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John Cale's experimental contribution is assessed, especially his work for LaMonte Young (The Theatre of Eternal Music) and what he carried from that experience into the Velvet's sound. The visual artist Andy Warhol became the band's manager and producer in 1965. He placed his 'superstar' Nico in the line-up (which already included a female drummer). The radical nature of the group's Warhol period performances are examined, together with those aspects related to issues of gender, sexuality and drugs culture by which the Warhol Factory scene was identified, and contemplated in Reed's songs. Witts examines the musical influences of the Velvets on punk, post-punk and subsequent rock movements, culminating in the group's reunion of 1993. He also indexes the variety of media constructions that the group endured through the years and how these affected Cale, Nico and Reed and their attempts to establish solo careers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49674119348497,"sku":"GOR006517388","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52425487221009,"sku":"NLS9781904768272","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/190476827X.jpg?v=1751412969"},{"product_id":"velvet-underground-book-richard-witts-9780253218322","title":"The Velvet Underground","description":"Though The Velvet Underground existed for no more than three years with its original lineup, it is considered to be not just the ultimate New York band but one of the most influential rock groups ever. Among its devotees are David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, Joy Division, and Nirvana, along with hot new groups such as the White Stripes and the Strokes.  Witts places the band and its genesis in the cultural context of Manhattan's beatnik bohemianism, its radical artistic environment, and the city's reaction to California's Hippie counterculture. Lou Reed's Brill Building background is also considered, while his Primitives (1964-65) and Velvet Underground (1965-70) songs are examined within the stylistic context of rock music. The band's sound world is likewise considered in this light. John Cale's experimental contribution is assessed, especially his work for LaMonte Young (The Theatre of Eternal Music), and what he carried from that experience into the Velvet's sound.  Andy Warhol, known to the group as Drella, became the band's manager and producer in 1965. He installed his superstar Nico in the line-up (which already included a female drummer).  Witts examines the radical nature of the Velvet's Warhol-period performances, vis-a-vis issues of gender, sexuality, and the drug culture which was associated with the Warhol Factory scene, and contemplated in many of Reed's songs.  Witts studies the musical influences of The Velvet Underground on punk, post-punk, and subsequent rock movements, culminating in the group's 1993 reunion. He also indexes the variety of media constructions that the group endured through the years and how these affected the attempts of Cale, Nico, and Reed to establish solo careers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50347411833105,"sku":"CIN0253218322G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0253218322.jpg?v=1751100875"},{"product_id":"buddy-holly-book-dave-laing-9780253221681","title":"Buddy Holly","description":"In his analysis of Buddy Holly's music and lyrics, his impact on music of the late 1950s, and his posthumous influence on the music industry, Dave Laing aims to provide a fresh perspective on this early rock icon. The longest-serving member of the rock immortals club-those singers and musicians for whom death seems to inaugurate a new phase of their careers-Holly was elevated to a place of honor in rock history soon after the plane crash that took his life in February 1959. One of the first artifacts acquired by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum was the twisted pair of his trademark black-rimmed glasses recovered from the plane wreckage. Despite his premature death at the age of 22 and the relatively limited output of his recordings during his lifetime, Buddy Holly remains one of the most influential and best-loved figures in rock 'n' roll.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50520830509329,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50520837226769,"sku":"CIN0253221684A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0253221684.jpg?v=1750974015"},{"product_id":"elvis-book-mark-duffett-9781845538309","title":"Elvis","description":"Elvis Presley remains the single most important figure in twentieth century popular music. To many commentators, however, he has simply embodied the benefits and problems of uncritically embracing capitalism. By 2005 the 'Memphis Flash' sold over a billion records worldwide, yet his cultural significance cannot be measured by these extraordinary sales figures alone. He cannot quite be reduced to a placeholder for the contradictions of commerce. As the most prominent performer of the rock'n'roll era, then as a charismatic global superstar, Elvis fundamentally challenged the established relationship between White and Black culture, drew attention to the social needs of women and young people, and promoted the value of Southern creativity. He functioned as a bridge figure between folk roots and high modernity, and in the process became a controversial symbol of American unity. Elvis interprets the image and music of Elvis Presley to reveal how they have evolved to construct a particularly appealing and powerful myth. Following broad contours of Presley's rollercoaster career, the book uses a range of analytical frames to challenge established perspectives on an icon. Its shows that the controversy around Elvis has effectively tested how far a concern for social equality could be articulated through the marketplace, and ultimately challenged how popular music itself should be assessed.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51053935362321,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51053937819921,"sku":"NIN9781845538309","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52686465892625,"sku":"NLS9781845538309","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1845538307.jpg?v=1751249135"},{"product_id":"beatles-book-ian-inglis-9781845538651","title":"The Beatles","description":"Of all pop music's icons, the Beatles have attracted more attention and generated more discussion than any other performers. 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Because of the unprecedented nature of their success, their perennial associations with the century's most beguiling decade, the range of their extra-musical activity, and the dramatic postscripts to a career that effectively ended in 1970, many accounts of the Beatles have adopted a tone that veers between the sensational and the reverential. In addition, such accounts often overlook the significance of the professional, geographical, historical and technological constraints within which the Beatles worked, and which shaped their live and recorded musical output. In this book, Ian Inglis provides a succinct critical appreciation of the group that is balanced, informative and objective. It concentrates above all on the music of the Beatles, the context in which it was created, performed and recorded, and its rapid and often startling evolution which, powered by the formidable writing talents of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, moved from early cover versions through the conventions of the two- or three-minute love song to the lyrical variety and musical innovations of their post-touring years. His account separates myth from reality, documents the uneasy relationship between creativity and control that acted as a catalyst for their artistic development, and supplies fresh insights into the aspirations and achievements of the world's most celebrated popular musicians.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51053944144145,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51053946372369,"sku":"NIN9781845538651","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52401452613905,"sku":"NLS9781845538651","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/184553865X.jpg?v=1751411638"},{"product_id":"bjork-book-nicola-dibben-9781845531843","title":"Bjork","description":"This book provides the first comprehensive musicologically-informed account of Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjork. 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It traces the extent of the Brown legacy, musically, culturally and otherwise articulating decisive links between Brown's work and the DJ culture that embraced it so emphatically that Brown is now considered to be the most widely sampled African-American recording artist in history; indeed, we seem to have reached a point where many of Brown's refrains  -  the screams, the horn stabs, the \"funky drummer\" breakbeats  -  have been sampled so often as to have seemingly become part of the public domain. 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Designated in Don MacLeans hit American Pie as the day the music diedY, this enabled him to be included in the trope the death of rock and roll, alongside the less drastic musical demises of Elvis Presley (joined army), Chuck Berry (imprisoned), Jerry Lee Lewis (disgraced) and Little Richard (joined priesthood). The view that Holly belongs only to the 1950s has often obscured the originality of his music. In an era when the music world was divided into hard rockers, soft pop balladeers and hardcore Nashville country and western singers, his songs transcended these boundaries. Equally innovative was his use of the recording studio as a laboratory, a place to experiment with sounds. In addition, the two guitars, bass and drums line-up of his group the Crickets was the major contributor to the small-group template for generations of rock musicians down to the present day. 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