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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Music books

July 2024

  • CS Lewis - English novelist and author of the Chronicles of Narnia, Clive Staples Lewis 1898 - 1963ha7464-001.jpg

    In brief: CS Lewis’s Oxford; True Love; Loosely Based on a Made-Up Story – review

  • Joni Mitchell photographed for Vogue in 1968.

    Book of the day
    Travelling by Ann Powers review – a dazzling life of Joni Mitchell

June 2024

  • A goldfish pond with lilies made from the pages of books

    Summer reading: 50 of the best new books to dive into

  • Jerrold Northrop Moore began his Elgar researches as a student by interviewing people who had known the composer.

    Jerrold Northrop Moore obituary

  • Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson

    Observer book of the week
    Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove review – a soundtrack for the world, from the Sugarhill Gang to Kanye West

  • Debbie Harry and Chris Stein in the Mediasound recording studio, New York, in 1979

    Book of the day
    Under a Rock by Chris Stein review – sex, squalor and superstardom

  • ‘Behind everything was this lingering drug situation’: Chris Stein on Blondie’s heyday

  • ‘I’m a fan of chaos’: Blondie’s Chris Stein on Bowie, Debbie Harry and 50 years in rock’n’roll

May 2024

  • Questlove, in NYC 2024

    ‘Rapper’s Delight planted a seed for the rest of my life’: Questlove on hoarding, capturing hip-hop history and the Kendrick-Drake beef

  • 39.Mike w Valerie Simpson & Nickolas Ashford @ WHY

    What a Fool Believes by Michael McDonald review – the soul singer with a nature as sweet as his voice

  • Queen at Rockfield Studios in 1975.

    My Family and Other Rock Stars by Tiffany Murray review – tales from a rock’n’roll childhood

  • Donna Summer.

    Book of the day
    The Secret Public by Jon Savage review – how pop drove LGBTQ+ liberation

April 2024

  • Elia Barbieri - The Guardian Saturday - Big Idea - 27th April 2024 - NIghtlife-01

    The big idea
    The big idea: what would culture look like without nightlife?

    Live music venues, clubs and bars feed creativity and drive social change. But they’re increasingly in danger
  • Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life Richard King AR_8.1

    Book of the day
    Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life review – down the rabbit hole with a musical maverick

    He played cello for Allen Ginsberg, nearly joined Talking Heads and was sampled by Kanye West. Now the singular, genre-spanning Russell has the exhaustive study he deserves
  • Rooftop Beatles<br>30th January 1969: British rock group the Beatles performing their last live public concert on the rooftop of the Apple Organization building for director Michael Lindsey-Hogg's film documentary, 'Let It Be,' on Savile Row, London, England. Drummer Ringo Starr sits behind his kit. Singer/songwriters Paul McCartney and John Lennon perform at their microphones, and guitarist George Harrison (1943 - 2001) stands behind them. Lennon's wife Yoko Ono sits at right. (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images) white;format landscape;male;musical instrument;audio equipment;equipment;Music;Pop;Songwriter;Drummer;Guitarist;Film; P/BEATLES/1969;The

    Observer book of the week
    All You Need Is Love: The End of the Beatles by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines review – from best man to muckraker

    In this ‘director’s cut’ of their 1983 book, which Paul McCartney burned, a former Beatles employee and a music writer appear preoccupied with stirring up scandal around the band’s split

March 2024

  • David Bowie, Mick Ronson and Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey performing on stage.

    Observer book of the week
    Me and Mr Jones by Suzi Ronson review – Stardust memories of David Bowie’s hairdresser

  • Jarvis Cocker performing with Pulp at the Castlefield Bowl in Manchester.

    From Dylan to Ishiguro: can song lyrics ever be literature?

February 2024

  • Florence Ballard (right) as part of the Supremes in 1965.

    Book of the day
    The Rejects by Jamie Collinson review – almost famous

  • A pink doughnut on a pink plate.

    In brief: Piglet; Free Play; A Spell of Good Things – review

January 2024

  • So Solid Crew in 2007.

    Where We Come From by Aniefiok Ekpoudom review – a social history of British rap

    This unusual account of a musical movement eschews grand narratives and embraces the small-scale
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