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Guitar
- An American Life
- Narrated by: Tim Brookes
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
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Publisher's summary
Shortly before Tim Brookes' 50th birthday, baggage handlers destroyed his guitar, his 22-year-old traveling companion. His wife promised to replace it with the guitar of his dreams, but Tim discovered that a dream guitar is built, not bought. He set out to find someone to make him the perfect guitar, a quest that ended up a on a dirt road in the Green Mountains of Vermont, where an amiable curmudgeon master guitarmaker, Rick Davis, took a rare piece of cherry wood and went to work with saws and rasps.
Meanwhile, Tim set out to write a kind of chronicle of the guitar, as he said, "not a catalog of makes and models, nor a genealogy of celebrities, but an attempt to understand this curious relationship between the instrument and the people involved with it, and how that has grown and changed over time".
He discovered that the instrument, first arriving with conquistadors and the colonists, ended up in the hands of a variety of people: miners and society ladies, lumberjacks and presidents' wives, Hawaiians, African-Americans, Cajuns, jazz players, spiritualists, singing cowboys of the silver screen, and bluegrass and Beatles fans. Inventors and crackpots tinkered with it. In time, it became America's instrument, its soundtrack.
When Tim wasn't breathing over Rick's shoulder, he was trying to unravel the symbolic associations a guitar holds for so many of us, musicians and non-musicians alike. His journey takes him across the country talking to historians, curators, and guitarmakers.
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The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a vivid, full-bodied portrait of one of the most influential artists of the 20th-century - a man widely regarded as the most important lyricist America has ever produced. Acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein frames Dylan against the backdrop of four seminal concerts - all of which he attended. Beautifully written, The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a unique, eye-opening portrait of an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.
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Excellent book, excellent narration
- By L chandler on 12-22-11
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Light & Shade
- Conversations with Jimmy Page
- By: Brad Tolinski
- Narrated by: Robert Fass, John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Production History, FY!
- By Amy Peacock on 02-21-17
By: Brad Tolinski
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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
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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.
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Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
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1965
- The Most Revolutionary Year in Music
- By: Andrew Grant Jackson
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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During 12 unforgettable months in the middle of the turbulent '60s, America saw the rise of innovative new sounds that would change popular music as we knew it. In 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music, music historian Andrew Grant Jackson (Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of The Beatles' Solo Careers) chronicles a groundbreaking year of creativity fueled by rivalries between musicians and continents, sweeping social changes, and technological breakthroughs.
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Seems like a good overview
- By wylie smith on 01-12-23
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Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock
- By: Gene Odom, Frank Dorman - contributor
- Narrated by: Arthur Flavell
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1964 Jacksonville, Florida teenager Ronnie Van Zant and some of his friends hatched the idea of forming a band to play covers of the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Yardbirds, and the country and blues-rock music they had grown to love. Naming their band after Leonard Skinner, the gym teacher at Robert E. Lee Senior High School who constantly badgered the long-haired aspiring musicians to get haircuts, they were soon playing gigs at parties, and bars throughout the South.
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A tragic sorry, but honestly told
- By Mark D. Schnittman on 09-27-21
By: Gene Odom, and others
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Everybody Wants Some
- The Van Halen Saga
- By: Ian Christe
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How did a pair of little Dutch boys trained in classical music grow up to become the nucleus of the most popular heavy metal band of all time? What's the secret behind Eddie Van Halen's incredible fast and furious guitar solos? What makes David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar so wacky? And, are all those stories about groupies, booze bashes, and contract riders true? The naked truth is laid bare in Everybody Wants Some - the real-life story of a rock 'n' roll fantasy come true.
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Good details of albums and post-1984 career
- By IndyMATT on 12-30-18
By: Ian Christe
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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
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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.
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The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
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The Never-Ending Present
- The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip
- By: Michael Barclay
- Narrated by: George Stroumboulopoulos
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From our talent-rich neighbor to the north comes this biography of one of the most successful Canadian rock bands, The Tragically Hip, which announced a year-long tour after sharing the news of lead singer Gord Downie’s inoperable cancer. Now available to US listeners, The Never-Ending Present details what led up to the memorable night when music fans all over the world watched Downie’s heroic final performance.
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Hometown Heroes
- By Tommy Garou on 12-13-18
By: Michael Barclay
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Here Comes the Night
- The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues
- By: Joel Selvin
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Here Comes the Night: Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues is both a definitive account of the New York rhythm and blues world of the early '60s, and the harrowing, ultimately tragic story of songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, whose meteoric career was fueled by his pending doom. His heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a youth, doctors told Berns he would not live to see 21. Although his name is little remembered today, Berns worked alongside all the greats of the era.
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Great book.
- By The Blimmer on 10-14-23
By: Joel Selvin
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Catch a Wave
- The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.
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Not great
- By J. Barker on 08-08-16
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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
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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.
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Great book, but needed pro narrator
- By Wayne on 03-23-16
By: Philip Bailey, and others
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Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
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What listeners say about Guitar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- fretzwrds
- 11-26-21
Held my interest
through all 11 hours. I loved the final sentence!
This audio deserves a second listen!
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- Hester FM
- 08-10-22
very poetic
great overview of the history of the guitar. great insight of the ways and lifestyle of guitar players. I truly enjoyed this book.
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- Mark
- 02-12-12
A masterpiece!
Any additional comments?
This book is a lovely combination of music history, a wry look at American culture, and the story of how a master craftsman builds a fine instrument. It's all told with a clever narrative structure and a British sense of humor.
Want to know how a Conederate warship's sinking of a whaling ship near Hawaii led to the rise of blues guitar? This is the place. Want to know the difference between the finish on your guitar and a Stradavarius violin, and why one has cat pee in it? Read this book.
The author reads this book like he's sitting in your living room telling the story over a few beers. I want to meet him and see his new guitar.
I liked this so much I'm going to listen to it again.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gary
- 03-14-06
Highly enjoyable
If you are even mildly interested in the guitar or the history of guitar related music in the US, you owe it to yourself to listen to this book. I'm a bit of a guitar freak even though I can barely play. I enjoyed every minute of it and was legitimately sad to see the time remaining count down on my iPod. Highly recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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- J. Trent Boyd
- 01-14-17
A Worthy Read
it's not often that a nonfiction book truly captures your attention. However, for anyone interested in the history of guitars this book is a treasure.
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Overall
- Ross
- 07-24-06
Tremendous
Tim's book moves smoothly between his history of the guitar and the story of the construction of his new guitar by luthier Rick Davis. Having been a guitarist for thirty years, I found the book fascinating and informative and the conversations about the decisions involved in the new guitar of sufficient interest that I contacted Mr. Davis or Running Dog guitars and have started a discussion about possibly having one built. I'm not suggesting that everyone should, your call entirely, but it's rare to find a history book this interesting and compelling.
Highly recommended
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- J. Hill
- 02-07-06
Almost excellent
I really enjoyed this book. I play the guitar, but I've never been interested much in guitar anatomy. This book makes both the history of the guitar and the details of its parts (and how they combine to make music) very interesting. I found particularly intriguing the role Hawaiian music had to play.
I agree with another reviewer that the book would have benefited greatly from music clips to bring to life the author's descriptions. I quickly grew tired of the blues riff that marks the start of each chapter and would have liked to hear a different riff each time (or a better one repetitively). I could have done without all the f-bombs in the second half. Most of them are quotes when discussing the punk era, but they don't add anything to the narrative.
Overall, an excellent listen. It's great in 30-minute chunks, which is how I ended up listening during a daily walk.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dramaking55
- 11-28-18
The Story of the Guitar
One of the best books on the first ever because though historical in scope the author takes you on various journeys that help you to love this instrument and its history along with the players that make it great. It's made me laugh and times made me sad but mostly made me go back to hug my own guitars! Well worth the investment of time and money.
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- Blake
- 05-21-23
Amazing from Start to Finish
He did a great job of interweaving the two storylines (the creation of his custom acoustic and the story of the guitar in the US). I also enjoyed the way he conveyed information about relevant parts of the guitar here and there. Even when it was a part or aspect I already knew about, he managed to keep it interesting.
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Overall
- Shannon
- 08-15-10
Great Listen.
If you're a guitarist; meaning you have one and are interested in it, this book is for you. A great history of the guitar, framed with the building of the authors acoustic, spans from the beginnings to the new century. Well worth ever cent, I didn't want it to end and am now looking for another book to follow this up with.
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3 people found this helpful