Giorgio Gomelsky was at the centre of the counterculture in 60s’ London and 70s’ Paris before running a studio for avant-garde musicians in New York. He was the original manager of the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds in London, then managed the French supergroup Magma and developed the career of Gong. Dumaurier recounts his friend Gomelsky’s love of life, his dynamism, and the creativity that made him “push the envelope”. With a keen eye for talent, Gomelsky’s ideas helped shape the rock music we know and love today – acting as a catalyst for change and innovation. About the author FRANCIS DUMAURIER Born and raised in the neighbourhood of Montmartre in Paris, Francis wrote his “Portrait of Jack Kerouac after Desolation Angels” thesis for his Masters’ at the University of Paris X before going on the road to travel and see the world. After a year in the Amazon jungle of Colombia as a rainforest safari guide, he spent 5 years in Rio de Janeiro working in the travel and hotel industries. Moving to New York City (where he still lives) he began working in the entertainment industry, first as a host and producer of primetime daily programs on Manhattan Cable TV, and then as an actor in films, tv and voice-overs. He spent his first weekend in America at the original Woodstock Festival. Since then he has also hosted and produced “The Wine CD” as a Compagnon des Vins de Bordeaux with a group of 14 other wine specialists. Fluent in 4 languages (English, French, Spanish and Portuguese) and in the York and Scottish rites of Freemasonry, Francis also loves to play rock’n’roll music on his Stratocaster guitar and Marshall amp. He was a close friend of Gomelsky for over 30 years and this biography was originally published in France.

The Rock Song Index, Second Edition, is a new version of a well-received index to the classic songs of the rock canon, from the late '40s through the end of the 20th century. The study of the history of rock music has exploded over the last decade; all college music departments offer a basic rock-history course, covering the classic artists and their songs.

From rock and roll historian Ed Ward comes a comprehensive, authoritative, and enthralling cultural history of one of rock's most exciting eras. It's February 1964 and The Beatles just landed in New York City, where the NYPD, swarms of fans, and a crowd of two hundred journalists await their first American press conference. It begins with the question on everyone's mind: "Are you going to get a haircut in America?" and ends with a reporter tugging Paul McCartney's hair in an attempt to remove his nonexistent wig. This is where The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 2 kicks off. Chronicling the years 1964 through the mid-1970s, this latest volume covers one of the most exciting eras of rock history, which saw a massive outpouring of popular and cutting-edge music. Ward weaves together an unputdownable narrative told through colorful anecdotes and shares the behind-the-scenes stories of the megastars, the trailblazers, DJs, record executives, concert promoters, and producers who were at the forefront of this incredible period in music history. From Bob Dylan to Bill Graham, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Byrds, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, and more, everyone's favorite musicians of the era make an appearance in this sweeping history that reveals how the different players, sounds, and trends came together to create the music we all know and love today.

Lasting just five years, the original Yardbirds had a tremendous impact on 1960s music and culture in America and England. Featuring 100 evocative photos in color and b&w, this biography explores those years and also the post-Yardbirds careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, plus today's Yardbirds incarnation led by original drummer Jim McCarty.

"Womack and Kruppa present a thorough history of Harrison and Clapton's songmaking and recording sessions." — BooklistNewly revised and expanded, this paperback edition features exclusive material from the Malcolm Frederick Evans archives and draws on rare material released by the Harrison Estate. A new appendix includes a detailed sessionography and personnel listings for All Things Must Pass, assembled from recently discovered documentation. George Harrison and Eric Clapton embarked upon a singular personal and creative friendship that impacted rock's unfolding future in resounding and far-reaching ways. All Things Must Pass Away: Harrison, Clapton, and Other Assorted Love Songs traces the emergence of their relationship from 1968 though the early 1970s and the making of their career-defining albums, both released in November 1970. Authors Womack and Kruppa devote close attention to the climax of Harrison and Clapton's shared musicianship— the creation of All Things Must Pass, Harrison's powerful emancipatory statement in the wake of the Beatles, and Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Clapton's impassioned reimagining of his art via Derek and the Dominos— two records that advanced rock 'n' roll from a windswept 1960s idealism into the wild and expansive new reality of the 1970s. All Things Must Pass Away reveals the foundations of Harrison and Clapton's friendship, focusing on the ways their encouragement and support of each other drove them to produce works that would cast long shadows over the evolving world of rock music.

An unforgettable history of the 'fifth' member of Led Zeppelin and the toughest rock manager of them all. Chris Welch separates fact from myth and uncovers his complete story from childhood in war torn London, to becoming a bouncer, doorman and wrestler and helping turn Zep into rock's biggest attraction of the 70s.

Eric Clapton has been a rock god for half a century. From busking on street corners and in local pubs to the raw blues of the Yardbirds, the rock/blues fusion of Cream, the guitar brilliance of Derek and the Dominoes, and the unforgettable songs of his solo career, he has proven his incomparable talent in the music world. His enduring presence has made him the subject of countless books, articles, reviews, websites, and gossip. Is there really anything new to learn about the man they call Slowhand? Eric Clapton FAQ combines the obvious, the well-known, the obscure, and the unknown into one place. It was not written as a definitive Clapton biography or a tell-all book that has the final say. It is, as the title suggests, a book of facts. Clapton is one of those public figures we know much about, but he still seems to be partially shrouded in mystery. Sometimes the stories and facts about his life change and evolve, which is all a part of his mystique. Eric Clapton FAQ uncovers some of that mystery and celebrates his talent in an entertaining style. Packed with dozens of rare images, this book is must for Slowhand fans.

This is the first full-length biography of Keith Relf, frontman for the Yardbirds and one of the great tragic characters in rock history. Keith's moody vocals and harmonica helped to define the Yardbirds' sound on a string of innovative hit records in the 1960s that influenced garage rock, psychedelia, blues rock, hard rock and heavy metal. Numerous books have been written about the Yardbirds' famous guitarists--Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page--yet Keith has remained a mysterious and elusive figure since his death by electrocution at age 33. A deeply private person, prone to depression and poor health, Keith was ill-suited to the life of a rock star. In the years following the Yardbirds' breakup, as the band's guitarists became household names playing blues-based rock, Keith insisted on pursuing new musical paths, always searching for something new and trying to extend the Yardbirds' spirit of curiosity and innovation. By the time of his death in 1976, Keith was nearly forgotten and struggling physically, emotionally and financially. More than forty years after his tragic death, this important artist's story has finally been written and his contributions celebrated as more than just a footnote to the careers of his better-known bandmates.

Itchycoo Park, 1964-1970--the second volume of Sixties British Pop, Outside In--explores how London songwriters, musicians, and production crews navigated the era's cultural upheavals by reimagining the pop-music envelope. Thompson explores how some British artists conjured up sophisticated hybrid forms by recombining elements of jazz, folk, blues, Indian ragas, and western classical music while others returned to the raw essentials. Encouraging these experiments, youth culture's economic power challenged the authority of their parents' generation. Based on extensive research, including vintage and original interviews, Thompson presents sixties British pop, not as lists of discrete people and events, but as an interwoven story.

An essential reference book for sixties music lovers, this encyclopedic overview includes detailed chart statistics and biographical information for eighty songwriters and covers around two thousand songs, some of which are among the greatest ever written.