“THEl rock will not eliminate your problems. But it will allow you to dance on it,” he claimed Pete Townshend, legendary guitarist of The Who. The 4 books to read of the week concern the history, passions and artistic evolution of four big names on the international scene: the Beatles, Lucio Battisti, Lady Gaga and the Talking Heads.
1/ Books to read. Lady Gaga – Applause
Why read it
With more than 124 million records sold and international recognition, including 12 Grammy Awards, 3 Brit Awards and 18 MTV Music Video Awards, the legend Lady Gaga continues to amaze: together with the Haus of Gaga, her team of artists and creativesi, each of his new ‘creatures’ can be considered as an innovative and unique work of art that anticipates new fashions or dissects current issues with simple and direct messages. She is an activist for the defense of LGBT rights and the fight against violence against women, she is the founder of Born this way Foundation, non-profit association that encourages and supports young people.
Gremese Editore publishes now LADY GAGA – Applause written by US journalist Annie Zaleski. A volume that intends to celebrate the style and creativity of one of the most controversial artists of our time, a true icon who in every field he has always been talked about for his original human and professional evolution.
New Yorker of Italian descent, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, follows an artistic itinerary that is as troubled on a personal level as it is revealing and forward-looking from a performative point of view. A journey – from his 2008 debut album, The Fameuntil recently Love for salein duet with the legendary Tony Bennett – marked by the detailed study of his own image, eccentric and constantly changing.
A narrative that develops through the truth of his life, including the many difficult moments, offering multiple anecdotes and background unknown to the Italian public; a volume divided into 12 sections, with 170 extraordinary photographic shots, 1 complete discography and dozens of reference sources.
Info. Annie Zaleski. Lady Gaga. Applause. Gremese publisher. 35 euros.
2/ Books to read. Recording the Beatles
Why read it
Recording the Beatles is a book written by the most significant sound engineer of the legendary band, Geoff Emerick. He has worked on albums such as Revolver, Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bandgiving a fundamental imprinting to the sound style of their songs, Emerich had been chosen by George Martin, entered EMI at the age of just 15, and recorded their records from 1965 until the disintegration of the group, to then continue collaborating with Paul McCartney and dozens of other artists, from Elvis Costello to Art Garfunkel to Jeff Beck.
In first person, with the collaboration of Howard Massey, he describes stories, anecdotes and details of how, day by day, the most famous Beatles songs took shape: a testimony given by who was a co-protagonist of the history of the group between inventions that were able to shape John Lennon’s voice or Ringo Starr’s drums, depending on the contexts, to the creative leaps and tensions that characterized the band’s second period. The translation by Luigi Abramo, one of the founders of the “Beatles in Rome”.
Info. Geoff Emerick. Recording the Beatles. Publisher rabbit. 28 euros
3/ Books to read. Lucio Battisti
Why read it
Eighty years ago, on March 5, 1943, Lucio Battisti was born. Ernesto Assante celebrates him with a biography, Lucio Battisti, out February 28th.
There is a beautiful contradiction that surrounds the story, the music, the personality of Lucio Battisti: to be, perhaps, the most famous musical artist ever in Italy, the best known, most popular, with songs that are still an integral part of the connective tissue of Italian culture, but at the same time being “unknown”, devoid of a public biography, mysterious to anyone who wants to discover the man as well as the artist.
And it is precisely the Battisti “mystery” that this book investigates, trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle that is by its nature incomplete. Starting from the combination Battisti-Mogol, whose songs were the absolute soundtrack of a decade of Italian history, the seventies. Songs that have embodied its spirit and dreams, have given space to the private making it public and collective, have made an entire generation cry, laugh, fall in love, think.
To then move on to that moment, in the late seventies, in which Battisti has become only a voice, devoid of body, far from the public and the mediacrystallized in the image of the boy with curly hair and a scarf that never gets old, like his songs.
A book of life stories and memorable songs.
Info. Ernesto Assante. Lucio Battisti. Mondadori. 20 euro
4/ Books to read. Remain in love
Why read it
Chris Frantz meets David Byrne in the early 1970s and together with him and his future wife, bassist Tina Weymouth, founds Talking Heads. The group quickly builds a solid reputation thanks to collaborations with the Ramones and other important artists of the music scene of the time, and conquers excellent fans such as Andy Warhol and Lou Reed, but the real success comes in 1980, when Brian Eno produces the album which is considered their masterpiece, Remain in Light.
In the same year Chris and Tina founded the Tom Tom Club, characterized by an original fusion of ethnic music, funk, disco, pop and electro destined to have a great impact internationally. Warm, funny and sincere, Remain in Love chronicles the rise and fall of a band that shaped the 80s, but it is also the story of a love that happens only once in a lifetime, the one between Chris and Tinaand a creative collaboration that spawned one of the greatest rhythm sections to ever electrify the pop music scene.
Info. Chris Frantz. Remain in love. HarperCollins. 20 euro.
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