Music

On 11 January 2016, the world was stunned to wake up to the news that David Bowie had died the day before. A genuine icon, he left behind a body of work among the most important in music history. But only a lucky few were privileged to know the man behind that mystique, and know him well. Sean Mayes was one of them.

In 1978, Sean toured the world with David Bowie, in what was one of the most important periods in the artist’s history. Travelling first class and performing each night with one of the world’s greatest rock stars at the height of his fame was an amazing experience – fortunately, Sean had the foresight to document it.

A new edition as part of the Faber Greatest Hits – books that have taken writing about music in new and exciting directions for the twenty-first century.

In The Dark Stuff Nick Kent profiles twenty-two of the most gifted and self-destructive talents in rock history. From Brian Wilson to Syd Barrett, the Rolling Stones to Neil Young, Iggy Pop to Lou Reed, he offers intimate portraits that are unimaginable in the world of today’s market driven music business.

Renowned rock author Martin Popoff’s exhaustive and detailed timeline of Deep Purple milestones – often to the day – looks at the band’s influences, cultural milieu, tours, recording sessions, charts, singles, certification news, break-ups, personal stuff, trivia, mixed with lots of artist quotes to add to the entries, turning the book into a quasi-oral history but loaded with factual matter.But this book is not just about Deep Purple but the whole family of bands that surrounds it. Weaved in and out of the story are the dastardly diaries of Rainbow, Whitesnake, Ian Gillan Band, Gillan, Paice Ashton Lord, all the solo projects, guest slots, even Captain Beyond, Warhorse, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ Superstar, Bedlam, Elf, Episode Six, The Outlaws, and Trapeze.The book also touches on a whole host of other artists including the likes of Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Nazareth, Moxy, Silverhead, Hard Stuff, Lord Sutch, Warpig, Vanilla Fudge, Brian Auger, Judas Priest, James Gang, Angel and Legs Diamond – but always with contextual explanation that make this book such a fascinating read and an absolute smorgasbord of facts surrounding one of the greatest rock bands’ of all time.