Reading - May 2015

Guitarist (June 2015 / Issue 394)

The Week (2 May 2015 / Issue 1020)

Confessions Of A Record Producer by Moses Avalon (1998)

As a student of the pop music industry, I have read quite widely around the subject - not just pop bios but also the business side of things. Nevertheless this managed to surprise me in a number of respects - mostly the one-sidedness of contracts even forty years on from the most notably exploitative ones. Interesting, revealing and essential reading for anyone assuming that whoever you see on your television is automatically rich, let alone anyone thinking they might enter the business. The fact that this edition is quite old (nearly 20 years!), and as a result notably wrong about the impending digital revolution, doesn't lessen its impact.

The Week (9 May 2015 / Issue 1021)

The Week (16 May 2015 / Issue 1022)

Twentieth anniversary issue! A fact denoted by a small flag on the front cover, a brief mention on the editorial and nothing else (the thousandth issue was even less celebrated).

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (2006)

The Week (23 May 2015 / Issue 1023)

Slash by Slash with Anthony Bozza (2007)

I couldn't name more than about two Guns 'n' Roses songs and fewer of any post GNR bands Slash has been in, but I was intrigued enough by his story to keep going through what is a fairly lengthy book. There is no way this guy should be alive! Although he says it's the music that has kept him together, there's not really much about how he arrives at it - maybe he or the publishers think that the general public won't be interested. Still, it's made me keen to go and listen to his albums ... I just have to see how long I can bear Axl Rose's voice (who btw comes across as a prize tit in this book).

The Week (30 May 2015 / Issue 1024)