"One of the big memoirs of the summer" i news"A potent tale of triumph over adversity. Angry but never bitter, Wheatle's compassion shines through the pain" Observer"Alex is a truly gifted storyteller, and the way he details his own story here is no exception" JEFFREY BOAKYEIn this breathtaking memoir, acclaimed writer Alex Wheatle shows how music became his salvation through a childhood marred by abuse.Abandoned as a baby to the British care system, Alex grows up with no knowledge of his Jamaican parentage or family history. Later, he is inexorably drawn to reggae, his lifeline through disrupted teenage years, the challenges of living as a young Black man in 1980s Britain and his imprisonment for protesting against systemic racism and police brutality.Alex's youth was portrayed in Oscar Award-winning director Steve McQueen's Small Axe series. In Sufferah, he tells his own story, urgently, vividly and unsentimentally. His award-winning fiction - and this memoir - are a call to never give up hope. They remind us that words can be our sustenance, and music our heartbeat."Alex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath" KIT DE WAAL"Alex Wheatle is an inspirer. He sheds light in dark places . . . He is a vital writer" LEMN SISSAY"Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion" STEVE McQUEEN, director of Small Axe Read more

The first major account of the history of reggae, black music journalist Lloyd Bradley describes its origins and development in Jamaica, from ska to rock-steady to dub and then to reggae itself, a local music which conquered the world. There are many extraordinary stories about characters like Prince Buster, King Tubby and Bob Marley. But this is more than a book of music history: it relates the story of reggae to the whole history of Jamaica, from colonial island to troubled independence, and Jamaicans, from Kingston to London. Read more

A SPECIAL EDITION OF THE 2015 BOOKER PRIZE WINNER, WITH A BRAND-NEW FOREWORD AND A Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR * With a new foreword by Bernardine Evaristo ** One of the New York Times' '100 Best Books of the 21st Century' *Jamaica, 1976. Seven gunmen storm Bob Marley's house, machine guns blazing.The reggae superstar survives, but the gunmen are never caught. In A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James reimagines the story behind this near-mythical event, chronicling the lives of a host of unforgettable characters from street kids, drug lords and journalists, to prostitutes and secret service agents. Gripping, inventive and ambitious, it is one of the most mesmerising and influential novels of the twenty-first century.'Showcases the extraordinary capabilities of a writer whose importance can scarcely be questioned' Independent   Read more

The complete guide to reggae and Jamaican bass styles, covering early ska, rock steady, roots reggae, dub, modern ska, dance hall, and more. The book includes performance tips and lessons, authentic grooves and riddims, standard notation & tab, and more. The audio is accessed online and features 47 full-demo tracks. Read more

Back in print for the first time in nearly thirty years, here is Yoko Ono's whimsical, delightful, subversive, startling book of instructions for art and for life. "Burn this book after you've read it." -- Yoko "A dream you dream alone may be a dream, but a dream two people dream together is a reality." "This is the greatest book I've ever burned." -- John Read more

The ultimate listening party guide, Booze and Vinyl shows you how to set the mood for 70 great records from the 1950s through the 2000s.From modern craft cocktails to old standbys, prepare to shake, stir, and just plain pour your way through some of the best wax ever pressed. Wickedly designed and featuring photography throughout, Booze & Vinyl is organized by mood, from Rock to Chill, Dance, and Seduce. Each entry has liner notes that underscore the album's musical highlights and accompanying "Side A" and "Side B" cocktail recipes that complement the music's mood, imagery in the lyrics, or connect the drink to the artist. This is your guide to a rich listening session for one, two, or more.Among the 70 featured albums are: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club, Purple Rain, Sticky Fingers, Born To Run, License to Ill, Appetite for Destruction, Thriller, Like a Virgin, Low End Theory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Hotel California, Buena Vista Social Club, Back to Black, Pet Sounds, Vampire Weekend, and many more Read more

Don Letts filmmaker, musician, DJ, broadcaster, social commentator, husband and father - has always defied conformity. A British-born son of Windrush parents, he seamlessly pivoted between London's punk and reggae scenes earning his reputation as the 'Rebel Dread'.In There and Black Again, Don Letts looks back on his exceptional life, which has seen him befriend Bob Marley after sneaking into his hotel, join The Clash's White Riot tour as manager of The Slits and become one of the UK's most highly regarded video directors just as the MTV boom hit.Told in part as scenes from a movie shot on location in London, Kingston, New York City, Los Angeles, Windhoek, Salt Lake City and Goldeneye, There and Black Again co-stars a cast of hundreds, including Joe Strummer, John Lydon, Bob Marley, Chrissie Hynde, Chris Blackwell, Paul McCartney, Nelson Mandela, Keith Richards, Patti Smith, Chuck D., Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood. With reflections on the Black Lives Matter movement and the highs and lows of personal relationships, this impactful book includes moments of civil unrest, live music, humour and political struggle. There and Black Again is the refreshing and often unexpected story of a man who has never been afraid to tread his own path. Read more

#2 UNCUT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national consciousness as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born.2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism.The music of 2 Tone was exuberant: white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae; and crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid. The idea of 2 Tone was born in Coventry, masterminded by a middle-class art student raised in the church. Jerry Dammers had a vision of an English Motown. Borrowing £700, the label's first record featured 'Gangsters' by The Specials' backed by an instrumental track by the, as yet, unformed, Selecter. Within two months the single was at number six in the national charts. Dammers signed Madness, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers as a glut of successive hits propelled 2 Tone onto Top of the Pops and into the hearts and minds of a generation. However, soon infighting amongst the bands and the pressures of running a label caused 2 Tone to bow to an inevitable weight of expectation and recrimination. Still under the auspices of Jerry Dammers, 2 Tone entered in a new phase. Perhaps not as commercially successful as its 1979-1981 incarnation the label nevertheless continued to thrive for a further four years releasing a string of fresh signings and a stunning end-piece finale in '(Free) Nelson Mandela'. Told in three parts, Too Much Too Young is the definitive story of a label that for a brief, bright burning moment, shaped British culture. Read more

'The first whole book dedicated to the story of dub (reggaes sparser, more wayward, brother), Sullivan takes us on a journey across continents.' - Mixmag'provides a solid foundation for a history thats often haunted by myth and rumour' - The WireIn Remixology: Tracing the Dub Diaspora Paul Sullivan explores the evolution of dub – the avant-garde form of reggae. Dub as a set of studio strategies and techniques was among the first forms of popular music to turn the idea of song inside out, and is still far from being fully explored. With a unique grip on dance, electronic and popular music, dub-born notions of remix and re-interpretation set the stage for the music of the twenty-first century.This book explores the origins of dub in 1970s Kingston, Jamaica, and traces its evolution as a genre, approach and attitude to music to the present day. Stopping off in the cities where it has made most impact – London, Berlin, Toronto, Bristol and New York – Remixology spans a range of genres, from post-punk to dub-techno, jungle to the now ubiquitous dubstep. Along the way Sullivan speaks with a host of international musicians, DJs and luminaries of the dub world including Scientist, Adrian Sherwood, Channel, U-Roy, Clive Chin, Dennis Bovell, Shut Up And Dance, DJ Spooky, Francois Kevorkian, Mala and Roots Manuva.This wide-ranging and lucid book follows several parallel threads, including the evolution of the MC, the birth of sound-system culture and the broader story of the post-war Jamaican diaspora itself. One of the few books to be written specifically on dub and its global influence, Remixology is also one of the first to look at the specific relationship between dub and the concept that cuts across all postmodern creative disciplines today: the remix. Read more

From pirate radio to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage, journalist and rapper Franklyn Addo pens an extraordinary narrative of the history, present and future of Grime music.The influence of Grime on contemporary British culture is difficult to understate. From fashion trends and evolving language to potent political statements, Grime is a musical juggernaut that has reverberated far throughout British society. Chronicled for the first time in powerful literary prose, Addo intelligently documents the genre's cultural explosion and investigates how it became the voice of a generation.A phenomenal insight into the captivating and electrifying genre that has taken the British music scene by storm, A Quick Ting On: Grime is an essential and long-awaited read for Stormzy aficionados and grime newcomers alike. Read more

If you need a notebook to write your thoughts, you are in the right place. This unique notebook will serve a multitude of purposes: journal for diary or composition book for home school, college notebook, college composition notebook, back to school and for work to take daily notes, creative writing, jot down ideas, capturing ideas, grocery lists, recipes to-do lists. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.Blank Notebooks Are Naessar For:StocNaessar Stuffers & Gift BasketsGraduation & End of School Year GiftsTeacher GiftsArt ClassesSchool ProjectsDiariesGifts For WritersSummer TravelThankgiving Notebook& much much more…Makes a great Jerrettjaminzyltmas, Birthday, Graduation or Beginning of the school year gift. Hope you enjoy it :) Read more

Born in 1953 to Anglo-Jewish/Nigerian parents, Pauline Black was subsequently adopted by a white, working class family in Romford. Never quite at home there, she escaped her small town background and discovered a different way of life - making music. Lead singer for platinum-selling band The Selecter, Pauline Black was the Queen of British Ska. The only woman in a movement dominated by men, she toured with The Specials, Madness, Dexy's Midnight Runners when they were at the top of the charts - and, sometimes, on their worst behaviour.From childhood to fame, from singing to acting and broadcasting, from adoption to her recent search for her birth parents, Black By Design is a funny and enlightening story of music, race, family and roots. Read more

What was it about Bob Marley that made him so popular in a world dominated by rock’n’roll?How is that he has not only remained the single most successful reggae artist ever, but has also become a shining beacon of radicalism and peace to generation after generation of fans across the globe?On May 11, 1981, a little after 11.30 in the morning, Bob Marley died. The man who introduced reggae to a worldwide audience, in his own lifetime he had already become a hero figure in the classic mythological sense. From immensely humble beginnings and with talent and religious belief his only weapons, the Jamaican recording artist applied himself with unstinting perseverance to spreading his prophetic musical message.And he had achieved it: only a year earlier, Bob Marley and The Wailers' tour of Europe had seen them perform to the largest audiences a musical act had up to that point experienced. Record sales of Marley's albums before his death were spectacular; in the years since his death they have become phenomenal, as each new generation discovers afresh the remarkable power of his music.Chris Salewicz, who had a sequence of adventures with Bob Marley in Jamaica in 1979, offers us a comprehensive and detailed account of Bob Marley's life and the world in which he grew up and came to dominate. Never-before-heard interviews with dozens of people who knew Marley are woven through a narrative that brings to life not only the Rastafari religion and the musical scene in Jamaica, but also the spirit of the man himself. Read more

Bob Marley is the unchallenged king of reggae and one of music's great iconic figures. Rita Marley was not just his wife and the mother of four of his children but his backing singer and friend, life-long companion and soul mate. They met in Trenchtown when he was 19 and she was 18, and she was very much part of his musical career, selling his early recordings from their house in the days before Island Records signed up the Wailers. She shared the hard times and the dangers - when Bob was wounded in a gunfight before the Peace Concert, Rita was shot in the head and left for dead. Their marriage was not always easy, but Rita was the woman Bob returned to no matter where music and other women might take him, the woman who held him when he died at the age of 35. Today she sees herself as the guardian of his legacy. Full of new insights, No Woman No Cry is a unique biography of Marley by someone who understands what it meant to grow up in poverty in Jamaica, to battle racism and prejudice. It is also a moving and inspiring story of a marriage that survived both poverty and then the strains of global celebrity. 'It will surely become the definitive biographical account of the reggae guitarist-singer-songwriter who changed pop music and in the process became a leader to millions' The Times 'Rita Marley is reggae royalty . . . In her own words, this is a revealing insight into Marley's life and legacy' Daily Mirror Read more

Bob Marley left an indelible mark on modern music, both as a reggae pioneer and as an enduring cultural icon. "Catch a Fire", now a classic of rock biography, delves into the life of the leader of a musical, spiritual, and political explosion that continues today. Under the supervision of the author's widow and with the collaboration of a Marley expert, this fourth edition contains a wealth of new material, including many revisions made by the author before his untimely death. An appendix to the new edition chronicles Marley's legacy in recent years, as well as the ongoing controversy over the possibility that Marley's remains might be exhumed from Nine Mile, Jamaica, and reburied in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where hundreds of Rastafarians live. The new edition also contains an expanded discography and is factually updated throughout. Read more

Discover the untold history of reggae legends of Bob Marley and the original Wailers.The perfect must-read if you loved the film One Love.Over one dramatic decade, a trio of Trench Town R&B crooners, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and Bob Marley, swapped their 1960s Brylcreem hairdos and two-tone suits for 1970s battle fatigues and dreadlocks to become the Wailers - one of the most influential groups in popular music. Now one of our best and brightest non-fiction writers examines the story of the influential reggae band.Charting their complex relationship, their fluctuating fortunes, musical peak, and the politics and ideologies that provoked their split, Colin Grant shows us why they were not just extraordinary musicians, but also natural mystics. And, following a trail from Jamaica through Europe, America, Africa and back to the vibrant and volatile world of Trench Town, he travels in search of the last surviving Wailer.'In Grant's hands life in Trench Town in the 1960's is energetic and theatrical, rich in comedy and tragic irony...This brilliant book is not just about Jamaica, but about ourselves' Guardian Read more

DUB, The Sound of Surprise is a detailed chronicle and fascinating guide to the captivating history of Jamaican dub music, the first of its kind. This archetype of the remix style grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The book presents over 200 illustrations and some rare album covers, and describes the origins and development of a unique technique created in Jamaican recording studios which would change the world of music production forever. Author Helmut Philipps has visited the places dub happened, and met its pioneers, inventors, and key figures.|DUB, The Sound of Surprise is a detailed chronicle of Jamaican dub music's captivating history. Emerging from reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this book, the first of its kind, features over 200 illustrations and rare album covers. It explores the origins and development of a technique that revolutionized music production. Read more

Learn Authentic Rhythm & Lead Parts for Reggae, Ska, Rocksteady, Dub and MoreIt’s no understatement to say that reggae music forever changed the world. A compelling mix of soul, jazz, R&B and Jamaican mento, it’s the ultimate feel good music with its hypnotic, laidback grooves.The Reggae & Ska Guitar Book is a one-of-a-kind guide to the guitar styles at the heart of reggae.In fact, it’s is a chronological guide to the development of reggae through the decades and shows how to play its many sub-genres with authentic, stylistically accurate guitar parts.Your journey includes scheduled stops at:Ska, the early years – how American R&B combined with elements of calypso and mentoRocksteady – the bridge between the original ska and later reggae erasReggae – the emergence of seminal groups including Bob Marley & The WailersDub – how versions or “doubles” creatively expanded the sound of reggaeSka revival – explore the sounds of The Specials, Madness, The Selecter and moreThe Third Wave – Ska's California-based revival, with bands like Reel Big Fish, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and SublimeLovers Rock – reggae surfaces again, combining the sweet melodic soul of Motown with laidback Jamaican groovesGoing Full Circle – how reggae influenced artists such as Paul Simon, Eric Clapton and The PoliceDancehall and Beyond – fusing island musical sensibilities with hip-hop, dancehall adopted a new type of reggae drum groove that has influenced countless contemporary pop records ever sinceLearn the Essential Techniques of Reggae GuitarWith each sub-genre of reggae and ska came refinements and changes to the role of the guitar. There is so much more to it than hitting chord stabs on the up-beats! You’ll learn…The skank groove that forms the backbone of the ska soundHow to introduce double-stops, triplet ideas and sliding articulationsSingle-note pentatonic riffs and fillsHow to play the chicken scratch technique pioneered by Hux BrownAdding jazz, rock ‘n’ roll licks, and even modal scales to spice up single-note accompaniments in the style of the greatsDiscover the Unique Styles of the Reggae GreatsThere is still more to this unique book as you discover the styles of the pioneering guitar players who led the vanguard of each era of ska and reggae music. Each chapter features a “Guitarist in Focus”, explaining their influences, how to achieve their sound, and examining the unique aspects of their approach, plus a longer study piece in each player’s style. Discover the approaches of: Ernest Ranglin, Lynn Taitt, Al Anderson, Alva “Reggie” Lewis, Roddy “Radiation” Byers, Bradley Nowell , Dennis Bovell, and Andy SummersHear It!The Reggae & Ska Guitar Book is the most complete book you’ll find on the subject of ska/reggae guitar and its sub-genres. There’s nothing else like it!Because so much of reggae is felt rather than read, it’s essential to hear the music, and we’re delivering that to you in two special bonuses:Bonus 1: Download 112 free audio examples to hear exactly how each example should sound. The audio download also includes ska, reggae and dub backing tracks, which you can use to jam to and experiment with your own ideas.Bonus 2: We've created a special Spotify playlist to accompany the book. Throughout the book, seminal tunes are frequently mentioned and here they are, in one brilliant, chronologically organized playlist.Don’t settle for doing a generic impression of reggae guitar when you play! Get intimate with the authentic ska/reggae sound and buy The Reggae & Ska Guitar Book now! Read more

“Reggae’s chief eyewitness, dropping testimony on reggae’s chief prophet with truth, blood, and fire.” —Marlon James, Man Booker Prize–winning authorRenowned reggae historian Roger Steffens’s riveting oral history of Bob Marley’s life draws on four decades of intimate interviews with band members, family, lovers, and confidants—many speaking publicly for the first time. Hailed by the New York Times Book Review as a “crucial voice” in the documentation of Marley’s legacy, Steffens spent years traveling with the Wailers and taking iconic photographs. Through eyewitness accounts of vivid scenes—the future star auditioning for Coxson Dodd; the violent confrontation between the Wailers and producer Lee Perry; the attempted assassination (and conspiracy theories that followed); the artist’s tragic death from cancer—So Much Things to Say tells Marley’s story like never before. What emerges is a legendary figure “who feels a bit more human” (The New Yorker). Read more

Arguably the most influential force in Jamaican music, Lee Perry brought Bob Marley to international stardom and has since collaborated with artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, The Clash and The Beastie Boys. The book delves behind the myth of Perry to give a fuller examination of his life and work through extensive interviews with family members, fellow artists, friends, lovers, enemies, as well as the man himself to present a complex portrait of a unique soul driven by unseen spiritual forces. This revised edition contains new information on Perry's recent years, including his Grammy Award and cessation of herb smoking. The text has been thoroughly revised, making the new edition a more factually accurate and greatly improved read. Read more