Andrew Wild – författare

The Beatlespioneered so much in the recording studio during their short time together thatit's easy to forget that they formed their own record company in April 1968.Their business plan: to find and fund new musical talent. By the end of theyear Apple had signed James Taylor and struck lucky with Mary Hopkin. Themuch-admired Badfinger followed, along with albums by obvious associates (BillyPreston, Ravi Shankar, Yoko Ono) and not-so-obvious (John Tavener, Modern JazzQuartet, Radha Krishna Temple) with mixed financial and artistic success. But The Beatles were not businessmen and theearly optimism of shiny newness soon soured into chaos. Major acts such as 10ccand Crosby, Stills & Nash slipped through their fingers. Allen Klein wasappointed to sort out the mess, but disenfranchised nearly everybody. Paul leftThe Beatles and sued the others. In 1975, The Beatles' partnership was legallyterminated and Apple Records, a vanity label in all but name, was quietly putto sleep.Apple Of My Eye revisits each of the albumsand singles released by Apple between 1968 and 1975, underpinned by thebusiness and legal context of the last days of the world's greatest band.

Of all of the 'classic' British rockers who came to prominence in the 1960s, only a very few have achieved significant, sustained success through to the present day. A list that comprises Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones should also include Eric Clapton. His critical and commercial accomplishments with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith and his first solo album between 1965 and 1970 was followed the inexplicable failure of the Layla album, released under the semi-pseudonym of Derek & The Dominos. Clapton withdrew into heroin addiction for several years.In 1974, his 'comeback' album, 461 Ocean Boulevard, returned him to the top three in both the UK and America. Always a strong concert draw, Clapton has released another sixteen top twenty albums since. Even 'Layla' returned to the charts in 1982.Eric Clapton Solo reviews and analyses all of Clapton's studio albums since 1974, as well as successful collaborations with BB King and JJ Cale. It's been a long, varied journey: the laid-back rocker of the 1970s; the commercial sheen of the 1980s; the polished, acoustic yuppie music and hard blues of the 1990s; the slick R & B stylings of the 2000s and the roots homages of the 2010s. All of this was underpinned by the skill and talent of Britain's greatest blues guitarist and a hugely underrated vocalist

The DoobieBrothers On Track tells the story of a band that helped define one of the mosttransformative decades in popular music. Formed in California in 1970, TheDoobie Brothers blended blues, folk and R&B with tight harmonies androad-tested musicianship. Their early hits-'Listen to the Music', 'Long TrainRunnin'', 'China Grove' and 'Black Water'-captured the easygoing optimism ofthe West Coast while reflecting a country in transition after the upheavals ofthe 1960s. As the decadeunfolded, the band evolved alongside the changing sound of rock. Guitarist Jeff"Skunk" Baxter brought a jazz sensibility from his time with Steely Dan, whilesinger and keyboardist Michael McDonald introduced smooth, soulful texturesthat reshaped the group's identity. With Takin' It to the Streets and theGrammy-winning Minute by Minute, The Doobie Brothers became one of the fewbands able to bridge bar-band grit and radio polish without losing credibility.This book placestheir journey within the broader story of 1970s American music-a period ofgenre-blending, studio innovation and shifting cultural moods. Drawingconnections to contemporaries like Little Feat and Steely Dan, it explores howThe Doobies balanced experimentation with accessibility and why their songscontinue to resonate today. More than a bandbiography, it's a portrait of resilience and reinvention-how a group rooted inCalifornia's club scene learned to adapt, thrive and keep audiences listeningfor over fifty years.

The music of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and especially their 1969 self-titled debut album, exemplified the Woodstock generation – three men, three voices, one common view of freedom and justice. Their decision to recruit Neil Young before their first public performance fundamentally altered CSNY the band dynamic. Worldwide acclaim and success followed: their first three albums, released 1969-1971, have sold almost 30 million copies. In 1974 they embarked on the biggest stadium tour then attempted, playing baseball and football stadiums and racetracks across the US to thousands of fans. They were also pop stars, securing nine top 40 singles between 1969 and 1982. And yet, today, with Neil Young regarded as a musical legend with a classic back catalogue, his colleagues Crosby, Stills and Nash remain far less acclaimed. They comprised Crosby: the drug-addled hippy with weird songs and golden voice, Stills: the blues man and guitar genius and Nash: the hard-as-nails balladeer with a strong social conscience. Together, at their best, they were unbeatable. This book tells you why, aiming to set things straight, with an album by album analysis of CSN’s five studio albums, as well as the three they made with Neil Young.

Music fans tend to divide into two camps at the mention of Fleetwood Mac. There are those who think of the multi-million-selling five-piece that formed in the mid-1970s and released Rumours, the biggest selling album of all time. But there are those who adopt a self-appointed 'cooler' stance, preferring the late-sixties blues band fronted by the virtuosic guitarist Peter Green. But that's not the whole story. Between May 1970, when Green left his own band to be replaced by the bass player's wife, to the beginning of 1975, when Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, there were five years of what can only be described as turmoil. One by one, talented musicians such as Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, Bob Weston and Bob Welch joined and left the band. While it's impossible to ignore the skill and longevity such classic songs as 'Rhiannon' and 'Don't Stop' and albums Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk, there are an equal number of half-forgotten classic songs from the first half of the 1970s and many deep album cuts that have been overlooked. Here is the story of Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s - the music, the people, the tours, the rumours, the failures and the successes.

Since 1963 Eric Clapton has contributed to two hundred albums by other artists: from very famous to the obscure and the unexpected: Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, all four of the Beatles, Martha Veléz, Jonathan Kelly, Corey Hart, Stephen Bishop, Hawkwind, Ray Charles, Kate Bush, The Tony Rich Project, Toots and the Maytals and Mary J. Blige. If you’ve never heard (for instance) ‘Beat of the Night’ by Bob Geldof, ‘Sexual Revolution’ by Roger Waters or ‘I Wish It Would Rain Down’ by Phil Collins, this book tells you about Eric’s part in those recordings and many more, as well as his more notorious collaborations with the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan – and Ed Sheeran!Indeed, this book puts these into context across nearly sixty years of documented sessions. If you’ve never delved into Eric’s contributions to other artist’s recordings, then this is a handy guide to help the reader find his way into such a lengthy and successful second career. If his own albums are the main story, then these recordings run alongside: an alternative history of one of rock’s most prolific musicians

Phil Collins was everywhere in the 1980s. He had more top forty singles in the US than any other artist during the 1980s: fourteen as a solo artist and eleven with Genesis, along with two number one albums. Add to this, twenty-five solo / group hit singles and eight number one albums in the UK. He also recorded with artists as diverse as Peter Gabriel, John Martyn, Frida, Robert Plant, Mike Oldfield, Marti Webb, Al Di Meola, Adam Ant, Eric Clapton, Phil Bailey, Band Aid, Marilyn Martin, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan and Tears For Fears - another thirty-five albums or standalone singles, some of which were massive global hits. He also found time, somehow, to tour with Plant and Clapton in addition to his extensive in-concert duties with Genesis and as a solo artist. And perform at Live Aid. At both concerts. That’s around six hundred live concerts in total between 1980 and 1989. There’s no doubt that the guy was busy in that period!Amidst the overwhelming commercial success and ahead of any other career plan Phil Collins was and is a musician. His ubiquity between 1980 and 1989 hides ten years of magnificent music and this book examines Phil Collins’ musical output through these ten tumultuous years.

In 1973, the Allman Brothers Band were one of the most popular in America: they headlined the Watkins Glen Summer Jam, attended by an estimated 600,000 people and their album Brothers and Sisters was a number one for five weeks on the Billboard listings that summer. The single 'Ramblin' Man' hit #2 in October. The group made the cover of Newsweek. Rolling Stone named them 'band of the year'.Their story can only be described as 'volatile'. Always a strong live draw since forming in 1969, in the two years prior to Watkins Glen they had released one of the greatest live albums of all time and lost two founding members in near-identical motorcycle accidents, including guitar genius 24-year-old Duane Allman. Increased drug use and a ruinous 1976 court case forced the band apart. A three-album reunion between 1978 and 1982 rekindled some of the old fire, but it was with their twentieth anniversary and second reformation in 1989 that provided a degree of stability and acclaim. The passing of founder members Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman in 2017 definitively ended the band's story. Their legacy of eleven studio albums, six contemporaneous live albums and several box sets includes classics such as their self-titled debut, the sophomore Idlewild South, their artistic and commercial breakthrough, the definitive live document At Fillmore East and astounding final album Hittin' The Note from 2003.

All author royalties andpublisher profits from the sale of this book will go to The Live Aid TrustOn Saturday, 13 July 1985, a blazing, cloudless summer day, millions of peoplesettled in front of the television. It was just before noon in London, 7 am inPhiladelphia, and around the world, it was time for Live Aid. This pair of hugeconcerts had been arranged in fewer than four months by singer and activist BobGeldof of The Boomtown Rats: from a standing start to sixteen hours of music,seventy-plus artists and close to two hundred songs. These concerts mesmeriseda huge global audience and raised millions for the starving in Ethiopia. This bookrevisits every band and every song that made up the two Live Aid concerts.Some made their name at Live Aid — U2 inparticular. Some bands reunited — Status Quo, The Who, Black Sabbath — and somewere performing their last show together. Certain performances last long in thememory — Queen, of course, but also David Bowie, Elton John, Santana andothers. Indeed, some are best forgotten …And, behind it all, the drive of Bob Geldof:‘the best day of my life,’ he admitted. For a generation of music fans, 13 July1985 was a landmark day. It was The Greatest Show On Earth. How much of it doyou remember?

Other than ‘I Me Mine’ and some minor overdubs, The Beatles’ entire EMI/Apple catalogue was recorded in fewer than seven years: from 4 September 1962 through to 20 August 1969. Twelve albums, twenty-two singles, two standalone EPs, 213 songs. That in itself is remarkable enough.But the quality of t he music, the rapid development of musical complexity and the innovations in studio production lifted The Beatles above every other band. The Fab Four were not always fab. But that some writers take the time and expend energy to point this out and purposefully diss perfect songs such as ‘Yesterday’ merely serves to remind us that, most of the time, The Beatles were unarguably brilliant.Authors Andrew Wild and Alberto Bravin have listened to, digested and discussed the entire Beatles back catalogue to remind them why they love their music. How do they affect us today? Answer: they were bloody good.  They still are.This first volume covers the period 1962 to 1966 - from 'Love Me Do' to 'Tomorrow Never Knows', and the early albums – that were different in the UK and the USA, to Rubber Soul and Revolver. Four years of outstanding music.

The Beatles 1967–1970 picks up where The Beatles 1962–1966 left off, tracing song-by-song the band’s most daring and transformative years. As the Beatles abandon touring and turn the studio into a creative laboratory, Andrew Wild and Alberto Bravin guide readers through an era of boundless invention—Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be—albums that reshaped popular music. Key songs from this period still define the band’s legacy: the ambition of 'A Day in the Life', the introspection of 'Strawberry Fields Forever', the emotional gravity of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and the enduring optimism of 'Here Comes the Sun'.Lesser-known tracks deepen the story. 'It’s All Too Much' pushes psychedelia to its limits, 'Flying' embraces mood over form, 'Long, Long, Long' reveals quiet spiritual intensity and 'You Never Give Me Your Money' captures a band splintering yet still creatively unified. The book explores how psychedelia, avant-garde art, Eastern philosophy and cultural upheaval collided with fame, business tensions and four increasingly distinct personalities.Going beyond the breakup, the authors trace how these final years shaped the Beatles’ solo paths and enduring legacy, from Live At The Hollywood Bowl and Anthology to Love and 'Now And Then'. Sharp, insightful and deeply engaging, The Beatles 1967–1970 And Beyond reveals not just how the Beatles ended, but how they became immortal.

The Band’s music is often described in terms of nostalgia, yet its character is more complex. Rather than simply revisiting established American traditions, the group engaged in a careful reinterpretation of blues, folk, country and gospel forms, reshaping them into a distinctive and cohesive body of work.   Their songs frequently evoke American settings, voices and histories while avoiding strict regional or historical literalism. Across recordings such as ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, ‘King Harvest (Has Surely Come)’ and ‘Tears Of Rage’, the listener encounters narratives shaped as much by memory and reflection as by event, producing a sense of temporal ambiguity that became central to the group’s aesthetic.Equally significant was The Band’s collective structure. In contrast to the star-driven model that defined much of late twentieth-century rock, narrative authority and musical focus within the group remained distributed. Songs like ‘The Weight’, ‘Up on Cripple Creek’ and ‘The Shape I’m In’ reveal an approach grounded in ensemble interplay, conversational phrasing and shifting vocal perspectives.This collaborative ethos, however, also proved difficult to sustain under the pressures of success and scale. The celebratory concert, film and album The Last Waltz arguably capped rock music’s great first era. The band reformed a few years later and eventually released a further three albums. Sadly, the five members of The Band’s classic line-up are now dead. What remains is the durability of the recordings themselves. The Band’s most enduring work has secured a distinctive place within the broader history of popular music.