Some of the best books released this year listed by Variety
“The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond” — Chris Blackwell with Paul Morley
The list of artists that Chris Blackwell’s Island Records spawned under his watch is astonishing and arguably without peer for a company of its size: U2, Bob Marley, Nick Drake, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Traffic, Free, Cat Stevens, Grace Jones, Brian Eno, Steve Winwood, Robert Palmer, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Toots & the Maytalls, the Cranberries, Marianne Faithfull, King Sunny Ade, Eric B. & Rakim, Jimmy Cliff, recalled in this book.
“Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust” — David Bowie with Mick Rock (reissue)
Despite its title, this book is not a direct companion to Brett Morgen’s sprawling David Bowie documentary released earlier this year — instead, it’s a long-overdue reissue of the lavish coffee-table book of Bowie’s epochal “Ziggy Stardust” era of 1972-73.
“The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music” — Tom Breihan
Based on “The Number Ones,” Stereogum senior editor Tom Breihan’s ongoing column reviewing U.S. No. 1 pop hits, his new book of the same name looks at how 20 top tracks affected the culture, and/or changed the game, musically and sociologically.
“Faith, Hope and Carnage” — Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan
Nick Cave is certainly capable of authoring starkly surreal fiction as he has in novels “And the Ass Saw the Angel” (1989) and “The Death of Bunny Munro” (2009), and in non-fiction writings such as “The Sick Bag Song” (2015).
“The Philosophy of Modern Song” — Bob Dylan
Dylan’s first book since his “Chronicles” semi-memoir is rife with hot takes, a lot of them on songs and singers dating back to eras as cool to the touch as the 1930s.
“The McCartney Legacy Volume 1: 1969-73” — Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair
Amid the countless thousands of Beatle books published over the past half century, it’s hard to imagine any unturned stones, but Tom Doyle’s 2013 history of Paul McCartney’s first solo decade, “Man on the Run,” presented a refreshing new angle — and anyone who enjoyed that book can double down with this exhaustive tome (actually, at 750 pages covering just three years in this first volume, it will be more like sextupling down once the authors reach 1980).
“The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73” out on Dec 13, 2022
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By editorial board on December 7, 2022
This is an in-depth and revealing exploration of his creative life beyond the Beatles.Featuring hundreds of interviews with fellow musicians, tour managers, recording engineers, producers, filmmakers, and more
When Paul McCartney announced his 2021 book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, he noted that the time had never been right to write an autobiography. In 2022, with the music legend seemingly as busy as he’s ever been, the first part of an exhaustive portrait of his post-Beatles career is coming. The McCartney Legacy Volume 1: 1969-73, from noted Beatles historian Allan Kozinn and researcher Adrian Sinclair, has been delayed slightly.
Stoned: Life with the Rolling Stones in Jo Wood new book
Private jets used like taxis. Heroin for breakfast. Drunk-driving round Paris in a Bentley... Ronnie Wood’s ex-wife Jo saw the Stones at their most excessive while taking thousands of photos.
In her new book she opens up her unseen archive to show the band as you’ve never seen them before
“Maybe We’ll Make It” — Margo Price
Price had a hardscrabble upbringing as the daughter of an Illinois farming family that was just made to be grist for country songs — and eventually it was, when she released her Third Man Records debut, titled, yes, “Midwest Farmer’s Daughter” (the nod to Loretta’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” being very much intentional).
