Books

Books

When we are not listening to music, we like to read about music. We work with Paul and his team at the fantastic City Books just up the road from us to apply our curated approach to an ever changing but choice selection of books about the music and musicians whose records we sell.  Below are some of our current favourite books to inspire and inform your musical taste.

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31 products
Egostrip Book 2 is a beautifully designed, expansive continuation of Dan Lish’s visionary character illustrations that pay homage to the vibrant world of Hip Hop and beyond
Egostrip Book 2 (signed by Dan)
Dan Lish
£45.00
Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day and then ages out. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer.
The Creative Act (Paperback)
Rick Rubin
£18.00
By Paul Slattery with a foreword by Noel Gallagher A collection of photos of Oasis taken on the road during their breakthrough year published to coincide with the band's long-awaited reunion.
Oasis. Their Breakthrough Year.
Paul Slattery
£20.00
More than 200 images of Oasis, with many seen here for the very first time, in a stunning, signed, cloth-bound hardback.
Roll With It. Oasis in Photographs 1994-2002 (signed)
Tom Sheehan
£35.00
The finest book on Britain's most popular rock 'n' roll band 'Read on … It's all true' Noel Gallagher Featuring an exclusive interview with Noel Gallagher ahead of the Oasis Live '25 Tour and bespoke artwork by celebrated Oasis album designer Brian Cannon Think Oasis was just Britpop and brawls? Think again.
Live Forever. The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Oasis
John Robb
£22.00
The Blondie guitarist charts his drug-fuelled journey from young punk to pop pioneer with charming nonchalance
Under a Rock
Chris Stein
£12.99
This is the iconic Josephine Baker in her own words. Funny, candid and unconventional: the wildly famous but elusive Josephine Baker tells her own story in this enchanting memoir.
Fearless and Free | Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
£18.99
Between the late '60s and early '80s, design house Hipgnosis created some of the most iconic and ubiquitous album artwork of all time.
Us and Them | The Authorised Story of Hipgnosis: The visionary artists behind Pink Floyd and more...
Mark Blake
£12.99
Alan Edwards, the godfather of British music PR, has worked with some of the most legendary artists of our time, from David Bowie to the Spice Girls via the Rolling Stones, the Stranglers, Prince and Amy Winehouse.
I Was There | Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll (Signed Copy)
Alan Edwards
£10.99
Lawrence is the greatest pop star who never made it, his dreams of glory thwarted over the past five decades by bad luck and self-sabotage
Street-level Superstar | A Year with Lawrence
Will Hodgkinson
£22.00
An Evangelist's Guide to Late 20th Century Underground Music
Volcanic Tongue (Signed & with exclusive CD)
David Keenan
£45.00
Wildfire tells the story of the first decade of The Prodigy from the perspective of original member Leeroy Thornhill.
Wildfire (signed copy)
Leeroy Thornhill
£35.00
Through cultural theory, historical research, and original interviews with key figures and collaborators in the UK rap scene, from pioneers like Malcolm McLaren, Soul II Soul, Tricky, Roots Manuva, and Roll Deep to modern artists like Dave, CASISDEAD, Little Simz, Loyle Carner, and Skengdo x AM, adds a rich human dimension to the UK rap story — one that helped change British music and culture forever.
What Do You Call It (From Grassroots to te Goldern Era of UK Rap)
David Kane
£14.99
Selling The Night witnesses how ideas migrate from subculture to influence the creative industries. It searches for lessons in improving the value exchange between dance music and brands, seeking something more symbiotic and less parasitic. All the while, it celebrates what makes after-dark ideas so special – the unique and democratising role they play.
Selling the Night
Andy Crysell
£17.99
"Suzi gets as close to Bowie as anyone. Pulls few punches"
Me and Mrs Jones
Suzi Ronson
£10.99
My Family and Other Rock Stars is Tiff's remarkable, truly unique story of growing up in a rural idyll, of Cordon Bleu cookery and of a childhood where the chances of bumping into Freddie Mercury playing piano, or a group of Hell's Angels turning up to record for Lemmy, or even the hope of David Bowie appearing, were as normal as hopscotch and homework.
My Family and Other Rock Stars
Tiffany Murray
£12.99
An inspiring memoir-manifesto from one of the UK’s leading DJs. WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY ANNIE MAC
Welcome to the Club | The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ
DJ Paulette
£10.99
A landmark social history of British rap and grime - from the artists and communities who created and were shaped by the music, to the listeners who found a sense of identity and home within it. WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY GARY YOUNGE
Where We Come From: Rap, Home & Hope in Modern Britain (Paperback)
Aniefiok Ekpoudom
£10.99
A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon
Bitter Crop - The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year Paul Alexander
Paul Alexander
£12.99
1959 saw Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the other members of Miles's sextet come together to record the seminal jazz album of all time Kind of Blue. 3 Shades of Blue is a magnificent, blended biography on the meandering paths which led Miles, Coltrane and Evans to the mountaintop of...
3 Shades of Blue: (Paperback) Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans & The Lost Empire of Cool
James Kaplan
£12.99
The story of recorded sound - the technological developments, the people that made them happen and the impact they had on society - from the earliest inventions via the phonograph to LPs, EPs and the recent resurgence of vinyl.
Into the Groove: The Story of Sound From Tin Foil to Vinyl
Jonathan Scott
£12.99
Available in this new hardback edition for the first time in decades, Sweet Soul Music was hailed by Newsweek on publication as 'a stunning chronicle.... a panoramic survey of a lost world [and] one of the best books ever written on American popular music'.
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom
Peter Guralnick
£30.00
Before she became Smokin Jo – the most famous and visible of the first generation of ‘superstar DJs’ – Joanne Joseph was a young girl growing up in a children’s home with her sister. Until her mother returned and whisked the siblings away just before secondary school to a flat on the Portobello R...
You Don't Need a Dick to DJ (Signed Copy)
Smokin Jo
£22.00
Egostrip Book 1 is a beautifully designed collection of Dan Lish’s stunning character illustrations from the world of hip hop and beyond.
Egostrip Book 1 (signed by Dan)
Dan Lish
£35.00
'I doubt I'll ever read a better account of the history and sociology of popular music than this one.' Brian Eno
And the Roots of Rhythm Remain A Journey Through Global Music
Joe Boyd
£30.00
When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasn't expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it...
Hip Hop is History
Questlove
£25.00
Unapologetic Expression captures the radical spirit of a vital British musical movement
Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion
Andre Marmot
£25.00
The only book about jazz that i have recommended to my friends. It is a little gem. - Keith Jarrett
But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz
Geoff Dyer
£10.99
Yo! The Early Days of Hip-Hop 1982-84 is a new book published by Soul Jazz Books/Records that features 300+ pages of stunning photographs documenting the rise of hip hop in the early 1980s.
Yo! The Early Days of Hip-Hop 1982-84
Sophie Bramly
£35.00
Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day and then ages out. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Rick Rubin
£27.00
Equal parts biography, musicology, and cultural history, Dilla Time chronicles the life and legacy of J Dilla, a musical genius who transformed the sound of popular music for the twenty-first century.
Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
Dan Charmas
£12.99