The Ten Rules of Rock and Roll: Collected Music Writings 2005-11
Robert Forster (Jawbone)

The title, or the first part of it at least, may lead you to believe that this is a tome to file beside Bill Drummond’s The Manual: How to Have a Number One Hit the Easy Way, however although there is indeed a short ten rule list you really need to skip to the titles small print to find the major ingredients on offer here as this is a collection of Forster’s articles for Australian magazine The Monthly and, rather irritatingly for those of us that only have the single string to our bow (I for one have never had a hit record of any description), the bugger is actually rather good at it. What makes this even more readable is Forster’s extremely open minded worldview wherein Nana Mouskouri is equally as worthy of investigation as The Saints and when he reels off intelligent and well researched links between The Gun Club and White Stripes in his Bonnie Prince Billy piece you know that you are in the company of a genuine, full time, music fan. Add to this musings on his sadly deceased partner in the Go-Betweens Grant McLennan and you have a very readable collection indeed.
Ray Harper

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Paradoxical Undressing
Kristin Hersh (Atlantic)

If history is written by the victors, then it’s a pretty fair bet that autobiographies are written by people who want you to know their version of history, and in many a case that history is based almost entirely on memory (not the most reliable of a musicians senses). Kristin Hersh bypasses that particular problem by basing her memoirs on a year’s worth of diary entries made when her band, Throwing Muses, were on the cusp of a breakthrough. So far so straightforward, however this being Kristin Hersh Paradoxical Undressing also deals with the disturbing onset of her bipolar disorder and includes a huge and entertaining cast of artists, musos, nutters, friends, family and university study mate Betty Hutton (star of Annie Get Your Gun amongst other classic old films). This really is a cut above the usual ‘and then I did this’ guff with Hersh giving over swathes of the narrative to peripheral characters ensuring that the reader get’s a real sense of place and time. Brutally honest, funny, thought provoking and hugely entertaining, Kristin Hersh has written one of the great musician autobiographies and as if that wasn’t enough readers get access to four sets of Throwing Muses downloads.
The Oracle

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Black Sabbath FAQ
Martin Popoff
(Backbeat)

Not the only Black Sabbath book to be found on the shelves (or Amazon pages), indeed it’s not even the only Black Sabbath book by Martin Popoff (see also Doom Let Loose: an Illustrated History), this is more of a mopping up operation as the subtitle ‘All That's Left to Know on the First Name in Heavy Metal’ indicates. Part of Backbeat’s FAQ series which attempt to shed a little more light on the minutiae of the band in questions career, Popoff has clearly done his research here and there are numerous little nuggets to be unearthed by the long term Sabbath freak (although they may well take issue with some of his album ratings, is Sabotage really a better album than Paranoid?) alongside plenty of sales figures, chart positions, support acts etc. If there is a complaint it is that the book could have done with a good editor as interviews are presented complete with repetitions, trailed off thoughts and contradictions, which is just tiresome. So if you are after a definitive history then this isn’t the book for you, if however you think you already know pretty much everything there is to know about the Sab’s then check this out and find out if you’re right or not.
The Oracle

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Like Me: Confessions Of A Heartland Country Singer
Chely Wright (Hal Leonard)

If there are two places in the world you really, really don’t wanna be gay it’s Jamaica and Nashville, being gay in Trenchtown could earn you a bullet in the head and can you name just one gay country and western star? Can’t do it can you? I certainly couldn’t until I discovered the divine Ms Wright. Not that I knew the first thing about her or her music until now and, although I’m willing to bet very few people in the UK will have heard of her either, do not let this put you off checking out this fascinating book about a deeply religious country and western starlet who up until now remained firmly in the closet, for obvious reasons, but has finally decided enough is enough (seems the bravest C&W stars are always women, Google the Dixie Chicks anti-war farrago). Whether or not this book will send you scurrying off to track down her albums probably depends on your musical bent (ha!) but even if you couldn’t care less about country music Like Me will leave you doing just that, now we wait and see if anyone else has the guts to stick their hands up (don't hold your breath).
The Oracle

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The Resurrection Of Johnny Cash
Graeme Thompson (Jawbone Press)

It’s remarkable fact, but nonetheless true, that in 1993 Johnny Cash could be found playing at a Butlins holiday camp in Bognor Regis (a venue whose forthcoming attractions could boast such luminaries as Timmy Mallet and The Krankies), the legendary man in black playing the soul destroying, chicken-in-a-basket family entertainment cabaret circuit without a record deal to his name. Of course even the staunchest fan will admit the Cash back catalogue is liberally dotted with some dreadful clunkers, and he himself was not beyond making some hideously bad career decisions but it still seems beyond comprehension that such an iconic performer could be found in such reduced circumstances. Enter Rick Rubin, the man behind the book’s subtitle, ‘Hurt, Redemption and American Recordings’ and, within a year, we find a reinvigorated Cash rediscovering his muse, although obviously there is a good deal more to it than that as Graeme Thomson skilfully and entertainingly reveals. Whether you are a fan or not this is a rattling good read, but for those of us that count the American Recordings amongst the finest in our collections (and may well already own the odd Cash biog) it’s pretty much indispensible.
Ray Harper

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Eternal Descent
(IDW Publishing)

Wasn’t sure what to make of this when it arrived, as my graphic novel tastes tend more towards Love And Rockets or The Invisibles (although I’m not averse to a little Punisher Max and pretty much anything by Alan Moore) and this is sat squarely in X-Force territory, but in fairness this isn’t aimed at an old codger like me. Briefly the plot revolves around the battle between the demonic Loki and heavy metal fallen angel Syrian over the scantily clad sex interest Lyra all wielding guitar based weaponry and featuring cameo’s by real metal guitar types Doc Coyle, Gus G and Wayne Static. The musical links extend much further – Author Llexi Leon has also released two Eternal Descent albums and Japan’s ESP Guitars also boast three signature Eternal Descent models (more here) and the graphic novel even comes complete with a natty cover-mounted plectrum. So if your musical tastes run to the high speed grunt-core metal end of the market and the likes of Shadows Fall, Atreyu, Static X, Firewind and God Forbid – all of whom crop up here, although the emphasis is mainly on the guitarists – and you like your artwork on the gothic, sinewy muscular (or buxom) superhero side then you will probably love this.
The Oracle

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The Complete History of Guitar World/The Stratocaster Guitar Book (Backbeat)

One of the things that Backbeat do very well is gear-porn, not people doing horrible things with guitar necks you understand but the artfully shot picture of a well rounded instrument is something they have been doing for years. Of course there is text involved here, but in the case of The Stratocaster Guitar Book (which, unsurprisingly details the complete story of the Stratocaster and the Fender company) the copy is definitely secondary to the pics, and if you love your strats then you will be in Fender heaven here as this is chock full of everything from old classics to, erm, retro copies of old classics. The Complete History of Guitar World however does actually spend as much time on the words as the pics and, as artists as diverse as Frank Zappa, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton have all sat down with Guitar World magazine over the years, the full transcripts of these interviews make for some fascinating reading and, once again, the design is magnificently handled. So, not perhaps for everyone but both of these coffee table sized tomes would go down a storm with any guitar lovers in your life.
The Oracle

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It’s Lovely to Be Here: The Touring Diaries of a Scottish Gent
James Yorkston (Domino Press)

If Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx’s recently-published diaries depicted a life in the music industry led at the very highest peak of unrestrained debauchery, James Yorkston’s own collection hails from the absolute opposite end of the spectrum, where the greatest excess on show is likely to involve a vegan-friendly snack and a smidgen too much of single malt. Closely identified with Fife-based folk movement the Fence Collective, Yorkston has numerous critically-lauded solo albums to his name, but that hasn’t exactly garnered him entrance to the touring super-league. Instead, he finds himself travelling long distances across Europe to play to small-ish crowds for often paltry rewards. This could easily lead to bitterness as well as exasperation, but only the latter is in evidence in this gently humorous sortie through a musical life led on the lower rungs of success. The truth of the old adage which suggests that the many tiny nightmares of the day – travelling setbacks, checking into dodgy hotels, resolving technical glitches – are offset by the pleasure of the 90 minutes on stage is proven over and over again here by Yorkston, whose love of the act of playing live is never in any doubt.
Ray Harper

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Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk
Jeanette Leech (Jawbone Press)

You might imagine, if you have recently read the really rather excellent Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young that not a great deal is left to be said on the subject of psychedelic folk music but oddly enough you would be wrong. Not that psychedelic folk was any sort of recognisable genre at the time, acoustic-based avant-garde music has only really been recognised as such in retrospect after the emergence of acts like Devendra Banhart, Six Organs Of Admittance and Joanna Newsom who then pointed us back to Vashti Bunyan, Pearls Before Swine and Comus, indeed anyone intending to make a career from such folky weirdness soon discovered that such would not be the case, in fact aside from the Incredible String Band this really was the scene that never was (or at least never earned much). Like Electric Eden this is an extremely well-researched tome Leech tracking down and speaking to many of the artists included, with artists as diverse as Circulus, Holderlins Traum, Stone Breath and many, many more, they're all here (although no mention of Faun Fables), and Leech's accompanying Spotify playlist is an invaluable resource which will, sadly, probably end up effecting your bank balance.
The Oracle

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Becoming Elektra: The True Story of Jac Holzman's Visionary Record Label
Mick Houghton (Jawbone Press)

Another excellent Jawbone publication (see reviews of the recent Arthur Lee and Jack Bruce books), Becoming Elektra being an account of Elektra Records during the all important Jac Holzman years (1950 to 1973) and charting Elektra's growth from a tiny independent label to the major league home of The Doors, Love, Queen and launch pad for awkward cusses like The MC5 and the Stooges. This is a genuinely beautiful book, chock full of pictures, album covers, letters, memos and a complete Elektra discography. Houghton must have been given free rein to rifle through pretty much anything and everything from Elektra's history and the results are terrific. More important however is Houghton’s prose which engages the reader in all elements of the musical and cultural history of the time whilst skilfully weaving in the biographies of all the main players in the story not least of which is Holzman himself who was not only equipped with a tuned in set of ears but also proved to be no mean businessman (he also founded Nonesuch Records, invented the sampler album, realised the potential of massively money spinning sound effects records and even had a hand in launching the fledgling MTV).
The Oracle

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Nileism: The Strange Course Of The Blue Nile
Allan Brown (Polygon)

The very definition of ‘reluctant’, The Blue Nile have famously released just four albums in 25 years. The Scottish trio’s painstakingly fastidious approach has paid many dividends – the stunning first two LPs, A Walk Across the Rooftops (1984) and Hats (1989), in particular, contain some of the most emotive electronically-oriented music ever recorded and should be part of any discerning collection – but it has carried a high price for both band members and collaborators. Sequestered with engineer Calum Malcolm in Castlesound Studios, the initially close-knit group was able to make the first two albums with a level of interference from record companies so minimal it would be unthinkable now. But with the band moving to Warners during a destabilising period of change at the label, and singer/main songwriter Paul Buchanan spending large chunks of time in the US, the previously nigh-on telepathic collaboration between the trio entered a seemingly irrevocable decline. PJ Moore ended his involvement in 2004, around the time of High, while remaining members Buchanan and Robert Bell haven’t worked together since 2008. It’s no surprise, then, that an air of remarkable potential somehow unfulfilled hangs heavily over Nileism, but Allan Brown tells the tale with flair and delicious flashes of gallows humour.
David Davies

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The Unsigned Guide: UK Edition 4
(mcr:music)

OK, so your band has a spare forty quid in the band kitty (well, it could happen), do you get some fags and some booze and talk about the future in your bedroom? Do you buy another pedal for your guitarist to clog up the stage with? Do you copy up a bunch of demos and try and sell them to your mates? Or do you buy a brick sized directory packed with helpful guides, pages of record company, publishing company, management company and venue contact details plus lists of distributors, equipment hire, vehicle hire, recording studios merchandise companies, radio stations, tuition, promoters, press, printers, rehearsal rooms and much, much more, in short 864 pages packed with pretty much every contact that might help make that steep slippery climb a little more straightforward? Come on it’s a no brainer, numerous contacts you can spend weeks trying to track down all in one handy place alongside reams and reams of very well researched and helpful advice, this book will genuinely help you and save time, money and headaches. In fact the only really glaring omission we could find is we aren’t in there!
Ray Harper

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Ninja Tune: 20 Years of Beats and Pieces
Stevie Chick (Black Dog)

Yet another component in the twentieth anniversary celebrations of Ninja Tune records – the Hardback version of this being only available in the limited edition Ninja Tune XX boxset – a beautifully designed ‘coffee table’ (i.e. it’s a big bugger) type tome charting the rise and rise of Ninja Tune, established by Matt Black and Jonathan More (more of which you can find in Class Act), initially at least, as an outlet for Coldcut material but going on to become a safe and supportive haven for acts as diverse as The Cinematic Orchestra; Roots Manuva; Mr Scruff; Amon Tobin; Kid Koala; The Herbaliser; The Heavy; Spank Rock and offshoot labels, Ntone, Hip-Hop imprint Big Dada and Counter Records. Featuring an illustrated visual discography and reams of exclusive interviews with the label's major artists, and the like-minded folks who helped shape the roster. Needless to say, given the importance design has played in the labels history, this is a properly lovely book to just browse, indeed it repays repeat dipping rather than one in depth hammer through and will certainly appeal to both fans of the label and anyone with even a passing interest in art and design.
The Oracle

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