Mike Evans – författare

Pioneers of what was once dubbed 'progressive rock' with their extended songs, technical experimentation, challenging lyrics, and spectacular stage presentations, Pink Floyd have been hailed as one of the most influential bands in the last half century of popular music. And unlike most bands of the progressive persuasion, the group has endured in the public consciousness, via a string of iconic recordings now regarded as timeless classics.Formed in 1965, the four-piece of Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason fused English pastoral whimsy with electrifying instrumental voyages. Their gigs at underground clubs, such as UFO and Middle Earth, are the stuff of psychedelic legend. But Barrett's days were numbered, and in 1968 his drug dependency led to his replacement by guitarist David Gilmour, cementing the line-up that would persist through most of the band's career.Fully illustrated throughout, Pink Floyd: Behind The Music is a history of a band moulded by the vision of its various members. Its legacy lies in the group's recorded work, with their albums - as related in these pages - marking key milestones in their history; each representing something genuinely unique and expanding the landscape of rock music forever.

An illustrated history of blues music, featuring blues artists of every era, over 350 stunning photographs and illustrations, and a wealth of rare graphic memorabilia Foreword by Marshall Chess, veteran record producer with legendary Chicago rhythm-and-blues label, Chess Records The deceptively simple, 12-bar musical form of blues has become the common denominator that has driven the popular music of the last hundred years. As John Lee Hooker put it: “The music we play . . . that music is the roots. Rock music, everything else, is like a branch on the same tree. It all comes from the blues.” Charting the history of blues music from its rural roots in the American South, and focusing on the key musicians and singers who brought it recognition worldwide, The Blues: A Visual History is a unique and fully illustrated account of the development of the blues, and features:  350 stunning photographs and illustrationsA wealth of archive photographyRare graphic memorabiliaBlues artists of every era, from pioneers like Ma Rainey and Robert Johnson, through legends such as Muddy Waters and B. B. King, to newer stars like Keb' Mo', Dom Flemons, and Shemekia CopelandForeword by Marshall Chess, veteran record producer with his family’s legendary Chicago rhythm-and-blues label, Chess RecordsAuthor Mike Evans is a musician, editor, and author whose books include the best-selling Elvis: A Celebration, and Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul. Consultant editor Robert Gordon is a Grammy Award–winning writer and filmmaker specializing in the music of the American south, and Scott Barretta is a blues specialist writer, broadcaster, and lecturer.

This is the definitive, fully illustrated account ofthe Beatles' concerts and controversies, and of how the United States dominated theirlives in so many ways. Written by one of the acknowledged experts on the Fab Four, Liverpool’s own Spencer Leigh, The Beatles in America covers their North American tours in 1964, 1965, and 1966, highlights their transformation into global superstars, and recount the story to the band's breakup, covering significant events like John and Yoko's "Bed-In" in Montreal and the release of their single "Give Peace a Chance," providing a comprehensive overview of "the Beatles in America." Included are interviews with fellow musicians, promoters, and audience members, together with rare photographs and memorabilia. Early in 1964, with Beatlemania raging in the UK, the Beatles topped the US charts with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and became a sensation on American TV with The Ed Sullivan Show—on which they appeared no fewer than three occasions, on consecutive Sundays in February 1964. In April of that year, they held all Top Five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 and were playing such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and Shea Stadium. As predicted, they had become bigger than Elvis. After their first appearances of 1964 (at Carnegie Hall and in Washington, DC), The Beatles went on to do a full North American tour in 1964, a shorter tour in 1965, and a final, 13-date tour in 1966 (each of which is covered in detail in this book), transforming them into global superstars. But when John Lennon commented that the band was “bigger than Jesus,” things turned sour, and there were public burnings of their records. The final chapter and epilogue of the book take the story of “the Beatles in America” up to the band’s breakup and beyond, including John and Yoko’s June 1, 1969, “Bed-In” in Montreal and the release of the couple’s single “Give Peace a Chance.”

Highlights 50 milestone blues recordings and brings a new focus to the history of the blues, through key songs, singers, and the musicians who made it possible. The Story of the Blues in 50 Songs traces the evolution of the blues and its influence on modern music. Highlighting 50 key recordings, the book explores the genre's roots in Black American culture and its impact on rock, soul, jazz, and hip-hop. Entries discuss pioneering artists like Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, and Muddy Waters, along with later icons such as Eric Clapton and Janis Joplin. Firsthand accounts from musicians and producers offer insight into the creative process, while "Voice Box" features provide additional commentary on key figures and labels. Illustrated with vintage photos and memorabilia, this engaging volume is perfect for both seasoned blues enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

ACCOUNTABILITY IS THE CATALYST THAT IGNITES: Accelerated Change, Robust Employee Engagement, Intensified Ownership, Relentless Perseverance, Impeccable Alignment, and propels individuals, teams and organizations to desired results. Accountability crumbles silos, boosts teamwork and collaboration, strengthens camaraderie, creativity, resiliency, agility, trust, and communicationAchieve with Accountability presents a recipe for awakening the whatever it takes attitude to achieve what matters most to individuals, teams and organizations. Discover how to transform accountability into a positive, engaging and forward looking experience that will secure your position in the new world of work. Learn how to kick-start a revolution that will blast your team or organization to new heights of success. We are in a brawl with no rules, where the fast, flexible and agile will eat and spit out the slow, over-thinking and complacent. When you relinquish accountability you place your future in the hands of other people or events. It's only by taking accountability and ownership for our circumstances that we can achieve what matters most. Embrace the accountability fundamentals that have helped individuals, teams and organizations for years to achieve and exceed what matters most.With the world coming at us fast and furious every day, it's easy to feel like you've lost control of your own life, your team or your organization. By choosing to take and lead accountability you reclaim control and are able to direct your own destiny. Develop the agility, flexibility and resiliency to adapt and thrive during constant changeFoster a can-do, resolute, solutions focus in the face of difficult challenges, obstacles and barriersEradicate the blame-game and vanquish excuse-making that stifles peak performanceShed feelings of disarray, discomfort, apathy, entitlement, indifference and despairTake control over your circumstances and achieve what matters mostUnleash voluntary contributions of discretionary performance that is often left untapped in individuals, teams and organizationsEstablish unshakable trust and credibilityAccountability is a current that feeds into the slipstream of success. Your performance, your decisions, and your results are all your responsibility; when you operate from that premise, magic happens. Achieve with Accountability shows you how to nourish that can-do mindset, so you can begin to achieve what matters most.

Tonga, the South Pacific island kingdom located east of Fiji and south of Samoa, is one of the world's few remaining constitutional monarchies. Although Tonga has long been linked to the world system through markets and political relationships, in the last few decades emerging regional and global structures have had particularly intense and transformative effects. Today, because of greatly increased labour migration, people, money, and resources are in constant circulation among Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. In Persistence of the Gift, Evans provides a detailed ethnographic and historical analysis of how, in spite of superficial appearances to the contrary, traditional Tongan values continue to play key roles in the way that Tongans make their way in the modern world. But this ethnography is neither that of a timeless ""ethnographic present"" nor of a remote coral atoll. Instead, like the inhabitants of Tonga themselves, the monograph begins in the islands, and works outward, tracing how Tongans seek to meet their own, culturally specific goals, within the constraints, challenges, and opportunities of the world system. Tongan culture, like our own, continues to transform in the face of global change, but the changes experienced by Tongans everywhere are patterned and managed by the values of Tongan agents. Both creative and conservative, the emerging transnationalist system continues to be discernibly and proudly Tongan.

Paul McCartney's songwriting output as a member of the Beatles, mainly with his co-writer John Lennon, has been exhaustively documented over the years. Now, taking 50 key songs from his five-decade career since the break-up of the Fab Four, Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs takes an in-depth look at the post-Sixties work of one of popular music's most versatile and prolific composers and performers.Paul McCartney has been a genuine pop idol, a cutting-edge experimenter, and in later years recognized as an international musical treasure. The 50 selections from his vast songwriting catalogue highlighted in Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs mark half a century of musical creativity by a true icon of popular music.Each song includes full session details, personnel lists and chart data and is described in detail, from original inspiration to the final release. Quotes from session musicians and studio personnel – and star guests such as Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and Kanye West – bring the making of every song to life, alongside a wealth of related photographs in and out of the studio.

For a generation of musicians and fans, the late Ray Charles provided the catalyst that fused the previously largely exclusive genres of jazz, blues and gospel music. In an era when jazz and pop music were seemingly poles apart, the impact of Charles' music was truly revolutionary in that it brought together these strands and fans for the first time. This book traces Ray Charles's amazing story from the abject disadvantage of being orphaned, black and blind in the South of the 1930s to the height of international success. With many quotes and exclusive interviews, including several with Ray Charles himself as well as from those who worked with, or were simply influenced by, the man who more than anyone else could truly be called the founding father of soul music.