When he passed permanently into the next dimension in 2006, Syd Barretts life had developed into something far more significant than he could ever have imagined. The man who turned his back on probable fame, fortune and the entire rock music scene over thirty years ago had become an involuntary legend. Was he a genius or just a madman? The definitive answer to this question will never be known. But Psychedelic Renegades goes a long way towards unraveling the enigma that was Syds personality. Mick Rocks extraordinary images and frank text expose a man with enormous natural charisma, whose moods could be dark and brooding as well as buoyant with madcap laughter. This superbly produced book covers the period 1969-71, and features the photo session in and around Syd's London flat that produced the cover for his first solo album, The Madcap Laughs; it also features images Mick shot for the now famous Rolling Stone interview in 1971, which became the last photos Syd ever posed for.
A unique account of the Japanese rock phenomenon from a legendary rock musician with an army of fans 'The most obscenely enjoyable book of the year ... enlightening, thrilling and occasionally hilarious ... Cope is a supremely engaging writer whose aim is to entertain, educate and freak out' Telegraph 'This book's astonishing blend of seriousness and hilariousness is testament to perhaps the most remarkable mind in rock today' Word Julian Cope, eccentric and visionary rock musician, follows the runaway underground success of his book Krautrocksampler with Japrocksampler, a cult deconstruction of Japanese rock music, and reveals what really happened when East met West after World War Two. It explores the clash between traditional, conservative Japanese values and the wild rock 'n' roll renegades of the 1960s and 70s, and tells of the seminal artists in Japanese post-war culture, from itinerant art-house poets to violent refusenik rock groups with a penchant for plane hijacking.
“This makes entertaining reading. Many accounts of the birth of personal computing have been written, but this is the first close look at the drug habits of the earliest pioneers.” —New York Times Most histories of the personal computer industry focus on technology or business. John Markoff’s landmark book is about the culture and consciousness behind the first PCs—the culture being counter– and the consciousness expanded, sometimes chemically. It’s a brilliant evocation of Stanford, California, in the 1960s and ’70s, where a group of visionaries set out to turn computers into a means for freeing minds and information. In these pages one encounters Ken Kesey and the phone hacker Cap’n Crunch, est and LSD, The Whole Earth Catalog and the Homebrew Computer Lab. What the Dormouse Said is a poignant, funny, and inspiring book by one of the smartest technology writers around.
'The closest we'll ever get to a straight up Bowie autobiography -- but who'd ever want anything straight-up from Bowie?' - Rolling Stone In 2002, David Bowie and Mick Rock created Moonage Daydream, the defining document of the life and times of Ziggy Stardust. Twenty years later, it remains the closest readers will get to understanding Bowie through his own words. Alongside over 600 photographs taken by Mick Rock, Bowie's intimate and often humorous commentary gives unprecedented insight into his best and most memorable creation. Readers can see how Bowie singlehandedly challenged and elevated 1970s culture through his style, his inspirations which ranged from Kubrick to Kabuki, and his creative spirit which persevered through the decades. Moonage Daydream is the essential David Bowie book. First published as a signed limited edition, Moonage Daydream sold out in a matter of months and became lore among David Bowie fans. Now, on the 50th anniversary of Bowie's acclaimed album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the book is available again in a brand-new unabridged edition, keeping to Bowie and Rock's original vision, allowing readers to explore Moonage Daydream the way the authors intended. 'This is a book of extraordinary photographs. Ziggy Stardust blazed briefly but intensely, and I am delighted to see his life and times as a rock'n'roll star immortalised in this book.' - David Bowie
Few people in rock music are as fascinating to their fans as Syd Barrett, the legendary lead guitarist and founder of the band Pink Floyd. This new book, prepared in a diary format, provides for the first time the full details of all his recording sessions together with exclusive interviews with many of the producers and engineers involved. This is the most comprehensive, accurate and detailed account yet published of the background to the creation of Syd Barrett's musical legacy and will be essential reading for all fans. Illustrated with B/W photos.
Step into a world filled with racist teenagers, masked assassins, cannibals, a telekinetic hitman, 100 warped Uncle Sams, automobiles with razor-sharp teeth, living graffiti, cartoons that walk and talk, a steroid-addicted pro-athlete, an angry black chic, a washed-up Barbara Walters clone, the threat of a war to end all wars, and a pissed-off zombie bitch out for revenge. When the police finally capture the number one suspect in the Bloody Mary Murders, a single-mother named Natasha Armstrong, nobody believes her story about her twelve-year search for the real killer, a murderous walking corpse who has no eyes but can still see, who moves like a bad stop-motion incarnation, but does so with ethereal grace. Nobody believes her when she tells them about all the bodies, or the people they used as game for the military-style obstacle courses that Bloody Mary and her soldiers, a ragtag group made up mostly of runaways, would build wherever they'd settle in any given town to recruit more soldiers and prepare for the end of civilization as we know it.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi produced thousands of prints and designs during his lifetime, but is perhaps best-known for his musha-e ('warrior prints'), with which he came to prominence in 1830. 'Outlaw Swords of Death' collects over 160 of Kuniyoshi's most striking and innovative early musha-e designs, presented in large format and full-colour throughout.
John Cavanagh is a former presenter of the Rock Show on BBC Radio One. He is a regular presenter on several other BBC Radio networks. And he owns a Farfisa Compact Duo organ which was used by Pink Floyd on many of their early recordings.
“I don't think I'm easy to talk about. I've got a very irregular head. And I'm not anything that you think I am anyway.”—Syd Barrett’s last interview, Rolling Stone, 1971 Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett (1946–2006) was, by all accounts, the very definition of a golden boy. Blessed with good looks and a natural aptitude for painting and music, he was a charismatic, elfin child beloved by all, who fast became a teenage leader in Cambridge, England, where a burgeoning bohemian scene was flourishing in the early 1960s. Along with three friends and collaborators—Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason—he formed what would soon become Pink Floyd, and rock ’n’ roll was never the same. Starting as a typical British cover band aping approximations of American rhythm ’n’ blues, they soon pioneered an entirely new sound, and British psychedelic rock was born. With early, trippy, Barrett-penned pop hits such as “Arnold Layne” (about a clothesline-thieving cross-dresser) and “See Emily Play” (written specifically for the epochal “Games For May” concert), Pink Floyd, with Syd Barrett as their main creative visionary, captured the zeitgeist of “Swinging” London in all its Technicolor glory. But there was a dark side to all this new-found freedom. Barrett, like so many around him, began ingesting large quantities of a revolutionary new drug, LSD, and his already-fragile mental state—coupled with a personality inherently unsuited to the life of a pop star—began to unravel. The once bright-eyed lad was quickly replaced, seemingly overnight, by a glowering, sinister, dead-eyed shadow of his former self, given to erratic, highly eccentric, reclusive, and sometimes violent behavior. Inevitably sacked from the band, Barrett retreated from London to his mother’s house in Cambridge, where he would remain until his death, only rarely seen or heard, further fueling the mystery. In the meantime, Pink Floyd emerged from the underground to become one of the biggest international rock bands of all time, releasing multi-platinum albums, many that dealt thematically with the loss of their friend Syd Barrett: The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall are all, on many levels, about him. In A Very Irregular Head, journalist Rob Chapman lifts the veil of secrecy that has surrounded the legend of Syd Barrett for nearly four decades, drawing on exclusive access to family, friends, archives, journals, letters, and artwork to create the definitive portrait of a brilliant and tragic artist. Besides capturing all the promise of Barrett’s youthful years, Chapman challenges the oft-held notion that Barrett was a hopelessly lost recluse in his later years, and creates a portrait of a true British eccentric who is rightfully placed within a rich literary lineage that stretches through Kenneth Graham, Hilaire Belloc, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, John Lennon, David Bowie, and on up to the pioneers of Britpop. A tragic, affectionate, and compelling portrait of a singular artist, A Very Irregular Head will stand as the authoritative word on this very English genius for years to come.
