-
American Legends: The Life of Little Richard
- Narrated by: Robin McKay
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $6.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
"The grass may be greener on the other side, but it's still difficult to cut." - Little Richard
A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.
As the present generation of rock music devotees looks back to the early days of the genre, each fan base heralds one artist or another as the founder of the movement that swept the country in the 1940s and '50s. Titles such as "King of Rock" and "Father of Rock" are spread freely among a small group of pioneers that are revered today as the greats of early rock. Buddy Holly is noted for his combination of a traditional look with a driving beat and a refreshing, simplistic American style of romantic lyrics, Elvis Presley stands alone in terms of exerting a charismatic, seductive hold over his audience, and Chuck Berry is known for his guitar innovations and appeal to teen romance and the American automobile. Within this generation came Richard Wayne Penniman, a young blues singer from Macon, Georgia affectionately known to the public as "Little Richard". Whereas Holly, Presley, and Berry were daring innovators, Penniman based his appeal on an outrageous stage personality, a catalog of special vocal effects, a barbaric set of piano techniques, and a raft of nonsensical texts bordering on gibberish, many of which had to be significantly cleaned up for public consumption.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Awop Bop Aloo Mop
- Little Richard: A Life of Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll...and Religion
- By: Tina Andrews
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As much music history as biography, Awop Bop Aloo Mop celebrates "Little" Richard Wayne Penniman, who burst onto the American scene in 1955 with his mega-hit "Tutti Frutti." Almost by himself, Little Richard wrote the anti-rules and poured the concrete for the foundation of a new musical art form he created. Alan Freed would call it "Rock & Roll." Dubbing himself "The Architect of Rock & Roll," Little Richard was known for his wild, flamboyant performances and outrageous costumes. He also had demons he struggled with throughout his career.
-
-
This was a great read!!
- By DiorClaiborne on 06-14-23
By: Tina Andrews
-
Can't Buy Me Love
- By: Jonathan Gould
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly 20 years in the making, Can't Buy Me Love is a masterful work of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism. That the Beatles were an unprecedented phenomenon is a given. Here Jonathan Gould seeks to explain why, placing the Fab Four in the broad and tumultuous panorama of their time and place, rooting their story in the social context that girded both their rise and their demise.
-
-
Light on gossip, rich on context
- By Tad Davis on 10-29-13
By: Jonathan Gould
-
Liberation Through Hearing
- By: Richard M. Russell
- Narrated by: Richard Russell
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost 30 years as label boss, producer and talent conductor at XL Recordings, Richard Russell has discovered, shaped and nurtured the artists who have rewritten the musical dictionary of the 21st century, artists like The Prodigy, The White Stripes, Adele, M.I.A., Dizzee Rascal and Giggs. Growing up in north London in thrall to the raw energy of 80's US hip hop, Russell emerged as one part of rave outfit Kicks Like a Mule in 1991 at a moment when new technology enabled a truly punk aesthetic on the fledgling free party scene.
-
-
A Mandatory Lit for the Music Industry
- By Jake Reuter on 02-15-23
-
The History of Jazz, Second Edition
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic - acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world. Now Gioia brings his magnificent work completely up-to-date, drawing on the latest research and revisiting virtually every aspect of the music, past and present. Gioia tells the story of jazz as it had never been told before, in a book that brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved. Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history.
-
-
An Exciting Opportunity Missed
- By Kindle Customer on 02-02-15
By: Ted Gioia
-
Man in the Music
- The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson
- By: Joseph Vogel
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book dedicated solely to exploring his creative work, Man in the Music guides us through an unparalleled analysis of Jackson’s recordings, album by album, from his trailblazing work with Quincy Jones to his later collaborations with Teddy Riley, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Rodney Jerkins. Drawing on rare archival material and on dozens of original interviews with many who helped bring the artist’s music into the world, Jackson expert and acclaimed cultural critic Joseph Vogel reveals what gave rise to an immortal body of work.
-
-
Full of inaccuracies, hearsay and sensationalism
- By Carl on 07-14-20
By: Joseph Vogel
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
Awop Bop Aloo Mop
- Little Richard: A Life of Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll...and Religion
- By: Tina Andrews
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As much music history as biography, Awop Bop Aloo Mop celebrates "Little" Richard Wayne Penniman, who burst onto the American scene in 1955 with his mega-hit "Tutti Frutti." Almost by himself, Little Richard wrote the anti-rules and poured the concrete for the foundation of a new musical art form he created. Alan Freed would call it "Rock & Roll." Dubbing himself "The Architect of Rock & Roll," Little Richard was known for his wild, flamboyant performances and outrageous costumes. He also had demons he struggled with throughout his career.
-
-
This was a great read!!
- By DiorClaiborne on 06-14-23
By: Tina Andrews
-
Can't Buy Me Love
- By: Jonathan Gould
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly 20 years in the making, Can't Buy Me Love is a masterful work of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism. That the Beatles were an unprecedented phenomenon is a given. Here Jonathan Gould seeks to explain why, placing the Fab Four in the broad and tumultuous panorama of their time and place, rooting their story in the social context that girded both their rise and their demise.
-
-
Light on gossip, rich on context
- By Tad Davis on 10-29-13
By: Jonathan Gould
-
Liberation Through Hearing
- By: Richard M. Russell
- Narrated by: Richard Russell
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost 30 years as label boss, producer and talent conductor at XL Recordings, Richard Russell has discovered, shaped and nurtured the artists who have rewritten the musical dictionary of the 21st century, artists like The Prodigy, The White Stripes, Adele, M.I.A., Dizzee Rascal and Giggs. Growing up in north London in thrall to the raw energy of 80's US hip hop, Russell emerged as one part of rave outfit Kicks Like a Mule in 1991 at a moment when new technology enabled a truly punk aesthetic on the fledgling free party scene.
-
-
A Mandatory Lit for the Music Industry
- By Jake Reuter on 02-15-23
-
The History of Jazz, Second Edition
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic - acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world. Now Gioia brings his magnificent work completely up-to-date, drawing on the latest research and revisiting virtually every aspect of the music, past and present. Gioia tells the story of jazz as it had never been told before, in a book that brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved. Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history.
-
-
An Exciting Opportunity Missed
- By Kindle Customer on 02-02-15
By: Ted Gioia
-
Man in the Music
- The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson
- By: Joseph Vogel
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book dedicated solely to exploring his creative work, Man in the Music guides us through an unparalleled analysis of Jackson’s recordings, album by album, from his trailblazing work with Quincy Jones to his later collaborations with Teddy Riley, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Rodney Jerkins. Drawing on rare archival material and on dozens of original interviews with many who helped bring the artist’s music into the world, Jackson expert and acclaimed cultural critic Joseph Vogel reveals what gave rise to an immortal body of work.
-
-
Full of inaccuracies, hearsay and sensationalism
- By Carl on 07-14-20
By: Joseph Vogel
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
Respect
- The Life of Aretha Franklin
- By: David Ritz
- Narrated by: Brad Raymond
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aretha Franklin began life as the golden daughter of a progressive and promiscuous Baptist preacher. Raised without her mother, she was a gospel prodigy who gave birth to two sons in her teens and left them and her native Detroit for New York, where she struggled to find her true voice. It was not until 1967, when a white Jewish producer insisted she return to her gospel-soul roots, that fame and fortune finally came via "Respect" and a rapidfire string of hits.
-
-
Very well researched book
- By Shawn M. on 07-07-16
By: David Ritz
-
Otis Redding
- An Unfinished Life
- By: Jonathan Gould
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, Jonathan Gould finally does justice to Redding's incomparable musical artistry, drawing on exhaustive research, the cooperation of the Redding family, and previously unavailable sources of information to present the first comprehensive portrait of the singer's background, his upbringing, and his professional career.
-
-
a brilliant musical history lesson
- By John M. Twomey on 03-11-21
By: Jonathan Gould
-
The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988
- By: Alex Hahn, Laura Tiebert
- Narrated by: Rob Saladino
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988 is the definitive account of the formative years of this iconic artist. More so than any previous book, this volume provides a dramatic, compelling narrative of Prince's rise to fame. The prologue provides a gripping, day-to-day account of the events that unfolded between November 2015 and April 21, 2016, when Prince tragically died at Paisley Park. The Rise of Prince provides a complete reordering of what is known about Prince's formative years based on previously unavailable documents and persons never before interviewed.
-
-
Strange and expected.
- By Bighead on 01-07-19
By: Alex Hahn, and others
-
The Holy or the Broken
- Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"
- By: Alan Light
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today, "Hallelujah" is one of the most-performed rock songs in history. It has become a staple of movies and television shows as diverse as Shrek and The West Wing, of tribute videos and telethons. It has been covered by hundreds of artists, including Bob Dylan, U2, Justin Timberlake, and k.d. lang, and it is played every year at countless events - both sacred and secular - around the world. Yet when music legend Leonard Cohen first wrote and recorded "Hallelujah", it was for an album rejected by his longtime record label.
-
-
Love Cohn and this Is a Great Story
- By Karen & Dennis Lauer on 12-13-22
By: Alan Light
-
Delta Blues
- The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Chris Abernathy
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The blues grew out of the plantations and prisons, the swampy marshes and fertile cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta. With original research and keen insights, Ted Gioia - the author of a landmark study of West Coast jazz and the critically acclaimed The History of Jazz - brings to life the stirring music of the Delta, evoking the legendary figures who shaped its sound and ethos: Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and others.
-
-
A well-researched history of the blues
- By Joselo on 08-19-21
By: Ted Gioia
-
Dig If You Will the Picture
- Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince
- By: Ben Greenman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Greenman, New York Times best-selling author, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet.
-
-
Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
-
Nightfly
- The Life of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen
- By: Peter Jones
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The smooth veneer of the duo's songs made Steely Dan popular and famous in the 1970s, but the polish glossed over the underlying layers of anger, disappointment, sleaze, and often downright weirdness lurking just beneath the surface. The elliptical lyrics—were—and continue to be-an endless source of fascination. What kind of person was capable of writing such songs? Donald Fagen has always kept his true self hidden behind walls of irony, confounding most journalistic enquiries. Nightfly cracks open the door to reveal the life behind the lyrics.
-
-
Didn’t want it to end
- By Michael P. Mcclain on 02-20-23
By: Peter Jones
-
Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism
- By: Thomas Brothers
- Narrated by: Andy Caploe
- Length: 19 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive account of Louis Armstrong - his life and legacy - during the most creative period of his career. Thomas Brothers picks up where he left off with the acclaimed Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, following the story of the great jazz musician into his most creatively fertile years in the 1920s and early 1930s, when Armstrong created not one but two modern musical styles. Brothers wields tremendous skill in making the connections between history and music accessible to everyone.
-
-
Enjoyable and informative, but where is part one?
- By Arthur on 05-22-14
By: Thomas Brothers
-
Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin
- The Early Years, 1926-1966
- By: Kenneth Womack
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maximum Volume offers a glimpse into the mind, the music, and the man behind the sound of the Beatles. George Martin's working-class childhood and musical influences profoundly shaped his early career in the BBC's Classical Music department and as head of the EMI Group's Parlophone Records. Out of them flowed the genius behind his seven years producing the Beatles' incredible body of work, including such albums as Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Abbey Road.
-
-
Extremely informative but tiresome accents
- By John R. Blackburn Jr. on 10-12-17
By: Kenneth Womack
-
Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
-
-
A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
-
Duke
- A Life of Duke Ellington
- By: Terry Teachout
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 17 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the twentieth century - and an impenetrably enigmatic personality whom no one, not even his closest friends, claimed to understand. The grandson of a slave, he dropped out of high school to become one of the world's most famous musicians, a showman of incomparable suavity who was as comfortable in Carnegie Hall as in the nightclubs where he honed his style.
-
-
This audiobook needs music
- By John on 04-08-14
By: Terry Teachout
-
The Jazz Standards
- A Guide to the Repertoire
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by award-winning jazz historian Ted Gioia, this comprehensive guide offers an illuminating look at more than 250 seminal jazz compositions. In this comprehensive and unique survey, here are the songs that sit at the heart of the jazz repertoire, ranging from "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Autumn in New York" to "God Bless the Child," "How High the Moon," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Gioia includes Broadway show tunes written by such greats as George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, and classics by such famed jazz musicians as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane.
-
-
Great info, but not ideal in audio format
- By Patrick on 08-30-14
By: Ted Gioia
Related to this topic
-
Dig If You Will the Picture
- Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince
- By: Ben Greenman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Greenman, New York Times best-selling author, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet.
-
-
Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
-
Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
-
-
A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
-
Bright lights dark shadows
- The real story of Abba
- By: Carl Palm
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.
-
-
Awesome! -- All the Swedish words pronounced!
- By Howard_a on 06-18-12
By: Carl Palm
-
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?
- Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock
- By: Gregory Alan Thornbury
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1969, in Capitol Records' Hollywood studio, a blonde-haired troubadour named Larry Norman laid track for an album that would launch a new genre of music and one of the strangest, most interesting careers in modern rock. Having spent the bulk of the 1960s playing on bills with acts like The Who, Janis Joplin, and The Doors, Norman decided that he wanted to sing about the most countercultural subject of all: Jesus.
-
-
Hagiography not Biography
- By Keith Howard on 10-29-18
-
All Shook Up
- How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America
- By: Glenn C. Altschuler
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Glenn Altschuler reveals in All Shook Up, the rise of rock 'n roll--and the outraged reception to it--in fact can tell us a lot about the values of the United States in the 1950s, a decade that saw a great struggle for the control of popular culture. Altschuler shows, in particular, how rock's "switchblade beat" opened up wide fissures in American society along the fault-lines of family, sexuality, and race.
-
-
50's Rock&Roll was more of a force than I thought
- By James on 10-19-11
-
Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
-
-
INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
-
Dig If You Will the Picture
- Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince
- By: Ben Greenman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Greenman, New York Times best-selling author, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet.
-
-
Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
-
Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
-
-
A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
-
Bright lights dark shadows
- The real story of Abba
- By: Carl Palm
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.
-
-
Awesome! -- All the Swedish words pronounced!
- By Howard_a on 06-18-12
By: Carl Palm
-
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?
- Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock
- By: Gregory Alan Thornbury
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1969, in Capitol Records' Hollywood studio, a blonde-haired troubadour named Larry Norman laid track for an album that would launch a new genre of music and one of the strangest, most interesting careers in modern rock. Having spent the bulk of the 1960s playing on bills with acts like The Who, Janis Joplin, and The Doors, Norman decided that he wanted to sing about the most countercultural subject of all: Jesus.
-
-
Hagiography not Biography
- By Keith Howard on 10-29-18
-
All Shook Up
- How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America
- By: Glenn C. Altschuler
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Glenn Altschuler reveals in All Shook Up, the rise of rock 'n roll--and the outraged reception to it--in fact can tell us a lot about the values of the United States in the 1950s, a decade that saw a great struggle for the control of popular culture. Altschuler shows, in particular, how rock's "switchblade beat" opened up wide fissures in American society along the fault-lines of family, sexuality, and race.
-
-
50's Rock&Roll was more of a force than I thought
- By James on 10-19-11
-
Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
-
-
INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
-
Shining Star
- Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire
- By: Philip Bailey, Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman
- Narrated by: Philip Bailey
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With more than 90 million records sold and eight Grammy Awards throughout its 40-year history, Earth, Wind & Fire has staked its claim as one of the most successful, influential, and beloved acts in music history. Now, for the first time, its dynamic lead singer, Philip Bailey, chronicles the group's meteoric rise to stardom and his own professional and spiritual journey. Never before had a musical act crossed multiple styles and genres with a quixotic blend of astrology, universalism, and Egyptology as Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) did when it exploded into the public's conscience during the 1970s.
-
-
Great book, but needed pro narrator
- By Wayne on 03-23-16
By: Philip Bailey, and others
-
Alan Lomax: A Biography
- The Man Who Recorded the World
- By: John Szwed
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 20 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The remarkable life and times of the man who popularized American folk music and created the science of song. Folklorist, archivist, anthropologist, singer, political activist, talent scout, ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, concert and record producer, Alan Lomax is best remembered as the man who introduced folk music to the masses. Lomax began his career making field recordings of rural music for the Library of Congress and by the late 1930s brought his discoveries to radio, including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Burl Ives.
-
-
They Done Good
- By DonnaMarie113 on 06-26-22
By: John Szwed
-
Fornication
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story
- By: Jeff Apter
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite an epic reputation for exhibitionism, drug taking, and drunkenness, through it all the Chili Peppers have continued to produce records that shock, challenge, and intrigue their fans. Jeff Apter tells the complete Red Hot Chili Peppers story, from their first meeting at a Los Angeles high school to the creation of such career-defining albums as BloodSugarSexMagik, Californication and By The Way.
-
-
Cabron
- By Amazon Customer on 10-02-19
By: Jeff Apter
-
Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
-
-
The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
-
Light & Shade
- Conversations with Jimmy Page
- By: Brad Tolinski
- Narrated by: Robert Fass, John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer.
-
-
Production History, FY!
- By Amy Peacock on 02-21-17
By: Brad Tolinski
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
The Sound of Music Story
- How a Beguiling Young Novice, a Handsome Austrian Captain, and Ten Singing Von Trapp Children Inspired the Most Beloved Film of All Time
- By: Tom Santopietro
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now Tom Santopietro has written the ultimate Sound of Music fan audiobook with all the inside dope, from behind-the-scenes stories of the filming in Austria and Hollywood to new interviews with Johannes von Trapp and others. Santopietro looks back at the real-life story of Maria von Trapp, goes on to chronicle the sensational success of the Broadway musical, and recounts the story of the near cancellation of the film when Cleopatra bankrupted 20th Century Fox.
-
-
A must for super-fans
- By Simone on 07-29-17
By: Tom Santopietro
-
The History of Rock & Roll
- Volume 1: 1920-1963
- By: Ed Ward
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ed Ward covers the first half of the history of rock & roll in this sweeping and definitive narrative - from the 1920s, when the music of rambling medicine shows mingled with the songs of vaudeville and minstrel acts to create the very early sounds of country and rhythm and blues, to the rise of the first independent record labels post-World War II, and concluding in December 1963, just as an immense change in the airwaves took hold and the Beatles prepared for their first American tour.
-
-
Author's blindspots mar this book
- By Mark Clark on 03-28-17
By: Ed Ward
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
The Walrus and the Elephants
- John Lennon’s Years of Revolution
- By: James A. Mitchell
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In late 1971 John Lennon left London behind and moved to New York, eager to join a youth movement rallying for social justice and an end to the Vietnam War. Lennon was quickly embraced by radicals and revolutionaries, the hippies and Yippies at odds with the establishment. Settling in Greenwich Village, the heart of Manhattan's counterculture, the former Beatle was soon on the frontlines of the antiwar movement and championing a range of causes and issues.
-
-
I wish you were still here
- By Kazuhiko on 12-09-13
-
With Amusement for All
- A History of American Popular Culture since 1830
- By: LeRoy Ashby
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 33 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Amusement for All is the first comprehensive history of two centuries of mass entertainment in the United States, covering everything from the penny press to Playboy, the NBA to NASCAR, big band to hip hop, and other topics including film, comics, television, sports, and music. Paying careful attention to matters of race, gender, class, economics, and politics, LeRoy Ashby emphasizes the complex ways in which popular culture simultaneously reflects and transforms American culture.
-
-
So Much Fun!
- By Paul on 11-28-13
By: LeRoy Ashby
-
Music
- A Subversive History
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs. Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval.
-
-
Squeezing cherry-picked facts into a simplistic narrative
- By Erik A. Ritland on 11-24-20
By: Ted Gioia
What listeners say about American Legends: The Life of Little Richard
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ANTHONY THOMPSON
- 05-06-20
Too Short
I liked the story of Little Richard but it is very obvious that a lot have been left out of this biography to be told in a little of over an hour.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!