Gifts for Music Lovers

Proceeds from sale of this book have been donated to 826NYC  who offer highly individualized creative writing instruction for over 4,000 young New Yorkers every year. Free programs throughout NYC empower young authors and develop crucial skills they need to thrive in the classroom and beyond.

What will people think if you play Van Morrison at your funeral? When was the last time you listened to Pet Sounds? How does a mandolin solo illustrate or clarify the plight of Eskimos, anyway? In twenty-six song profiles that are hilarious, nostalgic, and deeply personal, one of our greatest music critics reminds us how much pop songs affect our lives. After all, as Hornby says, “There’s something in us that is beyond the reach of words… It’s the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part.”

At long last, this deluxe, limited-edition reprint of Hornby’s National Book Critic’s Circle Award–nominated book will reprise its original form: a square-shaped, intimate, Marcel Dzama–illustrated ode to the lasting joys of the fleeting art of pop music.

Praise for Songbook:

“A small, singular, delightful collection [about] the power of songs to bind people culturally and to reach deeply into the human spirit, bending the heart into new shapes with new potential.” —The New York Times Book Review

“When Hornby writes about his enthusiasms and how they intertwine with his life, he’s amusing and inspiring.” —Rolling Stone

“That whole subculture, all those mournful guys to whom the sound of record-store bin dividers clicking by is almost music enough, should love Songbook, yet so should anyone interested in great essays, or in the delicate art of being funny, or in how to write about one’s feelings in such a way that other people will actually care.” —The San Francisco Chronicle

“Delivered in a hugely enjoyable, invisible prose that does in words what Hornby’s tunesmiths do with sound. He writes good.” —Time Out London

“Quintessentially Hornby: an idiosyncratic and charming exploration of the meaning of music and how it changes as we grow up and grow old.”—Seattle Weekly

Danny Fields first saw the Ramones play at CBGBs in New York in 1974, and instantly offered to manage them, also setting them up with a record deal. Originally published in a rare limited edition, My Ramones features more than 200 photographs from Danny’s personal collection of one of the most loved and well-known bands from the last four decades.

Danny managed the band from the ground up, accompanying them across Europe and America, while also photographing them at work with fans and during more informal moments. Taken between 1975 and 1977, Field’s photographs offer a rare insight into the lives of the band on tour, backstage and recording their first album. The images are further brought alive by his accompanying commentary and memories and recollections from Michael Stipe, Seymour Stein and David Johansen. This is a unique and special volume of a mythical time.

A legendary manager, publicist, journalist and label exec, Danny Fields (born 1941) was at the heart of every significant movement in rock music for two decades and was present for for the birth of punk in both America and the UK. He was a significant player in launching the careers of the Doors, the Ramones, the MC5, the Stooges and others, and was the ultimate scenester of the ‘60s and ‘70s, hanging out with Warhol, Nico, Linda McCartney, Edie Sedgwick, Alice Cooper and Lou Reed. In a recent documentary on his life, Danny Says, Alice Cooper remarked that he “seemed to be at the pulse of the underground, “ and Iggy Pop observed that “Danny’s a connector, he’s a fuel line, a place where things are liable to erupt.”

By the start of 1966, the Rolling Stones’ position as rock gods was established. They were making serious money and splashing out on new homes and cars. Their official photographer and friend, Gered Mankowitz, was invited to shoot an “at home” session with each member of the band. “They hated the idea of unknown photographers visiting their private sanctuaries … If I did it then the press office would have a large selection of this type of image and could fulfil any magazine request without having to bother the band.”

Mankowitz kept these photographs in supermarket carrier bags stashed under his desk for several years, “getting in my way and frequently wondering why I continued to hold on to them.” This is the first time these sessions have been collated and published. The book includes both iconic and unseen photographs: Mick in a kipper tie turning on his new television and posing outside with a new Aston Martin; Keith, Lord of the Manor-style, with his blue Bentley and antique sword at his East Sussex home; Charlie grinning next to lingerie drying in the garden; Brian in obligatory silk shirt in front of a handpainted mural; Bill in the kitchen with his dog.

Goin’ Home with the Rolling Stones ’66 is a beguiling collection of images, shot with incredible skill, that offers that rare thing in Stones photography—a fresh perspective. It features an introduction by Mankowitz and a foreword from the Rolling Stones’ legendary manager, Andrew Loog Oldham.

The official book on Queen, one of the greatest ever rock bands, photographed by one of the greatest ever rock photographers—with text by Brian May and Roger Taylor and intimate accounts from Neal Preston revealing the stories behind the pictures

Neal Preston is one of the most prolific and highly regarded rock photographers of all time. He began working with Queen in the mid 1970s as their tour photographer. He was present on the legendary South America tour in 1981, Live Aid in 1985, and the band’s last tour with Freddie Mercury in 1986, among others. Brian May has commented, “Neal just has the knack, the skill, to always be in the right place at the right time.”

This official book, produced in collaboration with the band, features over 200 images and is an exhilarating ride through their years on the road together. It is the first time Preston and Queen have collated this work in one volume: glimpses of life backstage, live performances, post-performance highs and lows, and outtakes—many of which have never been seen before—are accompanied by memories and anecdotes from Preston with forewords by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. The pages vibrate with a palpable energy.

Featured photograph, of ceramicist Caroline Wallner and her daughter Lucille Reback, is reproduced from ‘Michael Stipe'.

Carefully curated with full access to the Jim Marshall Archive, this powerful oversize volume offers the definitive view of Johnny Cash's prison concerts at Folsom in 1968 and San Quentin in 1969. Jim Marshall was the only official photographer present, and was granted unlimited access.

Backed by June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three, Cash performed two shows at Folsom. The resulting album was a hit in the United States, and reached number one on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. Its popularity revitalized Cash's career and led to a follow-up album, At San Quentin, the following year. San Quentin became Cash's first album to hit number one on the pop charts and both it and its predecessor remain two of the biggest-selling live albums of all time.

From rehearsing with the band, to arriving off the bus outside the imposing prison walls, to shaking hands with prisoners and performing until sweat dripped down his forehead, Marshall captured the passion, authority and intimacy of Cash's legendary penitentiary performances. His "JC Flippin' the Bird at San Quentin Prison" has become one of the most iconic and most-copied photographs of the 20th century, a result of Marshall asking Cash to express what he thought about the prison authorities: "John, let's do a shot for the warden."

Johnny Cash was one of Jim Marshall's favorite subjects, something that is evident in his Folsom and San Quentin photographs. This body of work showcases some of the most arresting photographs of the country music star ever taken.

The French New Wave of the 1950s and 1960s is one of the most important movements in the history of film. Its fresh energy and vision changed the cinematic landscape, and its style has had a seminal impact on pop culture. The poster artists tasked with selling these Nouvelle Vague films to the masses—in France and internationally—helped to create this style, and in so doing found themselves at the forefront of a revolution in art, graphic design and photography.

French New Wave: A Revolution in Design celebrates explosive and groundbreaking poster art that accompanied French New Wave films like The 400 Blows (1959), Jules and Jim (1962) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Featuring posters from over 20 countries, the imagery is accompanied by biographies of more than 100 artists, photographers and designers involved—the first time many of those responsible for promoting and portraying this movement have been properly recognized.

This publication spotlights the poster designers who defined the look of the French New Wave. Artists presented in this volume include Jean-Michel Folon, Boris Grinsson, Waldemar Swierzy, Christian Broutin, Tomasz Ruminski, Hans Hillman, Georges Allard, René Ferracci, Bruno Rehak, Zdenek Ziegler, Miroslav Vystrcil, Peter Strausfeld, Maciej Hibner, Andrzej Krajewski, Maciej Zbikowski, Josef Vylet’al, Sandro Simeoni, Averardo Ciriello, Marcello Colizzi and many more.

With its roots in Detroit and Chicago in the early 1980s, electronic dance music was popularized across Europe through underground rave parties and clubs. Its impact on contemporary culture is still unfolding today. Containing interviews with early pioneers such as techno legend Jeff Mills, The Designers Republic’s Ian Anderson, and those pushing the political dimension of electronic music, such as ballroom dancer and DJ Kiddy Smile, Electronic bears witness to the shifting nature of the genre.

Illustrated with over 300 images, some published here for the first time, Electronic features Jean-Michel Jarre’s virtual studio; work by pioneer Daphne Oram of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop; audiovisual performances by musicians like Bicep and the Chemical Brothers; fashion collections by Raf Simons and Charles Jeffrey of Loverboy; iconic photography by Jacob Khrist and Tina Paul; artwork by Christian Marclay; club graphics from Peter Saville and Mark Farrow; tons of album cover designs; and iconic venues such as the Haçienda, Gatecrasher, Fabric, Berghain and the Warehouse Project.

Produced in collaboration with the band, who gave unprecedented access to their archives in London and New York, this is a book to get you infinite satisfaction. More than 450 richly illustrated pages chart the remarkable scope of the Stones’ almost 60-year history and mesmerizing on- and off-stage presence—featuring the work of legendary photographers David Bailey, Herb Ritts, Peter Beard, Andy Warhol, David LaChapelle, Albert Watson, Annie Leibovitz, Ethan Russell, Gered Mankowitz, Cecil Beaton, Anton Corbijn, and many more.

This is the official 50th-anniversary celebration of Woodstock, by the festival's co-creator and co-founder, Michael Lang. A large illustrated edition, it includes hundreds of photographs and documents accompanied by Lang's fascinating memories and insights into the most famous and influential festival of all time, with images of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Richie Havens, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald and the Grateful Dead. The ephemera from Lang's largely unseen archive include the original designs and plans for the event, correspondence, set-lists, information on artists' fees and much more. This wealth of information is accompanied by the best photographs of the event by famous and unknown photographers such as Ralph Ackerman, John Dominis, Bill Eppridge, Dan Garson, Barry Z. Levine, Elliott Landy, Lee Marshall and Baron Wolman, and notably featuring the archive of Henry Diltz. Diltz was the only official photographer at Woodstock and was there for two weeks, from an empty field of cows to first construction, crowds arriving and the aftermath. He also captured onstage performances and behind-the-scenes moments with the many artists involved. Woodstock is an exuberant volume that conveys the vision, hard work and elusive magic that made up "three days of peace and music."

The first ever book about Cuban record sleeve design, compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, Cuba: Music and Revolution features hundreds of rarely seen vinyl records from the start of the Cuban Revolution at the beginning of the 1960s up until 1985, when Cuba’s Special Period, brought about by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of Russia’s financial support for the Cuban government, led to the demise of vinyl-record manufacturing in Cuba. The artwork here reflects both the cultural and musical depth of Cuba as well as the political influence of revolutionary communism.

Over the past century, Cuban music has produced a seemingly endless variety of styles—rumba, mambo, son, salsa—at a dizzyingly fast rate. Since the 1940s a steady stream of Cuban musicians has also made the migration to the US, sparking changes in North American musical forms: bandleader Machito set New York’s jazz and Latin scene on fire, and master drummer Chano Pozo’s entry into Dizzy Gillespie's group led to the birth of Latin jazz, to name just two.

After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the new government closed American-owned nightclubs and consolidated the island’s recording industry under a state-run monopoly. Out of this new socialist agenda came new musical styles, including the Nueva Trova movement of left-wing songwriters. The 1980s saw more experimentation in modernist jazz, salsa and Afro-Cuban folkloric music.

Generously illustrated with hundreds of color images, Cuba: Music and Revolution presents the history of Cuban record cover art, including many examples previously unseen outside the island itself.

Proceeds from sale of this book have been donated to 826NYC  who offer highly individualized creative writing instruction for over 4,000 young New Yorkers every year. Free programs throughout NYC empower young authors and develop crucial skills they need to thrive in the classroom and beyond.

What role does a mother play in raising thoughtful, generous children? In her literary debut, internationally award-winning writer Courtney Zoffness considers what we inherit from generations past—biologically, culturally, spiritually—and what we pass on to our children. Spilt Milk is an intimate, bracing, and beautiful exploration of vulnerability and culpability. Zoffness relives her childhood anxiety disorder as she witnesses it manifest in her firstborn; endures brazen sexual advances by a student in her class; grapples with the implications of her young son’s cop obsession; and challenges her Jewish faith. Where is the line between privacy and secrecy? How do the stories we tell inform who we become? These powerful, dynamic essays herald a vital new voice.

Read excerpts from Spilt Milk courtesy of The Paris Review, Guernica, and Lit Hub.

Praise for Spilt Milk

“(K)eenly perceptive… masterful essays in a fresh, vulnerable voice readers will want to hear more of.”  
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“(M)oves back and forth through time with an elegant quickness that insightfully captures how the past shapes who we are and who we might become.” 
—Booklist (starred review)

“In her layered storytelling, (Zoffness) brings empathy to every situation and often finds empathy for herself along the way. Spilt Milk is a generous, warm debut from an already prizewinning writer.”
—Book Page (starred review)

“Each essay is just as thoughtful and smart and well-told as the last one — don’t miss this.
—Alma Magazine

“In Spilt Milk, Courtney Zoffness, with compassionate clarity, exposes herself—her worst fears, her best hopes—to expose her art.”
—The Masters Review

“A slim, tender collection of essays.”
—Good Morning America

“lyrical and brilliant in the way a jewel reveals many facets at different angles.”
—Jewish Boston

“A graceful debut.”
—Kirkus

“In this collection of essays, Courtney Zoffness tackles motherhood in a way that is simultaneously fresh and achingly relatable… Zoffness recreates tender, moving, and poetic moments that will etch their way into your brain and heart for a very long time. We should be so lucky to get more work from the young writer.”
—Apartment Therapy

“Searching and exquisitely-wrought.”
—Brevity Magazine

“I don’t know what I love the most about Courtney Zoffness’s Spilt Milk. The taut originality of the prose? The acuity of its insights? The daring vulnerability? There is so much I want to say about Spilt Milk, but honestly they’re all variations of This is fucking brilliant. Whatever you think this book is, it’s more. A debut writer this talented and skilled is an event in itself.”
—Mat Johnson, author of Pym

“Gentle, playful and laced with subtle wit, these essays are a welcome balm in an insane and un-gentle time.”
—Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure and Bad Behavior

“Spilt Milk contains the wisdom of a mother, the maturity of an older sister, and the wide-eyed wonder of a small child. It’s a magical gift of a collection.”
—Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women

“In these ten musical, open-hearted essays, Courtney Zoffness establishes herself as one of our most soulful, clear-eyed narrators. A lucid dream of a book I wished would never end.”
—Elisa Albert, author of After Birth

“Wry and masterful—Spilt Milk examines the multiplicities of self and culture, asking the tough questions with remarkable concision. Courtney Zoffness is a writer of supernatural acuity and wit.”
—T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

“Spilt Milk is current, self-examining, honest, insightful, biting, and funny. Essentially, a perfect book.”
—Jesse Eisenberg, actor and playwright, author of Bream Gives me Hiccups and Other Stories

“Perhaps you have heard that being a mother of small children is hard, especially so right now, and finally, here is a book of essays that don’t cover up the messiness, the oddness, the love and the sadness and the worry all at once. Unsanitized and beautiful.”
—Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here and owner of Books Are Magic

“Courtney Zoffness’s collection is written with a fierce and sometimes funny honesty. Zoffness explores motherhood and daughterhood, and how these early attachments make us and unmake us, how they connect us to others—until they are us.”
—Tiphanie Yanique, author of Land of Love and Drowning

“These bright, knowing essays spill over with intelligence and wit. Courtney Zoffness traces the dizzying conflict faced by parents—the daily ricochet between burden and joy—and, with a sharply lyric voice, discovers hidden connections between this domestic struggle and the larger cultural and political winds shifting around us.”
—Ben Marcus, author of Notes from the Fog

“On one level, Spilt Milk is an extraordinary exploration of the connections, small and large; real and imagined, between childhood and parenthood. On another level, it’s irrefutable proof that Courtney Zoffness is a wondrous calculus of a prose writer: keen, inventive, candid, open-hearted, not to mention one helluva stylist.”

—Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival Math