Product Description
Dan Coates adds his expert touch to these 70 easy piano arrangements of Alfred's most requested, top-selling standards and pop songs. Titles include: Amazed * Breakaway * Because You Loved Me * Dance with My Father * How Do I Live * I Swear * Inside Your Heaven * Lean on Me * Right Here Waiting * There You'll Be * This I Promise You * Thank You * When You Tell Me That You Love Me * You Raise Me Up and more. 256 pages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Pop music collection
Great songs, good arrangements ... but why can't we have spiral bindings?!?!?I'm a pianist.I need books that stay open and lie flat.

Good Product
The book arrived promptly from the seller, and in the condition expected (it was new). I already knew what the contents would be because they had a preview of the book online including the TOC. THis is very important with a sheet music book. I wouldn't buy a sheet music book online if I couldn't see at least the TOC.

Fun arrangements
First of all, I really like the way Dan Coates arranges music for easy piano.The songs are not too simplistic, yet they are still easy to play, and they sound so nice.This has become one of the books I play from most often, and my kids even like to sing along.It does reuse some of the exact same songs I have in other Dan Coates books, but that's not a big deal since you are getting so much music in this book.I do wish the second verses were printed within the staff, since having them at the end it pretty useless.I also wish it was spiral bound, since it is hard to keep open sometimes.You will notice that some of the songs use the same chord patterns, so it can be a little repetitive sometimes, but there is still enough variety to keep you interested.I like that there is such a great variety of pop music in here - newer music as well as old favorites.I would definitely recommend this.

Ultimate Pop Sheet Music Review
I love this book.I would definitely rated it as excellent and also say that is for advanced players.Its great if you like to play solos on the piano while having the words to sing right in front of you.I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in a variety of new and old standard pop songs.Great book!!

The Ultimate Pop Sheet
My goal is to play every song in this book.I really like it!! ... Read more

Product Description
Pop into the new millennium with 100 separate rankings of the Top 40 songs of every year from 1900 through 1999! Whatever your generation, A Century of Pop Hits holds the soundtrack of your life. This chronological tour through the prime of pop musicÕs past takes you from ragtime to rap, from crooners to country, from big bands to R&B, from the cylinder to the CD. Each of the 100 yearly rankings are based on AmericaÕs weekly popular music charts and include chart data on every hit! All artists appearing within the yearly rankings are listed alphabetically in the artist section. The title section shows all 4,000 hits alphabetically with each titleÕs peak position and peak year. Ten fascinating articles highlight the events, moods, and music trends of each decade. Sprinkled throughout the book are pictures of the top artists and rankings of each decadeÕs top hits and top artists. A Century of Pop Hits is sure to spark hours of fun and great musical memories, and provide countless trivia challenges. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

pop music
excelent book my only complaint is that I would like to see not just the 40 best songs for year but the 100.

Deal With Music Charts?You've Got To Have This!
I've dealt with Joel Whitburn Books for the last 40 years.This book lives up to the Whitburn quality.Besides chart info there's a ton of show prep that listeners would enjoy hearing.

Whitburn Books
As with all Joel Whitburn books I've bought over the last 25 or so years, this one is a great information resource.It contains a wealth of information that would take several hours of searching on the internet.I highly recommend ALL of his books if you're interested in the history of music.

Great Book for Song Records
This book is great for accessing yearly song standings.Great for games involving old songs.Great for just reviewing which songs were popular all the way back to the earliest days of recorded music.

The Music that Shaped a Century
This book is chock full of information about all of the songs that made the Top 40 List over the past 100 years. It has very interesting stories about the artists and how the songs came to be. It was a fun read and I highly recommend it. I read it from cover to cover when I first got it and have used it time and time again to look up information on an artist or a song.

If you like music, you'll love this book! ... Read more

Product Description
This companion presents a kaleidoscopic view of the world of pop and rock. Expert writers follow the rise of fifteen global stars from Elvis to Public Enemy, Nirvana to the Spice Girls. They chart the changing patterns in production and consumption, and they trace the way new technologies have changed the sounds and practices of pop. Alive to areas of current debate, they also focus on issues such as race and ethnicity, politics, gender and globalization. The anthology contains profiles of major figures from the pop and rock field. But at the heart of this companion is the music itself--rock, pop, black music, dance music, world music--its impact, its power and its pleasures. ... Read more

Product Description
February 1964: The Beatles step onto the tarmac at JFK International Airport and turn the country on its head. It's the advent of rock and roll's uninterrupted reign, youthful rebellion, and overt teenage sex. It's also the deathblow for the pop music of another generation -- the songs of Pat Boone and Georgia Gibbs -- and all its perky, white-bread conformity.

Not two years later, Karen Schoemer is born, and comes of age with rock and roll. While her parents might enjoy the new music, the cultural upheaval passes them by, and they cling to the promises made by the music they loved as teenagers, the sweet, innocent 1950s pop of Patti Page, Frankie Laine, and the like. But having courted and wed against a backdrop of ideals peddled by this music -- finding true love, living happily ever after -- Schoemer's parents, like so many people, are crushed by disappointment when love doesn't deliver what the songs promised. Fifties pop falls quickly off the charts; their marriage eventually falls apart. In Great Pretenders, a lively, provocative blend of memoir and music criticism, former Newsweek pop music critic Karen Schoemer tries to figure out what went so wrong, way back in the hazy past, for her parents' marriage and for the music of their youth. To find the answers, she embarks on a strange, lonely journey in search of some of the brightest stars of the 1950s.

Schoemer's search started when, twenty years after her parents' divorce, the new Connie Francis box set appeared on her desk at Newsweek. Now a successful rock critic dispensing post-punk opinions to the hipoisie, she was about to toss aside this relic when she was struck by the cover image of Francis, which bore an uncanny resemblance to her own mother; on a whim, she played one of the CDs. For all their cloying, simplistic sentimentality, songs like "Where the Boys Are" had an undeniable power -- "the sound of every teenage girl in every bedroom on every lonely Saturday going back a thousand years." It was the music of her parents' long-lost adolescence, and much to her surprise, it moved her.

Thus Schoemer, arbiter of Gen X cool, found herself falling into the saccharine thrall of 1950s pop music, that pariah of the rock establishment. Even as her colleagues tried to steer her away from the terminally uncool genre, she tracked down seven former pop idols of the late 1950s and early 1960s: Connie Francis, Fabian, Pat Boone, Patti Page, Tommy Sands, Georgia Gibbs, and Frankie Laine. As she became privy to their inner lives and immersed herself in their music, Schoemer revised her own notions about the fifties at the same time that she explored her family's vexed dynamic. The result is a wonderful romp through an unappreciated chapter in music history and, more important, through her own past.

Full of humor, insight, and unflinching honesty, Great Pretenders bucks the received wisdom, explores the intersections of our private lives and pop culture, and broadens our understanding of a crucial moment in our history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

BIG TIME BORING!
The author says she was a great fan of her parents music, mostly teeny bopper early '60's stuff and she tries to draw some magnificent relationship between the music of that time and her own desire for a fairy tale existence.
If you don't fall asleep reading this trite, i'll buy you a nickel coke.
Gino

Strange Indeed
It'a an ambitious look with a complicated thesis and perhaps only a really theoretically comfortable writer might have pulled it off, someone like Greil Marcus or the late Lillian Roxon for example.Basically we have been led to believe that pop music entered a steep decline after Elvis joined the army and before the Liverpool invasion of December 1963.Schoemer argues that it was not as bad as all that, which isn't that much of a thesis, but it's interesting to think about.She reproduces a typical top 100 pop list for a week in 1959, and a mere survey of the list proves her very point that American pop music, even in what was supposedly the worst of times, had a richness and a depth and a freshness that you just can't associate with the second rate.

Wasn't it CS Lewis said that the health of a country depends on the richness and multiplicity of its minor writers--not its great superstars, but the everyday writers in the background?Schoemer has something of the sort to prove here, and yet her book lacks the requisite concision and force to make its case.Two huge problems get in the way.Number one, her own personal saga (and her problems with her mother) might be the single dullest storyline of any work of creative non fiction of the past 20 years.Reading this book, you just can't believe she held down a professional job (music critic at NEWSWEEK?) for she comes across as a self-obsessed blogger.

Problem number two, is that she decides to hone in on seven pop stars of the period, which might have been an OK strategy, had she been able to bring even one iota of insight into any of them.Patti Page comes off best, but Schoemer's just not prepared enough to do a proper interview.Patronizing isn't the word.She wastes their time with her ill-defined "Tell me what you meant to girls of my mother's generation" questions.It could have been a really good book, instead it's a great pretender.

Know your subject
Through the first 30 pages of this book, I was rolling right along with the author's premise and intrigued by her point of view. Then came this: " . . . jazz coronetist Sidney Bechet." Now I suppose one could have meant "clarinetist", or even may have mistakenly thought Bechet played cornet, or even conflated the two, but from that point, I found it difficult to take seriously anything in the book, given either the author's or editor's carelessness in regard to this point. Furthermore, I was constantly distracted by mental images of someone trying to play a coronet: can't blow into it, so I guess you'd have to bang it like a tambourine (which this pair would probably render as 'trampoline.')Hardly a book goes by in which you can't find some egregious editorial error of this sort. One would think Simon & Schuster could pay enough to obtain competent editorial help. As for Ms. Schoemer, as a would-be music critic of the stature to which she aspires in these pages, she simply should have known better.

As noted elsewhere in these reviews, instances of this sort keep cropping up, and I found my interest (and Ms. Schoemer's credibility) slowly dwindling. Too bad---given the subject and Ms. Schoemer's interesting take on it, this could have been a pretty good read; as for me, I'll just go play my coronet.

MORE THAN NOSTALGIA
I picked this book up because I'm a closet fan of this kind of music (I actually own a couple of Pat Boone LPs). I wound up a fan of Karen Schoemer, the reformed rock critic whose wry, witty manner brings both an off-beat look at the other side of '50s music and a writer who weaves interesting, honest memories with the interviews (and aren't memories what vintage music's all about?).
Karen grew up in plush New York suburbs and saw the grit of classic rock (Springsteen especially) as an escape from both sterile surroundings and her parents' messy divorce. Yet through many years as a free-lance rock critic for Newsweek and the New York Times, she never forgot the white-bread '50s pop hits that somehow stayed with her even after countless interviews with punk and grunge types. So she chose to embark on a quest for meaning in her life through meetings with stars from her mom's (and my mom's) generation. To my delight, the formula worked.
Seven '50s stars made Karen's cut, with the "holy grail" in the form of, oddly enough, Connie Francis- whom she finally meets at her retirement home in South Florida. She also talked to big-band era singers- Frankie Laine, Patti Page, even the all-
but-forgotten Georgia Gibbs. Pat Boone, mentioned earlier, proves to be irrepressible, while two minor teen idols- Fabian and Tommy Sands- fill out the collection. In all seven pieces, Karen's a participant, not an observer. This may turn purists off, but she's very entertaining and has surprising twists in both the interviews and listening. Sands, for instance, was best-known as Nancy Sinatra's (short-lived) husband; his only huge hit, "Teenage Crush", sounds what she calls "grotesque" yet once Karen hears Tommy's uneasy renditions of Sinatra-type standards, she's unexpectedly moved.
That's the essence of "Great Pretenders"- the discovery of real musical and emotional nuggets in a framework that doesn't sound too promising. "Give me more bad music"? "Connie was a virgin!" "Patti Page: for those who thought Ella Fitzgerald was a little too taxing." Yes, Karen sounds like a snide know-it-all, but she's better than that. There's real warmth here as she appreciates this music for what it was- and how, after so many years, it can win over even a wannabe hipster.
"Great Pretenders" isn't your average book of rock criticism; it's not a memory-lane piece; it isn't chick-lit either. It's part musical autobiography, part road trip, and all Karen Schoemer- a woman you'll either hate (if you want nostalgia) or, like me, you'll enjoy for her spunk. Whoever said "I hate spunk" never met her- and the soundtrack's great (if cheesy) too!
BTW- I always loved Pat Boone's "Speedy Gonzales".

An idea with lots of potential comes up short
Normally I am caught up in books discussing much more serious subjects. It was time for a break. So when a friend told me he had just finished up Karen Schoemer's "Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair With 50's Pop Music" and offered me his copy I simply could not resist. In fact, I had almost purchased the book myself a couple of months ago. It was a book I had high hopes for and I wound up reading it in a single day. As one who has been collecting popular music for more than 40 years I hoped to gain some additional insight into the music of the early 1950's.Very little has been written about this period and much of what you do find is extremely negative.Most of the so called "enlightened" rock critics immediately dismiss the music of such artists as Pat Boone, Connie Francis and Patti Page as trite and superficial.Yet this music certainly struck a chord with millions of Americans in the early fifties.Karen Schoemer wanted to find out why and she certainly seemed to have the credentials.She wanted to know why her parents, her mom in particular, loved this stuff. So she decided to write a book about this era. She began this project back in 1999 and admittedly struggled with the concept over the next several years.In the end she wound up interviewing seven of the era's biggest stars.She chatted with Patti Page and Frankie Laine, Georgia Gibbs, Fabian, Tommy Sands and two of the biggest stars of early 50's pop Connie Francis and Pat Boone.Much to her surprise she discovered that most of these folks were anything but the stuffy, uptight people she expected to find. As of matter of fact she really did like most of them. And as her work on the book proceeded she found herself enjoying this music even more.She suddenly decided it was OK to enjoy this stuff despite what the so-called critics thought of it.Not everything she listened to had to be hip or loud or socially relevant.Karen Schoemer had discovered what made this music so attractive to her parents generation.
"Great Pretenders" is a mighty strange book.I craved to learn more about the songs and about the artists Karen had a chance to speak with.Instead I came away frustrated that I did not find out as much about these people and their careers as I had expected.In general, I found "Great Pretenders" to be pretty unfocused at times and I certainly could have done without the frequent references to the authors personal life.For a project in the works for 7 years I would have to classify it as somewhat of a disappointment.In spite of all of its shortcomings I still managed to finish "Great Pretenders".I just happened to be in the mood for some lighter reading and it fit the bill perfectly.
Though it was not a total waste of my time in the final analysis this is a book that clearly misses the mark.As such it is not a book that I can recommend. ... Read more

Product Description
Music Managers and artists will learn the secrets ofsuccessful management in this timely guide to the popular musicbusiness. The book presents scenarios from a manager’s work life alongwith the legal and business skills to master them. Through stories ofreal-life famous artist-manager teams, the authors analyze, criticize,and detail what a manager ought to learn to be an effective advisorand representative. Co-written by a performing arts manager and anactress/journalist, the book teaches future music managers and artistshow to acquire clients, negotiate contracts, develop and image,administer taxes and finances, and deal with promoters, media,attorneys, and unions. A special chapter tells artists what to lookfor in a manager, how to sign fair management contracts, and how toavoid career manipulation. Packed with industry guidelines, samplecontracts, sure-fire career tips, and photos of acclaimed industryicons, this book is a professional springboard for music managers,recording artists, singers, and rock bands alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great introduction to the business
I purchased this book to help me with the review and involvement of managers on a day to day basis and an overview of rules of engagement.I found the book very helpful and I have gone back to it occasionally to refresh myself.Good tool.

What a great book
This is a great book to start out with if your getting into the music industry from being in a band and becoming a manager/booking agent. I really suggest to pick this up. The contracts in the back are good...a must read.

One of the reviewers said, this book only relates to pop music and not other genres. I have to disagree, I've been in the industry for 8 years now, and the book actually does help anyone that is STARTING to get in the business.

Neds improvement but good
This is a useful book but unfortunately only relates to pop music and the other genres are left alone. If you don't know which style you should choose and promote you should first read something more general like "Ty Cohen's Secrets to Making Money in the Music Industry" by Ty Cohen which is a valuable book for those who want to make a hit into the music business. This book reveals the most important secrets to succeed and you will start making profit in no time! Buy this book now if you want to find out the secrets from the pros.

A terrific guide, cleverly laid out---artists take note
Hard to imagine a book doing a better job than this one does of walking someone through the world of pop music management.The authors have hit on a clever way to provide a wealth of detail, wisdom and rules, while keeping things entertaining: The narrative follows three days in the life of a manager of a band, using that story on which to hang the nuts and bolts.That way, you not only learn the tricks of the trade, but you get a sense of the life as well.This book would by no means be of interest only to someone who wants to get in strictly on the management side--I'm a (hopefully up-and-coming) musician, and almost everything in the book seemed potentially helpful to me, both in understanding what I can expect in a manager, and in learning approaches to self-management as well.This book is a tremendously valuable addition to my career-development library. ... Read more

Product Description

"Exceptionally illuminating and philosophically sophisticated."
---Ted Cohen, Professor of Philosophy, University of Chicago

"In this audacious and long-awaited book, Joel Rudinow takes seriously a range of interrelated issues that most music theorizing is embarrassed to tackle. People often ask me about music and spirituality. With Soul Music, I can finally recommend a book that offers genuine philosophical insight into the topic."
---Theodore Gracyk, Professor of Philosophy, Minnesota State University Moorhead

The idea is as strange as it is commonplace---that the "soul" in soul music is more than just a name, that somehow the music truly taps into something essential rooted in the spiritual notion of the soul itself. Or is it strange? From the civil rights movement and beyond, soul music has played a key, indisputable role in moments of national healing. Of course, American popular music has long been embroiled in controversies over its spiritual purity (or lack thereof). But why? However easy it might seem to dismiss these ideas and debates as quaint and merely symbolic, they persist.

In Soul Music: Tracking the Spiritual Roots of Pop from Plato to Motown, Joel Rudinow, a philosopher of music, takes these peculiar notions and exposes them to serious scrutiny. How, Rudinow asks, does music truly work upon the soul, individually and collectively? And what does it mean to say that music can be spiritually therapeutic or toxic? This illuminating, meditative exploration leads from the metaphysical idea of the soul to the legend of Robert Johnson to the philosophies of Plato and Leo Strauss to the history of race and racism in American popular culture to current clinical practices of music therapy.

Joel Rudinow teaches in the Philosophy and Humanities Departments at Santa Rosa Junior College and is the coauthor of Invitation to Critical Thinking and the coeditor of Ethics and Values in the Information Age.

Product Description
Global Pop examines the rise of "world musics" and "world beat", and some of the musicians associated with these new genres such as Peter Gabriel, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Johnny Clegg. Drawing on a wide range of sources--academic, popular, cyber, interviews, and the music itself--Global Pop charts an accessible path through many of the issues and contradictions surrounding the contemporary movement of people and musics worldwide. Global Pop examines the range of discourses employed in and around world music, demonstrating how the central concept of authenticity is wielded by musicians, fans, and other listeners, and looks at some of these musics in detail, examining ways they are caught up in forms of domination and resistance.The book also explores how some cross-cultural collaborations may fashion new musics and identities through innovative combinations of sounds and styles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unique Perspective On World Music Phenomenon
The book is full of insight into "world music," which is mainly a marketing concept but also encompasses most of the world's popular music! This is an academic work that is also enjoyable to read and complementswell those studies that focus on the artists and music, such as "WorldMusic: The Rough Guide" and "The Brazilian Sound." ... Read more

Product Description
The dictionary defines trivia as: "matter or things of very slight importance, commonplace, or ordinary." Yet anyone who has ever read anything about a favorite sports star, singer, historic figure or celebrity will find that it is often the "so-called" trivia that makes things memorable about that person or event. Nowhere is this more apparent than in this book. Add the context of the progression of hundreds of parallel lives through the timeline of a pseudo calendar format and it becomes anything but commonplace. This is especially intriguing when coupled with music history. Over 2,000 entries are listed in chronological order, covering every day of the year.

By combining a calendar format with over 180 wonderful photos and illustrations, and an elevated element of "trivia," this new kind of to-the-point history in "on-this-day" format sets a new trend in books for the gratification of 21st-century culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Over 2,000 Popular Music Facts For Every Day Of The Year
On This Day In Music History: Over 2,000 Popular Music Facts For Every Day Of The Year by six-time Grammy- winning music publisher and historian Jay Warner offers a chronological wealth of "bite sized" infobits on the men, women, companies, and inventions that compiled and assembled provide an inherently fascinating and wonderfully informative history of music in popular culture. From the installation of the first Jukebox at San Francisco's Royal Hotel in 1899, to the induction of Tina and Ike Turner into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (with producer Phil Spector accepting the award in their absence), On This Day In Music History makes for informed and informative browsing. Presented in a calendar formate and enhanced with more than 180 black/white images, On This Day In Music History will prove a welcome and popular addition to personal and community library Music History Studies collections.
... Read more

Product Description
Animals clap, a band marches in time, and smiling notes slide up and down the staff--there is music and movement on every page of this jamming, jazzy pop-up. From the creators of the Amazing Pop-Up Grammar Book and the Amazing Pop-Up Multiplication Book, here is a fun-filled introduction for beginning musicians. Lively lessons on rhythm, notes, scales, time, and tempo build gradually to a music-making finale where readers can play a real keyboard to accompany a pop-up animal chorus.

Kate Petty and Jennie Maizels have created a unique series of books that take the terror out of difficult topics through an irresistible combination of quips, hints, exuberant illustrations, and ingenious paper mechanics.Amazon.com Review
"Clop" a rhythm like a pony! Take the musical tree elevator! Meet QuentinQuarter Note! With this lively, toe-tapping, time-keeping interactive book,aspiring young musicians pull tabs, flip flaps, and tickle the ivories of areal battery-run electronic keyboard (three SR1130 batteries included). Sooneveryone will be reading music! Friendly critters introduce each of thebasic musical elements: rhythm, notes, time signatures, the staff, scales,sharps and flats, and key signatures. Fabulous images ensure that thelearning will be lifelong--a plump elephant sits on a note to make itflatter. Rock-'n'-rolling"Beetles" teach an easy way to remember the order of notes on a staff:"Even Groovy Bats Drink Fly-juice." The amount of color, creatures, andinformation on each page may be a trifle overwhelming, but it leaves nodoubt that there will be something new to discover with every reading.

Kate Petty and Jennie Maizels have created several booksdesigned to make scary subjects less intimidating: The Amazing Pop-UpMultiplication Book and The Amazing Pop-Up GrammarBook. Their imaginative paper mechanics and goofy animal anticsmake their books a hit with reluctant learners and avid scholars alike.(Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The Amazing Pop-up Music Book - would be if you could get it !
I have seen this book and it is well done and an excellent teaching tool.However, on the Amazon site this book has also been on back-order for almost 1 year.I have repeatdly had to re-order this item as per request by Amazon but it has never been shipped.Just when does Amazon consider an item no longer available?

don't buy it from amazon
good product, just don't buy it from amazon.
I placed the order with amazon on March 6. Amazon kept delaying its shipment. It's May now and amazon, for the 3rd time, sent me email telling me there was a delay on the shipment.

no wonder my favorite mutual fund short amazon stocks

Great book!
Great book with fab paper engineering and loads of tabs to pull, etc.The keyboard on the last page actually works and is a very clever addition to the book.As someone mentioned they couldn't work out how to change the batteries, I have actually managed to do it.On the keyboard, just above the keys, run your finger along and you'll feel a tiny screw (cross-head) near the bird on the right.Unscrew that (it leaves a tiny hole in the paper) and the battery compartment should then slight out towards the right.Hope that helps!

The Amazing Pop-Up Music Book
This is a wonderful book for all ages. Each page is a delight with its dancing characters and fun tabs to pull. The information is easy for children to assimilate. I especially enjoyed the real keyboard. And the last page is eye popping. My sister, a piano teacher, covets my copy. I may have to get her one for her birthday.

Can't make the keyboard work
The keyboard feature in the copy I bought from Amazon.com does not work. I can't tell whether this is because the batteries are dead or not included, because I CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO OPEN UP THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT! The instructions on the back say to use a screwdriver to remove the battery cover, but there are no screws visible and I cannot figure out what else I might possibly be able to move with a screwdriver. This might be a very neat book to have IF you can get the keyboard to work, but I really can't tell. ... Read more

Product Description
Brings you right into Michael's heart and into his home, where you'll visit Neverland and learn about the secrets of his childhood. This INTERNATIONALLY BEST SELLING BOOK chronicles Michael Jackson's interviews with major talk show hosts and leading magazines, such as: Oprah Winfrey, Dianne Sawyer and Barbara Walters, USA Today, Vibe Magazine; and lists his songs, lyrics and films. Michael Jackson: King of Pop also features a 16-page color insert.

TELLS IT ALL!

This tell-all book includes chapters, such as: "Michael and His First Wife Lisa Marie", "Michael and His Second Wife Deborah Rowe", Michael in the Face of Negative Press", "Song Lyrics, Awards, Achievements and Films".

As a huge Michael Jackson fan, author, Jel Lewis (Jones) wanted to do something special and give something back to the King of Pop. Her gift to him is this positive book about his life and his music career. According to Ms. Lewis (Jones), "I have admired and adored Michael Jackson from the first time I heard his name and listened to his music. I have never been more fascinated by an entertainer before or since. I have always wanted to meet him and get the opportunity to shake his hand for bringing so much love into the hearts of so many." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Excellent !!!
Very nice and warm hearted book of Michael Jackson. I read a lot of book of MJ, but this one is filled with his beautiful words.
amazing! and totally awesome!
it's a great value!

Add this to the set of quality publications on Michael Jackson
It's always great to find accurate information about Michael Jackson instead of the garbage written by people like Halperin.This book presents the facts, not the untruths from people that are writing for the Almighty Dollar.Thanks to Lewis for getting this published; I'm thankful to now have found this book from another seller listed here on Amazon.The copyright date lets me know that it's not from someone interested in now cashing in on Michael's untimely death.2005 was a tough year for Michael so I'm glad this author understood it was time to put together a book that more accurately represents this incredible human being.

Very well written....an awesome buy!!
Ms. Lewis does an excellent job with this book.I really enjoyed it and appreciated that it was clean; no trash written here!If you are a MICHAEL JACKSON fan, this book is for you.I promise you will enjoy reading it.

Michael Jackson, theKing of Pop: The Big Picture-- The Music! The Man! The Legend! The Interviews: an Anthology
I like this book because a lot of it is actual passages spoken by MJ. I plan to donate my MJ books to the local library after I've read them. It is a way to get out that he was innocent and that his kind of entertainment talent only happens once. I am a new fan; post MJ's death. To keep his legacy alive we need to spread the word. I'd like to see a book dedicated soley to MJ's humanitarian deeds. He was such a loving and caring person.

Good Book, But Some Inaccurate Information
I really appreciate how the author clearly showed what a wonderful person that Michael was and as a die hard fan of his, I really am glad to read a very positive account of his life, words and deeds.I too, enjoyed the interviews and the few colorful pictures that were in the book.

I was disappointed that the author has some incorrect information and omissions from her facts.I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about Michael in books, his websites throughout the world and interviews and I am being quite an expert about him because I love him so much.In her beginning summary about his life, she skips a lot of information.While I realize that she cannot write everything because it is a summary, one or two additional lines here and there would have given a more accurate timeline and account of the facts.

For instance on page 5, second paragraph from the top, she says, " As the Jackson 5 started showing less than impressive record sales in the mid-70's, Michael's solo career was put on hold for a while, and he continued with the group after they were reborn as the Jacksons in 1976.And he re-entered the public eye with a starring role in the film musical The Wiz, collaborating on the sound-track album with Quincy Jones.Their partnership was renewed in 1979 when Quincy Jones produced "Off the Wall," a startlingly successful collection of contemporary soul material that introduced the world to the adult Michael Jackson."There is a lot of missing information here.She leaves out the fact that the Jacksons left Motown to sign with CBS records because they wanted more artistic freedom to write and produce.Their name became "The Jacksons" not just simply because they decided to become reborn, but because Motown legally kept their original name "The Jackson 5" after the split.Michael was the one chosen to break the news to Barry Gordy that they were leaving the company.It does not take long to explain that and these are critical pieces of information.That is just one example.

On page 69, there is clearly a MAJOR error in her song lyrics chapter. She has the title for "Beat It"-Rap by Vincent Price.Everyone knows that Vincent did the rap in Thriller.That is too big of a mistake. I don't have time to write about the other mistakes, but you can see what I mean.

I would suggest to the author that you re-edit the book and have it republished.

Otherwise, I enjoyed your favorable story about Michael, but please be accurate. No offense to you!! So many facts have been reported incorrectly about him and I don't believe that this was deliberate on your part. His life was so fascinating and it take a lot of time to research for accuracy, but I think that he was worth the time to do it. He was very much a perfectionist and he would want to be recorded accurately. ... Read more

Product Description

In his analysis of Buddy Holly's music and lyrics, his impact on music of the late 1950s, and his posthumous influence on the music industry, Dave Laing aims to provide a fresh perspective on this early rock icon. The longest-serving member of the rock immortals club -- those singers and musicians for whom death seems to inaugurate a new phase of their careers -- Holly was elevated to a place of honor in rock history soon after the plane crash that took his life in February 1959. One of the first artifacts acquired by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum was the twisted pair of his trademark black-rimmed glasses recovered from the plane wreckage. Despite his premature death at the age of 22 and the relatively limited output of his recordings during his lifetime, Buddy Holly remains one of the most influential and best-loved figures in rock 'n' roll.

Product Description
The urge to connect with that which transcends our experience, be it a higher power, another person or some artistic ideal or aspect of nature, is one of the things that makes us human. People view the object of this quest, as well as what it means to achieve it, differently. Yet regardless of how it is understood, the urge to participate in or belong to something greater and more lasting than ourselves - a feeling born of an awareness of our mortality - is what defines us as spiritual beings. Though often dismissed as ephemeral or, worse, demonic, popular music has given voice to this quest for transcendence since its beginnings. Pop singers are rarely as outwardly spiritual as, say, their gospel counterparts; they're forever pointing beyond themselves, though, be it to some better future, some higher ideal, or to some vision of deliverance. "I'll Take You There" is a beautifully written, wide-ranging and illuminating examination of some of the most potent popular music ever recorded. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

First Good Book about Pop Music and Spirituality
I've read several books about pop music and spirituality, and all of them have one or both of two basic flaws: (1) an unsophisticated understanding of pop music/culture, and (2) an unsophisticated understanding of spirituality.

This is the first book I've read which has neither flaw. Friskics-Warren, a Nashville music reviewer, is clearly steeped in pop music and culture and can discuss it and analyze it with subtlety and intelligence. He also holds a masters degree in theology and can bring his knowledge about religion and spirituality to his discussion of pop music.

Thus, Friskics-Warren is able to see spirituality where others might not. Trent Reznor's angst and anger express a craving for something beyond this world. The Sex Pistols' calls for anarchy are actually calls against false forms of transcendence. Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" is not a call for thoughtless sex, but for true connections with other people and maybe even with the divine.

The best part about Friskics-Warren's analysis is that he is so skilled at arguing his points and so familiar with the artists he discusses that none of his claims seems far-fetched. Also excellent is that he does something most analysts of pop music forget to do: talk about the MUSIC instead of just the lyrics. Thus Van Morrison doesn't just sing about spiritual things; his music actually SOUNDS spiritual.

Once again, this is the best book available on the subject. It should be read by lovers of pop culture and religion, lovers of pop music who are suspicious of religion (so they can see the implicit religion in pop music), and lovers of religion who are suspicious of pop music (so they can see that age-old religious traditions and contemporary pop music are in many ways after the same things). ... Read more

Product Description

Their lives were cut brutally short...yet the legacy has on lived on for four decades.

They were three of rock 'n' roll's brightest stars, touring together in a music revue that was as grueling as it was magical. Dilapidated school buses that frequently broke down and rarely had heat carried them hundreds of miles across the Midwest with its unforgiving cold. Hoping to get a decent night's sleep, a hot meal, and a chance to clean the clothes they'd been wearing for weeks, Buddy Holly chartered a plane.

On February 3, 1959, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly boarded a small plane bound for rock 'n' roll heaven. This is their story, told by the family members, bandmates, and witnesses who lived it. Including material not seen in the original VH1 broadcast, Behind the Music: the Day the Music Died is a compelling record of one of rock 'n' roll's defining moments. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Day The Music Died
This is an excellent book to own, if you are a Buddy Holly fan. Very fast reading.You will not want to put this book down.
Black & white photos.The best photos were put in this book.You will have to remember back when Buddy was popular, and remember it was black & white photos.
Makes you wonder, what his music would sound like now.I can only imagine.He paved the way for all music now.

Memories Abound In This Book
Larry Lehmer's hardcover book entitled "The Day the Music Died" gives a very detailed review of the ill-fated Winter Dance Party in which Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson, aka "The Big Bopper" took part.If you would like to read a more concise version of these three singers I would strongly suggest you buy a copy of the paperback copy of "Behind the Music:The Day the Music Died."This book contains 122 pages and includes numerous pictures of the singers in addition to the crash site.Comments from family members and those who were close to the singers make up the prose of the book leading to accuracy in what they say.I read the book in three sittings.Make sure you have time when you sit down to read it because you will want to continue.I intend to order numerous additional copies to give as gifts to friends.Many thanks to authors Martin Huxley and Quinton Skinner for putting the book together.

Nice book
For my recent birthday, my mom bought me a copy of this book. She didn't want to spend too much, and although I was skeptical at first, I actually enjoyed it. I was very surprised at how well the text flowed, considering there is just so much separate commentary throughout the course of it. As strange as it may seem, this event just fascinates me, and this book was a good source of information. .... ... Read more

Product Description
This is a new reference handbook for conductors and orchestral librarians searching for available repertoire for orchestral pops concerts. Various appendixes allow for easy cross-referencing for efficient searches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Long overdue
This book by Lucy Manning finally gives us conductors and orchestras an overview on Pops Music for various occasions. It tells you where you can obtain the materials for your performance, the orchestration, length and the occasion.

Obviously, this book is not complete. I would have loved to see a listing of Nino Rota's The Godfather film music (to name an example) or more contemporary Broadway music. I hope there will be updates on a regular basis.

An Exceptional New Resource for Conductors!
This new "encyclopedia" of light classic and pops repertoire MUST be in the library of every conductor.The indexes are so helpful in planning programming.And, the author has taken the model of the Daniels book to provide a thorough overview of available works.It's a big help just to know the timings of these works, but the text offers much more than that.

John Whitney, Music Director
Southern Tier Symphony

The "Pops" Orchestra reference book
"At long last, there has been published a reference book to help conductors, orchestra librarians, and administrators sort through the potpourri of orchestral pops arrangements. As "classical lite" increasingly supplements orchestral programming, the Manning Orchestral "Pops" Music: A Handbook, is a natural companion to the David Daniels Orchestral Music: A Handbook (Fourth Edition), whose style and format it follows. The book draws together valuable information for each title, such as composer, arranger, duration, instrumentation, and publisher. Like the Daniels, it also provides assistance with programming, with its appendices that list titles by various categories, including themes from Americana to Weather. This book will save countless hours of research--it is well worth the investment. We have been waiting for such a volume for years, and I highly recommend it." --Clinton F. Nieweg, ~Proof Purr-fect Research~, Philadelphia Orchestra, Principal Librarian (Ret.)
... Read more

Product Description
This cutting-edge keyboard method is a total step-by-step approach to creating keyboard parts spontaneously. Rhythmic and harmonic concepts are applied in all keys, and are then used as a basis for developing specific solutions in rock, pop, ballad, funk, new age, country and gospel styles. Endorsed by Grammy winners, top educators, and Keyboard magazine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Pop Piano
I loved The Pop Piano Book but the book itself came to me with the binding broken.

Very good from one of the best authors out there
Mark Harrison's books are all good, my favorite is the Blues Piano. The alternative to this one "Pop Piano" would be the the one he has about music theory (comes with cd). But this Pop Piano is the ultimate, you can use it as a reference. I bought the midi files from his website. Buy this book and the midis and you will be happy.

A foundation for playing piano
This book is the single greatest influence on my playing. I've worked through a dozen piano theory books, and they usually focus on one aspect of playing. For example, I own books on quartal jazz voicings, 100 blues riffs, intros/turnarounds, reading from a fakebook, the jazz piano book, tons of runs, etc. Those books are great, but they don't provide a foundation to playing. They don't provide the ability to sit in with a band and jam in any popular style. This book lays down a solid and expansive foundation, upon which to build the more specialized structures.

I've been slowly working through this book for over a year, and I'm probably 3/4 through it. I often laugh as I'm practicing, because I can't believe how good it sounds. I'd wasted a lot of time practicing without a guidebook, and never made much progress. In one sitting, I'm learning techniques that make me sound like I'd only dreamed, and never would have realized on my own.

Don't be intimidated by the size (500 pages). Contrary to a previous review, the book IS full of tediously thorough descriptions of each exercise. The descriptions count for at about half the book, and you frequently won't bother to read them. Each chapter in the 2nd half of the book teaches one specific genre. I've just picked my favorite genres and focused on those only. Each genre is about 30-60 pages, and will have people wondering how you got to be so good in that style.

Great Book - not for absolute beginners
This is a really great book for anyone with a basic understanding of how to play the piano or with a general knowledge of music.The TOC gives you a pretty good idea of what you'll learn in this book.The only thing that I think should be stressed is that this book will require quite a bit of time to go through if you're like me and aren't a piano player per-se but just want to learn some tricks and licks.I find myself going over my scales quite a bit to work my chops up before I get into the nitty-gritty (and fun stuff) later in the book.Overall though, a really well thought out and helpful book for a hobbyist like me.

Good intentions but not user-friendly
Love the content, hate the book! Inaccessible due to format, a poorly designed book with good intentions. Yes, this is a sorely needed volume, but needs better organization, design, layout and print quality! Many pages in my copy have blurred text. You can't lay the book open because of the poor binding. This book should be re-structured as a series of workbooks in the style of the excellent Jazz Piano The Complete Method (Examinations Department of The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music). A publication with graded examples for pop, folk and rock piano enthusiasts is sorely needed! How about it, music publishers? ... Read more

Product Description
This essay collection provides a variety of ideas and techniques for teaching music classes using elements of popular culture, such as popular songs and genres, mixes and remixes, video games, music videos, television shows, and internet resources. Each chapter offers a pedagogical model for incorporating these powerful tools to encourage student interaction in courses on musicianship, music theory, analysis, criticism, music history, and related classes. ... Read more

Product Description
Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin, both writers and teachers of popular music, have compiled the first comprehensive survey of critical approaches to pop music. Usefully divided by general theoretical category, On Record serves as a guide to the growing sophistication and shifting emphases in the field. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fast shipping. Good item!
This product came as it was described on the website. It arrived a lot faster than it would be. ... Read more

Product Description
Innovative and lively, this comparative and integrative study of the multicultural music of the United States explores the music of Native Americans, European Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans–the five broad groups that constitute American society and that have complex, unique, and often intermingled musical traditions that are reflected in contemporary American music. It features a blended historical/social, ethnic, and musical approach; strong contemporary focus; and coverage of a wide variety of musical styles. Music in Multicultural America. Native American Music Traditions. The Roots of European/Anglo-American Music Traditions. The Roots of African American Music Traditions. The Roots of Hispanic/Latino Music Traditions. The Blues. Jazz. Gospel. Cajun and Zydeco. Country. The Urban Folk Revival. The Ethnic and Racial Roots of Rock 'n' Roll. Motown, Soul and Funk. Tejano, Banda, and Contemporary Mexican. Caribbean and Salsa. Asian American Music. Hip-Hop and Rap. For anyone interested in American Popular Music. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

thank you
The sender of my new book was very nice;he quickly sent me the book and CD. I would recomend him.If next semester I need books and he has them I'll buy from him. Thank you.

Highly recommended!
This lively and accessible book explores the musical traditions of five broad groups - Native Americans, European Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans - with particular interest in how those multicultural roots have intermingled to create contemporary American music.

Along the way, author Elizabeth Barkley achieves a near impossible feat: presenting concise and candid histories of each cultural group, in addition to equally concise and clear explanations of the stylistic elements of their music.These elements are reinforced by the companion CD, which provides 18 listening examples with commentary.

My only criticism is that the book suffers from inattentive editing.For example, the first citation in Chapter One is "Ibid."Several photo captions apparently include layout notations not intended for readers' eyes, sometimes to a mildly humorous effect.The content deserves better.

Though designed for college students with no prior musical training, this book will be invaluable to high school and college music teachers wanting to infuse more diversity into their coursework, or for social studies teachers wanting to infuse more popular culture. I would also recommend it to those specifically interested in African American music since - not surprisingly -about half the chapters touch on it in one way or another. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
Since the emergence of rock'n'roll in the early 1950s, there have been a number of live musical performances that were not only memorable in themselves, but became hugely influential in the way they shaped the subsequent trajectory and development of popular music. Each, in its own way, introduced new styles, confronted existing practices, shifted accepted definitions, and provided templates for others to follow. "Performance and Popular Music" explores these processes by focusing on some of the specific occasions when such transformations occurred An international array of scholars reveal that it is through the (often disruptive) dynamics of performance - and the interaction between performer and audience - that patterns of musical change and innovation can best be recognised. Through multi-disciplinary analyses, which consider the history, place and time of each event, the performances are located within their social and professional contexts, and their immediate and long-term musical consequences considered.From the Beatles and Bob Dylan to Michael Jackson and Madonna, from Woodstock and Monterey to Altamont and Live Aid, this book provides an indispensable assessment of the importance of live performance in the practice of popular music, and an essential guide to some of the key moments in its history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

How specific performances altered music history:
As a compilation of articles addressing how individual rock concerts in the early days of the genre may have altered the direction of future performances, this book offers great insight and thought. I was especially interested in the chapters on the "British Invasion" and the comeback of Elvis Presley. I certainly recommend this book to anyone studying the evolution of popular music! ... Read more

Product Description
Forty choice hits from a diverse array of mega-stars, from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood to Pink Floyd and Radiohead. From crowd-pleasing pop hits to challenging songs by cutting-edge bands, this collection packs a musical punch! Titles: All I Wanna Do (Sheryl Crow)
* Because of You (Kelly Clarkson)
* Because You Loved Me (Celine Dion)
* Before He Cheats (Carrie Underwood)
* Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
* Cat's In the Cradle (Harry Chapin)
* Celebration (Kool & the Gang)
* Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
* Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)
* Dancing Queen (ABBA)
* Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)
* Falling Slowly (from Once)
* Flash Light (Parliament)
* Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (Green Day)
* Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's)
* High and Dry (Radiohead)
* Home (Michael Bublé)
* Hotel California (Eagles)
* How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees)
* How Do I Live (LeAnn Rimes)
* I Don't Want to Be (Gavin DeGraw)
* I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (Aerosmith)
* If Everyone Cared (Nickelback)
* I'll Stand by You (Pretenders)
* Karma Police (Radiohead)
* Killing Me Softly with His Song (Roberta Flack)
* Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett)
* My Immortal (Evanescence)
* Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye (Steam)
* Out Here on My Own (from Fame)
* Photograph (Nickelback)
* Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry)
* Right Now (Van Halen)
* The Rose (Bette Midler)
* She Talks to Angels (Black Crowes)
* Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
* Starlight (Muse)
* Tom Sawyer (Rush)
* Umbrella (Rihanna)
* Un-Break My Heart (Toni Braxton)
* Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day)
* The Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby)
* Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
* You and Me (Lifehouse). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Mix of Old and New
The selection in All-Time Pop & Rock Hits Sheet Music Playlist has something for everyone.Unfortunately, that also means there are few people who will enjoy almost every song in the book.With over 40 hits to choose from ranging rom the '70's to the present, this book will be sure to keep you busy.

The quality of the arrangements is generally high.You can easily tell that the arrangements were taken from several sources as they vary widely in method and style of arrangement as well as format.The only problem with this inconsistency is that some songs are designed well for piano solo and otehrs are clearly for piano accompaniment with vocals.Also the difficulty varies as the pieces are composed and arranged by many different people.I'd estimate the majority of pieces are between grade 5 and grade 7.

If you are planning to buy some of the other All-Time Pop & Rock Sheet Music collections available on amazon, then you'll get some repeats in this one, though many of these songs are not available in other editions.For the price, this book is a great deal.Buying the individual sheet music for just a few o these songs would cost as much as this entire book. ... Read more