the worlds greatest hard rock bands.With the likes of Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and David Coverdale passing through their ranks, Deep Purple was always destined to produce extraordinary music - what was less predictable was in the incredible story of the bands formation, rise to fame and struggle to cope with the immense pressures of international superstardom. Jerry Blooms sparkling narrative tells the story,...

Cliff Richard has been a muscial icon for 5 decades, and this eBook has been released to help celebrate his 70th birthday last October. 250 million record sales later - Cliff still continues to delight his fans with new music and spectacular live performances. The book is written by ex DJ and Cliff's goof friend Mike Read.

In 1982, aged twenty-three, Simon Parkes paid £1 for a virtually derelict building in Brixton. Over the next fifteen years he turned it into Britain's most iconic music venue. And now he's telling his story: full of fond - and wild - reminiscences of the famous musicians who played at the venue, including Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Lou Reed, The Ramones, New Order, the Beastie Boys and The Smiths.This is about one man's burning desire for success against the odds, his passion for...

The basis for the new hit documentary 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, now streaming on Apple TV+.A rollicking look at 1971, rock’s golden year, the year that saw the release of the indelible recordings of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Who, Rod Stewart, Carole King, the Rolling Stones, and others and produced more classics than any other year in rock history.The Sixties ended a year late. On New Year...

This is the powerful, detailed and enlightening biography of the iconic composer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist - the inimitable Prince.Prince was an icon. A man who defined an era of music and changed the shape of popular culture forever. There is no doubt that he was one of the most talented and influential artists of all time, and also one of the most mysterious. On 21st April 2016 the world lost its Prince; it was the day the mus...

Published in autumn 2001 Have Not Been the Same became the first book to comprehensively document the rise of Canadian underground rock between the years 1985 and 1995. It was a tumultuous decade that saw the arrival of Blue Rodeo The Tragically Hip Sarah McLachlan Sloan Barenaked Ladies Daniel Lanois and many others who made an indelible mark not only on Canadian culture but on the global stage as well. Have Not Been the Same tells all of their stories in rich detail through extensive fir...