Edition Olms Print & Design 31 Items

Original English Edition, translated from the Italian.
192 pp., with over 250 pictures in color and b/w.
Hardcover with extra strong boards. 16,5 x 24 cm

Marco Crescenzi, an expert about everything concerning the story of the Fab Four, traces the first years of the most famous band in the world, a period often missing in official biographies. He explores the Beatles path of fate and fortune, their struggles and inspired talent. This journey is enriched by an impressive mosaic of rare photos, rediscovered documents, and many details of concerts and appearances of these early days.The Beatles, the most renowned band in the history of music, didn‘t just spring into existence. Their journey began in the mid1950s when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best formed a group known as the Silver Beatles. They were simply four teenagers from Liverpool with a shared enthusiasm for American music and a dream to make it big.

Before they became the Beatles, they were the Quarrymen, a band started by John Lennon in 1956. The name change to „The Beetles“ was suggested by Sutcliffe, in honor of Buddy Holly‘s band, The Crickets. By August 1960, they had evolved into The Beatles we know and love today.

Their early years were filled with struggles and moments of both luck and genius. Playing gigs in places like Liverpool‘s Cavern Club and Hamburg‘s red-light district, they worked tirelessly, honing their craft. Their break came when they met Brian Epstein, who would become their manager, leading them to a contract with EMI.

This is the extraordinary story of the Beatles before they became The Beatles - a tale of determination, passion, and the will to succeed against all odds. As we mark the 60th anniversary of their first explosive hit „Love Me Do“, we celebrate not just the success they achieved, but the journey they took to get there.

As of today, The Beatles continue to make headlines, with the release of their final song ‚Now And Then‘ and a documentary shedding light on the full story behind it.

About the author:
Marco Crescenzi is an obsessive collector of anything concerning The Beatles. He currently works with the official Italian fan club “The Official Beatles Fan Club Pepperland”. He is also a contributor to its official publication, the magazine “Nothing’s Gonna Change Our Feeling”. The author has also written for the music collector’s magazine “RARO” and acted as consultant on many occasions to television programmes.

From the ashes of Nirvana, Dave Grohl rose as a one-man band with a self-titled album: The Foo Fighters. Now, 25 years on, and with a rock solid outfit that includes Nate Mendel (bass), Taylor Hawkins (drums), Chris Shiflett (guitar), Pat Smear (rhythm guitar) and latest addition, Rami Jaffee (keyboards) – The Foo Fighters are revelling in the success of their ninth studio album, Concrete and Gold. Paying homage to the band‘s enduring longevity, The Foo Fighters: The Band that Dave Made is a comprehensive look at a career that boasts six, million-selling albums, eleven Grammies and hit stadium rock anthems such as „Learn to Fly“, „Best of You“ and „Everlong“. Fully Illustrated, this handsome biography from acclaimed rock writer, Stevie Chick, is a fitting tribute to a band born out of the „nicest guy in rock‘s“ single-minded vision and now one of the planet‘s biggest rock groups.

The great British-American-male-female-old-new-blues-rock-ballad band: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks‘ arrival to Fleetwood Mac, which transformed a British blues band into a major rock force, selling more than 100 million albums. The books captures the early blues era with founder Peter Green and the magic of Buckingham‘s and Nick‘s personalities, Mick Fleetwood‘s creativity, and John and Christine McVie‘s musicianship.One of the enduring rock bands in music history, Fleetwood Mac has been entertaining fans at sold-out performances for decades. Since their early days as a blues band, Fleetwood Mac propelled itself to pop relevance with the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1974. In Fleetwood Mac: Everywhere, musician and writer, Mike Evans, explores the story of the band and offers a celebration of their success with over 150 photos, song reviews, and interviews from over five decades of coverage.

Lennon and McCartney – Together Alone This is the definitive book on the solo recordings of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, two of popular music’s greatest writers and performers.

The story is told chronologically, starting with their first work outside The Beatles: McCartney’s soundtrack for The Family Way film and Lennon’s Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins with Yoko Ono. The book details Lennon and McCartney’s creative highs and lows in an authoritative, complete, and engagingly critical fashion. Information for collectors includes release dates, catalogue numbers, composer credits, recording personnel, recording studio, and producer credits, and there is a keyed index to help trace each song and the albums it appears on. Blaney’s perceptive style makes this a fascinating read as well as a work of reference, and the book includes illuminating archive quotes from Lennon, McCartney, and others. Together Alone tells the stories behind the songs of two giants of modern music. John Blaney is a passionate fan of The Beatles who brings to his writing the expertise and rigor of a professional historian. Born in Devon, England, he trained as a graphic designer before starting a career in music retail. He subsequently studied History of Art at Camberwell College of Arts and Goldsmith College (both in London) before taking up his present post as curator of a museum of technology. He is the author and publisher of previous books on both Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

The Impossible Dream – Smart Books for musical Minds! The Walker Brothers were the US counter-strike to the British invasion of the mid-60s. While The Beatles, the Stones and many others were busy colonising the US charts, three tall, handsome American men went into voluntary exile in a freezing London bedsit and launched their quest for pop stardom.

Not actually brothers, John (Maus), Gary (Leeds) and Scott (Engel) succeeded against the odds, becoming one of world’s biggest bands of 1966/67. With that came hit records – including two British chart-toppers, ‘Make It Easy On Yourself’ and ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’ – and all that success entails: screaming girls, package tours, and intense interest in their private lives. The pressure of success eventually caused them to split, and the Walkers went their separate ways. Of the three, Scott is now the most prominent, having embarked on a mysterious solo career that has since become the stuff of myth, but Gary and John have recorded varied and interesting work, too. All three drifted into obscurity before reforming in 1976 and releasing the classic ‘No Regrets’ single. They concluded their recording career with one of the decade’s most influential records, 1978’s Nite Flights, about which Brian Eno recently exclaimed: “We haven’t got any further than this. It’s a disgrace.”

The Impossible Dream is an in-depth biography that traces the career of one of the most successful bands in pop history. In addition to assessing and analysing the talent and appeal of the enigmatic Scott, the author also covers the history and contributions of the other ‘brothers’, John and Gary, and provides a thorough analysis of all three men’s careers both as individual artists and as a group, from 1963 to 1978.

Drawing on decades of archive interviews with the band (some previously unpublished), and many new interviews with backing musicians, record label staff and producers, The Impossible Dream is the definitive telling of The Walker Brothers’ story.

Anthony Reynolds is a musician and a writer. He has released eight critically acclaimed albums, the first of which, contributed essays and critiques to many US and UK magazines, and has published a biography of Jeff Buckley.

To Live is to Die — The Life And Death Of Metallica’s Cliff Burton This is the revised and updated new edition. Metallica, the seventh-biggest recording act in American history, are consummate musicians—but it wasn’t always that way. A significant proportion of their playing expertise was acquired from a pivotal three-year period in their history—1983 to 1986—during which their music, a potent variant of thrash metal, evolved from garage level to sophisticated, progressive heights thanks to the teachings of their bass player, Cliff Burton.

Touched by Grace – My time with Jeff Buckley Touched By Grace is an up-close-and personal account by the legendary guitarist and songwriter Gary Lucas of the time he spent with his friend and collaborator, Jeff Buckley, during Jeff ’s early days in New York City. It describes their magical performance together at the Greetings From Tim Buckley concert at the Church of St Ann in 1991—the event that first introduced Jeff to the world at large; the creation of their songs ‘Mojo Pin’ and ‘Grace,’ which started life as guitar instrumentals by Gary and would later become integral to Jeff ’s debut album, Grace; and their plan to take on the world together in Gary’s band Gods & Monsters. Just as the band was set to soar, however, Jeff pulled the plug, opting instead to sign a solo deal with Columbia Records—the very label that had recently cut short its recording contract with the original incarnation of Gods & Monsters.

Gary Lucas (www.garylucas.com) is a world-class guitarist and Grammy-nominated songwriter. Dubbed “the greatest living electric guitarist” by Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain In Music, Lucas has recorded more than 20 acclaimed solo albums spanning everything from psychedelic rock to Chinese pop. He was a key member of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band during the 80s, and is currently working on a variety of new projects, including a collaboration with Van der Graaf Generator front man Peter Hammill.

Tragedy – The Ballad Of The Bee Gees The rise and fall of the brothers Gibb—Barry, Robin, Maurice, and younger brother Andy—is perhaps the greatest saga in Australian music history. Although the Bee Gees enjoyed several rebirths in a career that spanned many decades, it seemed that tragedy followed the Gibbs like a curse. For every incredible career high there was a hefty personal downside: divorce, drunkenness, and death seemed as synonymous with the Gibbs as falsetto harmonies, flares, and multi-platinum record sales.

Ac/dc 1973–1980 The Bon Scott Years. Key Points A unique record of the formative years of one of the world’s biggest rock bands. Written by an Australian author with an insider’s perspective on Ac/dc. A beautifully produced collectible edition, illustrated throughout with rare images. To fans and critics alike, the years 1973 to 1980 – the Bon Scott era – are the most significant of Ac/dc’s five-decade career.

In a prolific and frequently brilliant run, they recorded six studio albums, established a diehard fan base that stretched from Australia to the UK, Europe to North America, toured relentlessly, and created no small amount of controversy and chaos.

Illustrated throughout with rare photographs from the era, this book documents all the key events of this frenetic time, beginning with the band’s very first shows in the bloodhouses of suburban Sydney – even before the name Ac/dc had been dreamed up by Margaret Young, Malcolm and Angus’s big sister – and culminating with 1979’s Highway to Hell, the album that paved the way for the mammoth success of Back in Black and all that was to follow, and the untimely death of Bon Scott, both an end and a new beginning for the band. Ac/dc’s Aufstieg zu einer der erfolgreichsten Rockbands.

Moby Grape are a genuine cult phenomenon. Their story, a mixture of myth and truth, is a cautionary tale, a triumph, and a tragedy all at once. Though they are seen as a symbol of 1960s San Francisco, Moby Grape were never actually a part of the city’s counterculture movement. Yet they were immersed in it, sharing stages with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, and many more. Moby Grape’s five members came together from very different backgrounds, bursting onto the San Francisco scene in the fall of 1966. With their diverse pedigree, they were nothing less than musical alchemists, yet they were also rebels. Their blending of genres within a tight songwriting framework contrasted sharply with that of many of their SF peers.

Moby Grape heralded by countless luminaries of rock music and rock criticism, from Robert Plant to Robert Christgau, Tom Waits to Greil Marcus.

Phill Savidge orchestrated the Britpop assizes, all the while coming on like a cross between Jean Baudrillard and Eva Peron. You will laugh until your septum falls out. Luke Haines, author of Bad Vibes: Britpop & My Part In Its Downfall

As co-founder and head of legendary public relations company Savage & Best, Phill Savidge is widely credited as being the main instigator of the Britpop musical movement that swept the UK in the mid 1990s. During this period, Savidge won four PR awards and, together with Savage & Best, represented most of the artists associated with the scene – including Suede, Pulp, The Verve, Elastica, Longpigs, Kula Shaker, ­Spiritualized, Menswear, ­Marion, Ultrasound, Echo­belly, The Auteurs, and Black Box Recorder – and had the kind of fun that is now banned by the Proper Job Authorities.

Shredders! – The Oral History of Speed Guitar (and more)
“How fast can you play?”
“What guitar do you have?”
“Who is better, Van Halen or Steve Vai?”

For metal fans in the 80’s these where commonand important questions. Tune in to MTV, pick up a magazine, or walk into an instrument store, and more than often you’d be exposed to what is now known as shredding – the fast, virtuoso soloing popularized by musicians like Vai and Van Halen, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen, Randy Rhoads and Dimebag Darrell.

Drawing on more than seventy exclusive interviews with key shredders past and present, author and guitarist Greg Prato has assembled the definite guide to the fasted players of them all.

“Well, one person’s shred is another person’s slow hand …”
— GEORGE LYNCH