- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Dorling Kindersley (4 Oct 2001)
- Language French
- ISBN-10: 0751334421
- ISBN-13: 978-0751334425
- Product Dimensions: 28.6 x 21.6 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 262,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
This book showcases 40 legendary Blues players from Muddy Waters to John Lee Hooker with fascinating stories and inside information. It includes the geographical, social and political history around the time of the blues, from life on the cotton plantations to vibrant city night-life and features previously unpublished photographs of famous blues locations and key players from Bill's personal archive. In this evocative and intensely personal history of the Blues, Bill Wyman pays tribute to the musicians who inspired him and whose music he took around the world as a member of the Rolling Stones.The starting point of Bill's Odyssey is the journey of African slaves to the plantations of America's Deep South. We follow their descendants as they walk travel the highways and ride the railroads out of the Delta and the troubled South via Memphis to the northern cites of Chicago and St. Louis. But this is no superficial history: a society is revealed where poverty and injustice as well as love and faith found their expression in a musical style that gave birth to rock 'n' roll.Location shots of smokey juke joints railroad stations and endless highways combine with stunning maps to bring the Blues alive. Feature spreads with previously unpublished photographs from Bill Wyman's personal showcase 38 Blues legends from Robert Johnson to John Lee Hooker telling the story of their fascinating and often troubled lives. Bill Wyman is a legend in his own right. He has known and played with many of the Blue legends and his personal knowledge and unprecedented access give this book an authenticity that is almost impossible to match.
About the Author
Bill Wyman is a founder member of The Rolling Stones, now playing in his own band The Rhythm Kings. His 3rd album went to no. 1 in the Blues and Jazz charts in 2000 and his 4th album was released in April 2001.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
This must be one of the best, if not "the best" book about Blues music and Blues musicians I've come across. Bill Wyman manages to discuss the cultural influences that created the blues intelligently without ever getting intelectual. He discusses the lives and talents of the musicians with admiration but without overly glorifying them. Bill comes across, as you'd expect, as someone who both loves the music and the musicians who create it. At no point though does he preach or pontificate over academic points of interest only to anoraks. The layout and design of the book is excellent, with superb graphics and pictures. Its the kind of book you can read straight through or dip into again and again as a reference work or just for fun. I thought I knew a lot about Blues culture, history and music, but I've learnt so much more from this book. I've also discovered some excellent blues music I was previously unaware of. Buy it!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
I am a massive blues fan, and this really huge and most excellent book by the Rolling Stone's Bill Wyman is a must.
It's definately an easy read, wonderfully put together, including great photos. And every master of blues that you care to mention is here; the greats and legends such as Robert Johnson, BB King, Leadbelly and John Lee Hooker, plus Elvis Presley's Sun recordings.
If you are a fan of blues, or even curious, this book will be firm in your hands for a long time, not only as a book of blues, but a guide to buying your next CDs.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
BLUES music is very mysterious and often misunderstood.
It is deceptively simple for a start. Music snobs may cite the 12 bar sequence, three chords and lyric repetition as a way of belittling it - yet surely the importance of music is not what you play but what it sounds like and how it makes you feel.
Some blues is based around one chord and sounds utterly fantastic and makes you want to move. Other tracks, of course, are much more complex and require stunning musicianship.
Blues often tells of hardships but it can be remarkably cathartic, uplifting, funny and exciting while some lyrics and the stories they tell border on genius. The music's influence is massive but it often does not receive the credit it deserves.
This book manages to capture the magic of the blues in an entertaining and informative way. Some books about blues are so detailed and `intellectual' they manage to take all the enjoyment and beauty out of the music.
The strength about this publication is that it pays homage to the great blues artists, their influence and their music in a way that makes you want to listen to your favourite blues CDs.
As other reviewers have noted it is top heavy with pictures of Bill Wyman with various blues legends and the odd unimportant anecdote, but don't let this put you off.
It is a personal tribute and this music had a major impact on The Rolling Stones - and countless other bands throughout the decades too - and it's great to see this acknowledged so well. Certainly in this case a bit of self-indulgence can be excused.
There are some excellent photographs as well as plenty of information about different forms of the blues and it is a book you can dip in and out of and return to time and time again.
I particularly enjoyed the write ups on various blues legends and learning about their classic recordings.
This is certainly one of my favourite books on music and well worth anyone with a passing interest in blues - or rock music for that matter - having a look at.
It's a credit to all those who have contributed to it and to all those great artists who have produced so much magical music.
It is deceptively simple for a start. Music snobs may cite the 12 bar sequence, three chords and lyric repetition as a way of belittling it - yet surely the importance of music is not what you play but what it sounds like and how it makes you feel.
Some blues is based around one chord and sounds utterly fantastic and makes you want to move. Other tracks, of course, are much more complex and require stunning musicianship.
Blues often tells of hardships but it can be remarkably cathartic, uplifting, funny and exciting while some lyrics and the stories they tell border on genius. The music's influence is massive but it often does not receive the credit it deserves.
This book manages to capture the magic of the blues in an entertaining and informative way. Some books about blues are so detailed and `intellectual' they manage to take all the enjoyment and beauty out of the music.
The strength about this publication is that it pays homage to the great blues artists, their influence and their music in a way that makes you want to listen to your favourite blues CDs.
As other reviewers have noted it is top heavy with pictures of Bill Wyman with various blues legends and the odd unimportant anecdote, but don't let this put you off.
It is a personal tribute and this music had a major impact on The Rolling Stones - and countless other bands throughout the decades too - and it's great to see this acknowledged so well. Certainly in this case a bit of self-indulgence can be excused.
There are some excellent photographs as well as plenty of information about different forms of the blues and it is a book you can dip in and out of and return to time and time again.
I particularly enjoyed the write ups on various blues legends and learning about their classic recordings.
This is certainly one of my favourite books on music and well worth anyone with a passing interest in blues - or rock music for that matter - having a look at.
It's a credit to all those who have contributed to it and to all those great artists who have produced so much magical music.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Bill's big Blues book
I really wish this book had been around when I started getting into blues music in the late 70's. Back then there was only Paul Oliver's heavy scholastic tomes available; not ideal... Read more
Published on 22 May 2010 by Simon F.
The best book on the subject-probably
In the 60s came the first serious approaches to understanding America's own native music which were more academic than entertaining. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2008 by Richard
packed with information and superb pictures
Overall, a great book that educates the reader in an entertaining, clear and down-to-earth manner. I especially appreciated the background information (for example, on slavery,... Read more
Published on 15 July 2003 by "aveygravey"
an interesting, coffee table book on the blues
Overall, a great book that educates the reader in an entertaining, clear and down-to-earth manner. I especially appreciated the background information (for example, on slavery,... Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2003 by dreschrode
Likeable but eccentric
If blues fans have such things as coffee tables Bill Wyman's book will certainly enhance them. Extremely readable and copiously illustrated it traces the amazing impact of the... Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2002 by E. Bradfield
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