Martyn shares some of his favourite non-fiction and biographical books, all about music! Browse our staff picks and pick up a copy from your local Suffolk library.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations or explore more of the National Year of Reading campaign.
Kraftwerk: Future Music From Germany
Uwe Schutte
Ignoring nearly all rock traditions, expermenting in near-total secrecy in their Düsseldorf studio, Kraftwerk fused sound and technology, graphic design and performance, modernist Bauhaus aesthetics and Rhineland industrialisation – even human and machine – to change the course of modern music.
This is the story of Kraftwerk as a cultural phenomenon, who turned electronic music into avant-garde concept art and created the soundtrack to our digital age.
My Effin’ Life
Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee is one of rock and roll’s most respected bassists. For nearly five decades, his playing and work as co-writer, vocalist and keyboardist has been an essential part of the success story of Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. Here for the first time is his account of life inside and outside the band.
As he recounts the transformation, Lee looks back on his family, in particular his loving parents and their horrific experiences as teenagers during World War II. He talks candidly about his childhood and the pursuit of music that led him to drop out of high school. He tracks the history of Rush which, after early struggles, exploded into one of the most beloved bands of all time. He shares intimate stories of his lifelong friendships with bandmates Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart—deeply mourning Peart’s recent passing—and reveals his obsessions in music and beyond.
This rich brew of honesty, humor, and loss makes for a uniquely poignant memoir.
All Gates Open: The Biography of Can
Irmin Schmidt and Rob Young
‘All Gates Open’ is a music book like no other. Its subject is Can, arguably the most important experimental group of the 20th century.
Formed in Cologne in 1968, Can drew their influences from the avant-garde – founding members Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay both studied under Stockhausen – and jazz traditions to create a heavily rhythmic, minimal music that redefined what it meant to be a popular band.
The book comprises two elements of equal weight: a biography of the group by Rob Young and a Symposium curated by Irmin Schmidt. The latter explores, in Irmin’s own voice and that of his collaborators and admirers, the tentacular influence Can have had upon not just popular music, but also the visual arts, poetry and film. Can have been a direct source of inspiration for numerous genres, notably ambient, post-punk and electronica.
Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King
Lloyd Bradley
The first major account of the history of reggae, black music journalist Lloyd Bradley describes its origins and development in Jamaica, from ska to rock-steady to dub and then to reggae itself, a local music which conquered the world.
There are many extraordinary stories about characters like Prince Buster, King Tubby and Bob Marley. But this is more than a book of music history: it relates the story of reggae to the whole history of Jamaica, from colonial island to troubled independence, and Jamaicans, from Kingston to London.
Bee Gees: Children of the World
Bob Stanley
The world is full of Bee Gees fans. Yet, for a band of such renown, little is known about Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb.
Weren’t two of them twins? Didn’t one of them marry Lulu? Where does Andy fit into the Gibb family tree? And why did they storm out of that Clive Anderson interview?
People tend to have their favourite era of the Bee Gees’ career, but many listeners are also conscious that there is more to uncover about the band. This book will provide the perfect route in, pulling together every fascinating strand to tell the story of a group with the imagination of the Beatles, the pop craft of ABBA, the drama of Fleetwood Mac and the emotional heft of the Beach Boys.
Holy Ghost: The Life and Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler
Richard Koloda
Holy Ghost is the first extended study of free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, who is seen today as one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz. Ayler synthesized children s songs, La Marseillaise, American march music, and gospel hymns, turning them into powerful, rambunctious, squalling free-jazz improvisations.
Some critics considered him a charlatan, others a heretic for unhinging the traditions of jazz. Some simply considered him insane. However, like most geniuses, Ayler was misunderstood in his time. His divine messages of peace and love, apocalyptic visions of flying saucers, and the strange account of the days leading up to his being found floating in New York’s East River are central to his mystique, but, as Koloda points out, they are a distraction, overshadowing his profound impact on the direction of jazz as one of the most visible avant-garde players of the 1960s and a major influence on others, including John Coltrane.
Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany
David Stubbs
West Germany following the Second World War was a country in shock: estranged from its recent history, and adrift from the rest of Europe.
But this disorientating landscape proved fertile ground for a generation of musicians who, from the 1960s onwards, would develop the experimental and various sounds that became known as Krautrock. They may not all have become household names, but the influence of their ruminative, expansive compositions upon Western popular music is incalculable.
‘Future Days’ is an in-depth study of this meditative, sometimes abstract, often very beautiful music and the groups that made it, throwing light on the social and political context that informed them.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Supergroup
David Browne
In the spring of 1969, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash released their first album as a group; Crosby, Stills & Nash became a landmark in harmony singing and counterculture values, and after Neil Young joined up with them for 1970’s Déjà Vu, their supergroup status was cemented.
With its distinctive, iconic front men, its current-events songs and its very structure, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young embodied nearly every aspect of their era. This book takes readers inside the creative process of albums, both finished and abandoned, the inspirations behind the songs and the dust-ups and difficulties each man faced along the way.
England’s Dreaming
Jon Savage
Jon Savage’s ‘England’s Dreaming’ is the ultimate book on punk, its progenitors, the Sex Pistols, and their time: the late 1970s.
Full of anecdote, insight, and exclusive interviews, it tells the sensational story of the meteoric rise and rapid decline of the last great rock’n’roll band and the cultural moment they came to define.
Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Susic
Colm Toibin
In this groundbreaking survey of more than a century of music making in the British Isles, Rob Young investigates how the idea of folk has been handed down and transformed by successive generations – song collectors, composers, Marxist revivalists, folk-rockers, psychedelic voyagers, free festival-goers, experimental pop stars and electronic innovators.
An attempt to isolate the ‘Britishness’ of British music – a wild combination of pagan echoes, spiritual quest, imaginative time-travel, pastoral innocence and electrified creativity – Electric Eden will be treasured by anyone interested in the tangled story of Britain’s folk music and Arcadian dreams.
Lords of Chaos
Mike Moynihan and Didrick Soderlind
Nearly 100 churches have been torched and desecrated by devotees of Black Metal, the most extreme form of underground music on the planet. ‘Lords of Chaos’ investigates the leaders and followers of the demonic bands who generate this response.
Just before the turn of the millennium nearly 100 churches had been torched and desecrated by adherents of Black Metal, the most extreme form of underground music on the planet. In an escalating unholy war, Black Metal bands and their obsessive fans have left a grim legacy of suicide, murder and terrorism spreading from Norway to Germany, Russia, America and beyond.
Written by two journalists, this is a unique look at this hellish scene featuring rare photos and exclusive interviews with priests, police and Satanists.
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