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MANCHESTER MUSIC BOOKS |
With so many musicians and bands emerging from Manchester, it's not surprising that there's been numerous books written about the subject matter. Below, you'll find the best of them and all the latest releases. |
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NEW MANCHESTER MUSIC BOOKS |
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This Searing Light, The Sun and Everything Else by Jon Savage ~ 4 Apr 2019 |
"Joy Division: The Oral History", sees the accalimed NME & Melody Maker journalist assemble 30 years worth of interviews with the principle players in the Joy Division story: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Deborah Curtis, Peter Saville, Tony Wilson, Paul Morley, Alan Hempsall, Lesley Gilbert, Terry Mason, Anik Honoré, and many more. It is the story of how a band resurrected a city, |
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Manchester Mavericks by Colin Blaney ~ 1 Apr 2019 |
The latest offering from the 'Grafters' author sees him interview "Twenty-Two People Who Changed the City" ; famous and not so famous people who have had an impact on the cultural, sporting and political life of Manchester. Among them are writers, musicians, teddy boys, mods and rockers; characters as diverse as a barmaid from the famous Tommy Ducks pub to the man who became the face of the Strangeways riot. |
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Just A Salford Lad by David Jim Tommins ~ 1 Apr 2019 |
The story of the author's life, growing up in the very rough and ready streets of Salford and becoming a singer in various Manchester groups (The Spartans, The Boston Sect, Oliver's Twist), It takes in many of the venues and bands of the 60s and 70s. |
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Freaky Dancing edited by Paul Gill and Ste Pickford ~ 1 Feb 2019 |
"The Complete Collection" of the unofficial Haçienda acid house fanzine, which ran for 11 issues between July 1989 and August 1990. The first eight issues were given out free to people in the queue to the club on a Friday night. Later issues were sold around Manchester and reached a peak circulation of 750. |
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Friends Of Mine by Martin Ryan ~ 15 Oct 2018 |
"Punk in Manchester 1976-78" is the new blow-by-blow account of how punk really happened in Manchester by a fan whose memory of the 1970s is not clouded by apocrypha. He was there, or not there, and can recall dates, times, gigs and the growth of the scene. Together, with Mick Middles, who writes the foreword, he edited the "Ghast Up!" fanzine. |
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How Does it Feel? by Mark Kermode ~ 20 Sep 2018 |
The former Manchester University student and local journalist turned film critic tells the hilarious story of "A Life of Musical Misadventures" as he followed his desire to be a rock star. |
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So It Goes by Kevin Cummins ~ 11 Sep 2018 |
"Punk and the Aftermath" is an incredible limited edition book from the celebrated photographer that captures Manchester in the 1970s, the bands and their fans, in a collection of unseen or rare images, Limited to 300 copies (100 with a signed Ian Curtis print, 200 with a signed Sex Pistols print), the foreword is by Pete Shelley and Billy Duffy. |
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Morrissey: Alone and Palely Loitering by Kevin Cummins ~ 6 Sep 2018 |
An incredible photographic portrait of Morrissey at his peak, with many never-before-seen images from the legendary Mancunian rock photographer. |
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Messing Up The Paintwork by Mark E. Smith ~ 26 July 2018 |
A short collection of "The Wit and Wisdom of Mark E. Smith", the legendary frontman of post-punk outfit The Fall, who died in January 2018, featuring an introduction from Stuart Maconie. |
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Chopin In Britain by Peter Willis ~ 18 Dec 2017 |
This interesting book looks at the penultimate year of the famous Polish composer's life, when he visited England and Scotland, performing at the Gentleman's Concert Hall in Manchester, August 1848, It is a more in depth study than the author's excellent 2011 book "Chopin In Manchester". |
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Electrochoc by Laurent Garnier ~ 29 Oct 2017 |
The World-famous French DJ's history of dance music, starting at The Hacienda in 1987, has already been a best-seller in France, Spain, Russia, Germany and Japan. Now available in English. |
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Set The Boy Free by Johnny Marr ~ 19 Sep 2017 |
The long-awaited excellent autobiograhy from the legendary Smiths guitarist. |
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They're Playing Our Song by Carole Bayer Sager ~ 1 Jan 2017 |
"A Memoir" from the Grammy and Oscar winning American songwriter behind some of the Mindbenders and The Monkees biggest hits. |
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ESSENTIAL MANCHESTER MUSIC BOOKS |
Books about the Manchester music scene as a whole... |
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Manchester Mavericks |
Twenty-Two Mancunians Who Changed The City |
'Grafters' author Colin Blaney has spent the past decade or so interviewing personalities from Manchester and Salford; famous and not so famous people who have had an impact on the cultural, sporting and political life of Manchester. Among them are writers, musicians, teddy boys, mods and rockers; characters as diverse as a barmaid from the famous Tommy Ducks pub to the man who became the face of the Strangeways riot. Some are Mancs by birth others have been welcomed with open arms by a city well known as a magnet for immigrants from all four corners of the globe. (1 Apr 2019) |
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Friends Of Mine |
Punk in Manchester 1976-78 |
Martin Ryan caught the punk bug in 1976 just like everybody else, it's just that his memory is not clouded by apocrypha built around the myth of one concert. He was there, or not there, and can recall dates, times, gigs and the growth of the nascent Manchester scene. Mick Middles, with whom he edited the "Ghast Up!" fanzine, provides the foreword to this blow-by-blow account of how punk really happened in Manchester. (15 Oct 2018) |
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So It Goes |
Punk and the Aftermath |
The incredible limited edition book from celebrated photographer Kevin Cummins that captures Manchester in the 1970s, the bands and their fans, in a collection of unseen or rare images. Limited to 300 copies (100 with a signed Ian Curtis print, 200 with a signed Sex Pistols print), the foreword is by Pete Shelley and Billy Duffy.. (11 Sep 2018) |
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Ballads and Songs of Peterloo |
Alison Morgan's academic study is an edited collection of over seventy poems and songs written following the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, 1819, published either as broadsides or in radical periodicals and newspapers. (18 July 2018) |
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Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor |
Music, Manchester, and More |
With a supporting cast from Tony Wilson, Nile Rodgers, Terry Hall, Neneh Cherry, John Lydon, Johnny Marr, Ian Brown, Laurent Garnier and David Byrne, the memoirs of Hacienda DJ Dave Haslam cover everything from having a gun pulled on him at the club and a drug dealer threatening to slit his throat, to having Morrissey round for tea, and discussing masturbation with Viv Albertine and ecstasy with Roisin Murphy. (24 May 2018) |
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Mánchester: El sonido de la ciudad |
De Joy Division a Madchester (1976-1991) |
Marcos Blanco Gendre's Spanish study of the Manchester music scene, "the sound of the city" features the likes of The Hacienda, Buzzcocks, Magazine, Joy Division, John Cooper Clarke, The Durutti Coumn, Ludus, A Certain Ratio, New Order, The Fall, The Blue Orchids, The Smiths, James, 808 State, A Guy Called Gerald, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Autechre and The Chemical Brothers. (1 May 2018) |
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1970s Manchester |
Dirty Stop Out's Guide |
Rikki Wright's excellent nostalgic look of the Manchester scene in the 1970s; from Rotters, Rafters, and Deeply Vale to UMIST Heavy Rock disco, Wigan Casino and The Electric Circus. With no-holds barred contributions from many musicians, The Smiths bassist Andy Rourke provides the foreword. (20 Nov 2017) |
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Leave The Capital |
A History of Manchester Music in 13 Recordings |
Former drummer with The Fall, Paul Hanley, makes an entertaining broad reinvestigation of Manchester music history from the 60s to the 90s through the prism of Strawberry Studios and Pluto Studio's key recordings including The Hollies, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Fall and The Stone Roses. (13 Nov 2017) |
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Martin Hannett, His Equipment and Strawberry Studios |
Chris Hewitt returns with a companion to his original Martin Hannett biography to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary Strawberry Studios in Stockport and the 40th anniversary of Manchester's Rabid Records label. (19 May 2014) |
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British Musical Modernism |
The Manchester Group and their Contemporaries |
Philip Rupprecht traces in depth how the Manchester Group of composers - Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and their contemporaries - influenced modernism in classical music from the formal elegance of the 1950s, the exuberant theatricality of the 1960s, and the pop, minimalist, electronic directions of the early 1970s. (23 Mar 2017) |
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You Can Drum But You Can't Hide |
An access all areas pass to the back alleys and living rooms of Manchester's musical mavericks, from popular drummer Simon Wolstencroft, who spent eleven years in The Fall and acted as the go between in many a musical grudge. 'Funky' Si's memoir recounts a life of drumming, parties, drugs, friendship and making music with Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke, Ian Brown and John Squire, amongst many others. (30 Jan 2017) |
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I Swear I Was There |
Sex Pistols, Manchester and the Gig That Changed the World |
To celebrate 40 years since the famous Sex Pistols concert at the Lesser Free Trade Hall on 4th June 1976, investigative music journalist David Nolan's updates his superb 2001 book of what the NME called "the most important gig of all time". Audience members are said to have gone on to form The Smiths, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, New Order, The Fall, Simply Red and Factory Records. But who really did attend? (2 June 2016) |
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Popular Music in the Manchester Region Since 1950 |
Highly celebrated music historian and University Of Central Lancashire lecturer Dave Russell presents an intriguing collection of essays about the contribution Manchester has made to pop culture in the second half of the 20th century, delving into the music cultures and subcultures around the city. (28 Jul 2015) |
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Martin Hannett |
Pleasures Of The Unknown |
Chris Hewitt's biography of legendary Manchester record producer Martin Hannett, whose weird ways of studio working with the likes of John Cooper Clarke, Joy Division, New Order, U2, Stone Roses and Happy Mondays would make him world famous. (19 May 2014) |
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Singing From The Floor |
A History of British Folk Clubs |
JP Bean tells the story of Britain's folk movement, faithfully captured in the voices of those who formed it, including Peggy Seeger, Mike Harding and Christy Moore. With the Manchester folk circuit included, the book charts the revival's improvised beginnings and its ties to the CND movement, through to the 1990s via the heyday of the '60s and '70s, when every university, town and village boasted a folk club. (6 Mar 2014) |
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Reelin' In The Years |
The Soundtrack of a Northern Life |
Farnworth radio DJ Mark Radcliffe takes a record from each year of his life, using the song as a starting point from which to reach out and pull together a wonderfully entertaining catalogue of memories and asides about British culture, with an obvious emphasis on Manchester, with tracks from Joy Division, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Charlatans, Elbow, The Monkees and his own spoof group, The Shirehorses. (17 Jan 2012) |
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Manchester Music & M9 Kidz |
A fantastic tale of growing up in 1970s Blackley by Colin Gibbins, arguably Manchester's most celebrated Factory Records fan, commonly known to fellow collectors as ‘Fac Col Manc'. He reminisces about partying in the city's venues during the 80s and 90s, whilst retaining an unhealthy mission to obtain the entire Factory back-catalogue. (11 Feb 2011) |
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Manchester Musical History Tour |
Teaming up with the late Inspiral Carpets drummer, Craig Gill, "Morrisey's Manchester" author Phill Gatenby put together this interesting guide with several tours featuring other world famous Manchester bands over the last 50 years from Buzzcocks via Joy Division to Oasis and Doves as well as the various scenes from Beat to Acid House and even Lo-Fi. (11 Feb 2011) |
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The Hacienda |
How Not To Run A Club |
Original Joy Division and New Order bass player, and co-owner of the legendary Hacienda nightclub, Peter Hook tells his own version of Manchester's influence on the rise of acid house in the late 1980s, through to its violent fall in the 1990s as gangs, drugs, greed and a hostile police force destroyed everything he and his friends had created. (30 Sep 2010) |
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Shadowplayers |
The Rise and Fall of Factory Records |
LTM record label owner and former Factory Benelux employee, James Nice's authoritative and thoroughly researched account of how a group of Mancunian anarchists and entrepreneurs saw off bankers, journalists and gun-toting gangsters to create the most influential record label of modern times. Superb! (6 May 2010) |
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Manchester |
Looking For The Light Through The Pouring Rain |
Reissued in softback, May 2012, Kevin Cummins' stunning iconic photograph collection captures the anarchic energy of Manchester and its pop history, with four textual contributions from Paul Morley, Stuart Maconie, Gavin Martin and John Harris. A beautiful book for your coffee table. (17 Sep 2009) |
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The North Will Rise Again |
Manchester Music City 1976-1996 |
Manchester-based music journalist John Robb's extraordinary compilation of his insightful interviews with a vast array of the gobbiest musicians in the city’s history, as they tell the story of the thriving music scene in their own words, over 30 years from The Sex Pistol's Free Trade Hall concert in 1976 up to 1996. (Apr 2009) |
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Gig |
The Life And Times Of A Rock-Star Fantasist |
An hilarious book crammed with stories and anecdotes as multi-award winning poet Simon Armitage explores how local music and the muse have intertwined in his work and life, growing up on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border, as a student, and probation officer in Manchester. (18 Apr 2008) |
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Factory Records |
The Complete Graphic Album |
With a foreword by the late Tony Wilson, Matthew Robertson's definitive overview of the artwork of Manchester's seminal Factory label, covering its iconic record sleeves, posters, ephemera, venues and packaging; all organised as a beautifully illustrated catalogue, arranged by the famous Factory reference system with the book, even being given one of its own - Fac 461. (30 Nov 2006) |
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Cider With Roadies |
Described as "The English Bill Bryson" by Tony Wilson, the hilarious autobiography from Wigan music journalist and radio broadcaster Stuart Maconie tells of his obsessive relationship with pop and a life lived through music, with obvious Manchester music connections throughout. (17 Jan 2012) |
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Shake Rattle And Rain |
Popular Music Making In Manchester |
Founder member of Mancunian punk band Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, Bob Dylan expert and lecturer at the University of Salford's School of Media, Music & Performance, C.P. Lee charts the emergence and development of so many famous artists and performers from Manchester, such as 10cc, Inspiral Carpets, John Mayall, New Order, Oasis, Simply Red and The Smiths, to name but a few. (7 Oct 2002) |
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The Madchester Scene |
Pocket Essentials Music |
Another book released around the time of Michael Winterbottom's superb 24 Hour Party People movie, Richard Luck provides a rather lightweight and personal profile of all the major bands of the Madchester era, together with the groups that influenced them and those that ripped them off. (8 Mar 2002) |
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24 Hour Party People |
What The Sleeve Notes Never Tell You |
Released around the same times as the Michael Winterbottom movie, for the first time, Tony Wilson (a.k.a. "Mr Manchester") tells his own spuriously fictionalised version of the bizarre and not entirely fabricated story of how he founded Factory Records and The Hacienda nightclub, revealing tales of drugs, guns, ill-timed property deals and the Happy Mondays decision to record an album in Barbados. (8 Mar 2002) |
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Manchester, England |
The Story Of The Pop Cult City |
Almost 20 years since its original release, Hacienda DJ Dave Haslam's account of the city he made home, remains the most definitive ever written. He traces the explosion of music and creativity in Manchester from Victorian music hall and the jazz age, to Northern Soul and rock and roll, through to acid house, Madchester and Oasis, whilst also looking at how the city's history and the Industrial Revolution has influenced music, film, theatre, comedy and TV. A superb read! (2 Sep 1999) |
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True Romances at Manchester's Dances |
In his third A4 printed book, Ritz Ballroom dance orchestra leader Phil Moss collates the stories of people who met their partners at dance halls around Manchester, sharing their memories of the music, the bands, and the venues; the Palais Astoria, Lido, Ritz, Plaza, Oldham, Eccles and elsewhere. (July 1998) |
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It Happened in Manchester |
The True Story Of Manchester's Music 1958-1965 |
Alan Lawson lovingly re-examines the Beat Boom in Manchester in the early Sixties, showing the exciting years from Skiffle to Psychedelia when groups like The Hollies, Hermans Hermits and Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders were part of a musical explosion, never since repeated. (1998) |
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Popular Music In England, 1840 - 1914 |
A Social History |
The heavily updated second edition of University Of Central Lancashire lecturer Dave Russell's critically acclaimed 1987 study of Victorian and Edwardian musical life includes a large focus on Manchester and Lancashire during the Industrial Revolution, amongst other extensive local research. (13 Nov 1997) |
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Manchester's Dancing Years |
In his second A4 printed book, Ritz Ballroom dance orchestra leader Phil Moss concentrates on the many ballrooms and dance bands in Manchester where he performed. (Mar 1996) |
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Manchester's Music Makers |
A brief A4 printed nostalgic and informative look at the Manchester music scene in the post war era from Phil Moss, whose orchestra was, from 1950 and for many years, resident at the Ritz Ballroom. (31 Jan 1994) |
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And God Created Manchester |
A look at the Manchester bands of the era by music journalist Sarah Champion, who covered the Madchester scene for the NME and Manchester Evening News. (18 Oct 1990) |
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Dance Band Days Around Manchester |
Frank Pritchard's brief but well illustrated A4 book detailing the dance bands and music of Manchester from the 1920s to the 1980s. (Mar 1988) |
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Manchester Ballads |
Thirty-Five Facsimile Street Ballads |
Failsworth folk singer Harry Boardman teamed up with folklorist Roy Palmer for this A4 facsimile book, which compiles 35 ballads, each originally sold in the streets of Manchester for a penny in the late 18th and 19th Centuries, covering subjects including the railways and the Manchester Ship Canal. (1983) |
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Folk Songs of Lancashire |
The Mike Harding Collection |
An outstanding collection of 49 traditional folk songs from Lancashire, compiled by Crumpsall folk singer Mike Harding over a period of seven years. Each song includes the musical score, archival photographs and drawings, with an introduction explaining the songs and dialects. (June 1980) |
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Manchester Music |
Celebrated Polish artist Albin Trowski (1919-2012) settled in Heaton Moor after the War and fell in love with Manchester. Amongst other books he published of the city, this one chronicles the history of Manchester Music in sketches and watercolours, some of which appeared in the "Manchester Sounds" magazine. (1977) |
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Folk Songs & Ballads of Lancashire |
Failsworth folk singers Harry and Lesley Boardman compile this collection of classic Lancashire folk songs, with text, music and photographs. (1973) |
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Lancashire Lyrics |
Modern Songs and Ballads of the County Palatine |
The second collection of Lancashire songs, compiled by John Harland of Swinton, includes lyrics from contemporary poets and songwriters of the time, like Edwin Waugh, Mrs G. Linnaeus Banks, John Byrom, Samuel Bamford, John Critchley Prince and Charles Swain, and touches on the politics of the day. (1866) |
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