A Tribe Called Quest - Beastie Boys - De La Soul - Eric B. andRakim - The Fugees - KRS-One - Pete Rock and CL Smooth - PublicEnemy - The Roots - Run-DMC - Wu-Tang Clan - and twenty-five morehip-hop immortals It's a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have alwaysbeen reduced to a list of producer and sample credits, a publicityphoto or two, and some hastily composed shout-outs. That's a damnshame, because few outside the game know about the true creativeforces behind influential masterpieces like PE's It Takes a Nationof Millions. . ., De La's 3 Feet High and Rising, and Wu-Tang'sEnter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). A longtime scribe for the hip-hopnation, Brian Coleman fills this void, and delivers a thrilling,knockout oral history of the albums that define this dynamic andiconoclastic art form. The format: One chapter, one artist, onealbum, blow-by-blow and track-by-track, delivered straight from theoriginal sources. Performers, producers, DJs, and b-boys-includingBig Daddy Kane, Muggs and B-Real, Biz Markie, RZA, I

In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocativeguide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's mostwidely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise ofthe classical recording industry from Caruso's first notes to theheyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan. Lebrechtcompellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached itsend point-but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. Itis, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form,analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini,Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is thestory of how stars were made and broken by the record business; howa war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to createa record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars,public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musicalbackdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrineto classical recording: the author's critical selectio

What's the secret to writing a hit song? It's as simple as1-2-3-4-5-6 Innovative, practical, and inspiring, "Six Steps toSongwriting Success" presents a surefire step-by-step approach tomastering the elements consistently found in hit songs. AuthorJason Blume, a songwriter with the rare distinction of having hadsongs on the Country, Pop, and RandB charts simultaneously, haspacked this book with such key aids as the three-step lyric writingtechnique used by the pros; lyric, melody, and demo checklists; andtools for self-evaluation-plus many other exercises that work.Blume's warm, humorous style features motivational anecdotes andentertaining stories of how hit songs came to be written andrecorded. Get "Six Steps to Songwriting Success," and get on thecharts

What do you getwhen you cross a snail with the Indianapolis 500? If you’reDreamWorks, then the result is Turbo, an uplifting—andgear-shifting—story about the ultimate underdog, delivered with thedigital mastery, storytelling skill, and spellbinding imagery we’vecome to expect from the studio behind the Shrek and Madagascar.

Few music lovers realize that the arrangement of notes ontoday’s pianos was once regarded as a crime against God and nature,or that such legendary thinkers as Pythagoras, Plato, da Vinci,Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton and Rousseau played a role inthe controversy. Indeed, from the time of the Ancient Greeksthrough the eras of Renaissance scientists and Enlightenmentphilosophers, the relationship between the notes of the musicalscale was seen as a key to the very nature of the universe. In this engaging and accessible account, Stuart Isacoff leads usthrough the battles over that scale, placing them in the context ofquarrels in the worlds of art, philosophy, religion, politics andscience. The contentious adoption of the modern tuning system knownas equal temperament called into question beliefs that hadlasted nearly two millenia–and also made possible the music ofBeethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Debussy, and all who followed. Filledwith original insights, fascinating anecdotes, and portraits ofsome of th

These free-wheeling, often exhilarating dialogues—which grewout of the acclaimed Carnegie Hall Talks—are an exchange betweentwo of the most prominent figures in contemporary culture: DanielBarenboim, internationally renowned conductor and pianist, andEdward W. Said, eminent literary critic and impassioned commentatoron the Middle East. Barenboim is an Argentinian-Israeli and Said aPalestinian-American; they are also close friends. As they range across music, literature, and society, they openup many fields of inquiry: the importance of a sense of place;music as a defiance of silence; the legacies of artists from Mozartand Beethoven to Dickens and Adorno; Wagner’s anti-Semitism; andthe need for “artistic solutions” to the predicament of the MiddleEast—something they both witnessed when they brought young Arab andIsraeli musicians together. Erudite, intimate, thoughtful andspontaneous, Parallels and Paradoxes is a virtuosiccollaboration.

Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737) was a perfectionist whosesingle-minded pursuit of excellence changed the world of music. Inthe course of his long career in the northern Italian city ofCremona, he created more than a thousand stringed instruments;approximately six hundred survive, their quality unequalled by anysubsequent violin-maker. In this fascinating book, Toby Fabertraces the rich, multilayered stories of six of these peerlesscreations–five violins and a cello–and the one towering artist whobrought them into being. Blending history, biography, meticulousdetective work, and an abiding passion for music, Faber takes usfrom the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, andfrom the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the firstphonographic recordings. This magnificent narrative invites us toshare the life, the intrigue, and the incomparable beauty of theworld’s most marvelous stringed instruments.

The Renaissance holds an undying place in our imagination, itsgreat heroes still our own, from Michelangelo and Leonardo to Danteand Chaucer. This period of profound evolution in European thoughtis credited with transforming the West from medieval to modern andproducing the most astonishing outpouring of artistic creation theworld has ever known. But what was it? In this masterly work, theincomparable Paul Johnson tells us. He explains the economic,technological, and social developments that provide a backdrop tothe age’s achievements and focuses closely on the lives and worksof its most important figures. A commanding short narrative of thisvital period, The Renaissance is also a universally profoundmeditation on the wellsprings of innovation.

A huge gathering of the finest American and British song lyricsfrom 1910 to 1975. Robert Kimball, editor of the complete lyrics ofCole Porter, Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart and next year's IrvingBerlin, and Robert Gottlieb, editor of the recent Reading Jazz,have collaborated to choose the 800 or more most distinguishedlyrics of the century, from early P.G. Wodehouse and the IrvingBerlin of Alexander's Ragtime Band through the greats of Broadwayand Hollywood -- Gershwin, Hart, Porter, Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein,Yip Harbourg, Dorothy Fields, Frank Loesser, Noel Coward -- to theearly triumphs of Stephen Sondheim. Plus many writers who arebarely remembered today -- Don Raye ("Mr. Five by Five", "I'llRemember April"), Bobby Troup ("Route 66", "Daddy") -- withsurprises like Ogden Nash, Maxwell Anderson, Dorothy Parker, andTruman Capote. Over 100 lyricists in all, each one introduced witha brief biography and commentary, and presented chronologically, sothat this big volume not only presents the core of an entireliterat

A wonderful and original tribute to the curious, comical Dodoand the beautiful island of Mauritius. Award-winning Finnishphotographer Harri Kallio creates the illusion that thesefascinating creatures are alive and abundant, living as they oncedid in their own unspoiled haven, the island of Mauritius.Accompanied by a thorough history of this extraordinary bird,including eyewitness accounts and pictorial sources, the book wasthe winner of the 2004 European Publishers’ Award forPhotography.

The heart of Painters Wild Workshop is the presentation oftwelve gifted artists who take an unusual approach to their art.Readers are invited to workshop demonstrations, lecture sessions,and private lessons that encourage creative experimentation.Whether you are an accomplished artist, an aspiring artist, or anundiscovered artist, you will profit from the wealth of diverseexperiences, materials, and inspirations offered through thesewonderfully wild and creative methods. This is a book for painters,artists, and creative people of all types; its goal is to helpworking painters open up creativity, eliminate self-consciousness,and encourage true artistryeither in their current, chosen medium,or a completely new art medium.

From its ancient status as the jewel of an empire to itsmodern incarnation as a troubled, yet culturally vibrant Europeancapital, Rome has compelled the imagination of artists for over twothousand years. Now, in "The History of Rome in Painting", that

David Hockney (b. 1937) has always been closely associatedwith Pop Art and California, where he has lived for much of hislife. This major study of his work, published to accompany theexhibition showing at the Royal Academy of Arts in London,redefines him as an important painter of the English countryside,presenting his recent landscapes for the first time. In an attemptto renew contemporary art, Hockney has returned to painting in theopen air, observing with honesty and intensity the scenery of hischildhood in East Yorkshire. Marco Livingstone explores this bolddeparture in the context of Hockney's sixty-year career, whileother contributors address the artists place in the landscapetradition, his recent video works and their relationship to Englishlandscape film-making, and his ongoing use of new technologies.Illustrated with paintings, iPad drawings and video stills, many ofwhich have never been seen before, this landmark publicationconfirms David Hockney as one of the greatest artists of hisgeneratio

Paul Nicklen, a resident of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories,has lived nearly all his life in the far north. Trained as abiologist, he is an experienced wilderness guide, as well as aninternationally acclaimed photographer. Huge Brody is an associateof the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University. Heis the author of several books, including Maps and Dreams, Indianson Skid Row, and Inishkillane: Change and Decline in the West ofIreland. He lives in London.

Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period (16151868) were the products of a highly commercialised and competitive publishing industry. Their content was inspired by the vibrant popular culture that flourished in Edo (Tokyo). At any given time scores of publishers competed for the services of the leading artists of the day. Publishers and artists displayed tremendous ingenuity in finding ways to sustain demand for prints and to to circumvent the restrictions placed upon them by government censorship. Japanese woodblock prints have long been appreciated in the West for their graphic qualities but their content has not always been fully understood. In recent years, publications by scholars in Japan, Europe and the United States have made possible a more subtle appreciation of the imagery encountered in them. This book draws upon this recent scholarship to explain how those who first purchased these prints would have read them. Through stunning new photography of both well-known and rarely published work

"A cat book with class, this sumptuously produced, highlyliterate collection of felinity as represented in art, literature,and photography is sure to elicit purrs, " raved Publishers Weeklywhen this BOMC Selection was published in 1982. Long out of print,this cat-lovers dream book is now reissued in paperback. 70full-color reproductions. --Ce texte fait référence à uneédition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

"This book charts my relationship with some of the mosttalented people in fashion throughout my career. It makes me veryproud to see gathered together all the great designers and housesI've worked with over the years. Looking through my personalarchives has been a real trip down memory lane and it is thefashion that brings back moments and memories of the lasttwenty-five years. I can't wait to share this book with the world."(Kylie Minogue). Published as part of the K25 celebrations thisyear, "Kylie / Fashion" is the official book celebratingtwenty-five years since Kylie burst onto the music scene with TheLocomotion and I Should Be So Lucky. From the very beginning, thefashion she has worn has been key to Kylie's persona andperformances: her status as style icon is unassailable. Thisdazzling book celebrates her numerous and ground-breakingcollaborations with the world's great fashion designers. Producedby Kylie in close collaboration with Thames Hudson, anddrawing on her personal archives, it showcases Kyl

This much acclaimed book, newly available in paperback, is thedefinitive retrospective of the most popular serious artist in theworld today, covering all media over almost fifty years. Presentedthematically to show the evolution and diversity of Hockney'sprolific paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and photography,it also features quotes from the artist himself that illuminate thepassionate thinking behind the works produced. Its hugeinternational success confirms Hockney's position as the world'smost popular living artist.

Vintage presents the paperback edition of the wild andbrilliant writings of Lester Bangs--the most outrageous and popularrock critic of the 1970s--edited and with an introduction by thereigning dean of rack critics, Greil Marcus. Advertising in RollingStone and other major publications.

When it was originally published in 1970, "How to Draw What YouSee" zoomed to the top of Watson-Guptill's best-seller list--and ithas remained there ever since. "I believe that you must be able todraw things as you see them--realistically," wrote Rudy de Reyna inhis introduction. Today, generations of artists have learned todraw what they see, to truly capture the world around them, usingde Reyna's methods. "How to Draw What You See" shows artists how torecognize the basic shape of an object--cube, cylinder, cone, orsphere--and use that shape to draw the object, no matter how muchdetail it contains.