The List: Books Of The Year 2024

Another year has come to an end, and now it's time to take a look back at our favourite books of the 2024, according to us, the most captivating, notable, brilliant, an exciting in terms about music, photography, fiction and pop culture, we hope you love 'em: 

 

1. Rick Astley   "Never: The Autobiography"   (Macmillan)

 

When 'Never Gonna Give You Up’ propelled Rick Astley into the pop stratosphere, it changed his life forever. Nothing could have prepared the young, unassuming boy from Lancashire for what was in store for him. This is Rick's story – in his own words.

 

2. Nigel Farndale   "Lives Behind The Music"   (Times Books) 

Delve into the tumultuous world of music stardom with this collection of obituaries from The Times. From the rock’n’roll pioneers of the 1950s to the pop superstars of the 21st century – as well as lesser known, boundary-pushing innovators with undeniable influence, this collection features music greats such as: Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Christine McVie, Kurt Cobain, Dusty Springfield and Shane McGowan. This era-defining obituaries are illustrated with behind-the-scenes photos from The Times archive, revealing the lives behind the music that have left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape. Authoritative, insightful and endlessly engaging, this collection of music biographies is a must-read for music fans and anyone with an interest in fascinating life stories.

 

3. Kiersten White   "Mister Magic: El Reencuentro"   (Umbriel)

Thirty years later after a tragic accident stopped the production of the classic TV show for kids "Mister Magic" the five members of the staff who survived, has done everything as possible to keep moving forward. However, while devoted fans of the old days of the show keep attaching to the lessons they learnt in the show, the staff members well-known as the "Circle Of Friends" has spent the all the life searching for happiness, friendship y sense of belonging and protección of Mister Magic.

 

4. Colin Greenwood   "How To Dissapear: A Photographic Portrait Of Radiohead"   (John Murray)

 

How to Disappear is bassist Colin Greenwood's stunning portrait of Radiohead in his own photographs. Two decades in the making, he takes us on a journey into the heart of the 21st-century's most influential band, a maverick collective who have vastly broadened our musical landscape while they dominate and distort it. On stage, backstage, in the rehearsal room, behind the scenes, on tour, at work and at play, Colin's photographs, and the stories and memories they evoke for him in his accompanying text, form an intimate portrait of the musical and cultural iconoclasts as they travel through 'our middle years: all the joy and doubt and confidence and uncertainty we would oscillate between

 

5. Dec Hickey   "From Heaven To Heaven: New Order Live: The Early Years (1981-1984) At Close Quarters"   (Damaged Good Records)

 

No one has ever documented the early live career of a truly iconic band in such detail, just like the way Dec Hickey did, he saw every New Order UK gig between Feb '81 and June '84 - some fifty plus nights A lovely book, with beautiful pictures and funny anecdotes, as well as very interesting details about the set lists, gigs themselves and instruments.

 

6. Rebecca Hook   "The Haçienda: Threads"   (Welbeck)

The music. The fashion. The nights. The people. The love. These are the threads that came together to make the Haçienda great. Celebrate the magic of the club that changed everything in this official book, told through evocative photographs and eye-witness accounts of the people who were there, from musicians, DJs and fashion designers to performers, clubbers and staff.

 

7. Matthias Harder   "Helmut Newton. Berlin, Berlin"   (Taschen)

 

Born in Berlin in 1920, Helmut Newton trained as a teenager with legendary photographer Yva, following her lead into the enticing pastures of fashion, portraiture and nudes. Forced to flee the Nazis aged only 18, Newton never left Berlin behind. After his career exploded in Paris in the 1960s, he returned regularly to shoot for magazines like Constanze, Adam, Vogue, Condé Nast's Traveler, ZEITmagazin, Männer Vogue, Max and the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin as well as his own magazine Helmut Newton’s Illustrated. This collection includes Newton’s most iconic Berlin images, as well as many unknown shots from the 1930s to the 2000s: nightcrawlers in uber-cool clubs and restaurants, nude portraits in the boarding houses he knew from his youth, and the Berlin film scene, featuring Hanna Schygulla and Wim Wenders at the Berlin Wall, John Malkovich and David Bowie. 

 

8. Chris Stein   "Under A Rock"   (Corsair)

 

Musician, photographer, storyteller, and longtime partner to Debbie Harry, Chris Stein defined the sound of an era, catapulting the icon band Blondie to #1 and selling over 20 million copies of Parallel Lines. In this no-holds-barred autobiography, Stein reveals himself-this time not in songwriting or photography, which he's previously been known for, but in words. From a Brooklyn boyhood, a move across the river to the gritty and fecund East Village in the late 1970s allowed Stein to tap the explosive creativity that defined the era in the city. It was a time when David Bowie and the Ramones were also making music, when Andy Warhol was still alive and promoting Jean-Michel Basquiat's work, when cool was defined not by where you came from but by what you could contribute to culture.

 

9. Ian Shirley   "Record Collector: The Rare Record Price Guide 2024"   (Diamond Publishing Group)

 

It is the undisputed key text detailing pricings for a huge array and range of vinyl, from familiar classics to lost, underground albums of yesteryear. Launched in 1987 and published bi-annually - the Rare Record Price Guide 2024 is the seventeenth edition of the World's most comprehensive guide to prices of UK releases from 1950 to the current day. Compiled by the expert staff and contributors of Record Collector, the World's leading magazine in the field, The Guide spans every musical genre from Rock, Pop, Soul, Punk, Blues, Jazz, Disco, Acid House, Techno, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dance, Rock ‘n' Roll, Metal, Progressive, Psych, Indie, Country, Folk, Exotica, Soundtracks and M.O.R.

 

10. Steve Schapiro   "Andy Warhol And Friends"   (Taschen)

 

In 1965, Steve Schapiro started documenting Andy Warhol for LIFE magazine: Warhol was cementing a reputation as an important Pop artist who drew his inspiration from popular culture and commercial objects. With his sunglasses, blond wig, and bland public utterances, Warhol was enigmatic, charismatic, intensely ambitious, and aware that to become a star, you needed the presence of people to document your ascent. Schapiro, also ambitious and hardworking, who in his own words “kept quiet and smiled a lot,” was an ideal witness to Warhol’s relentless rise from cult New York artist to 20th-century icon. Ironically, LIFE never published the story, so many of these images are seen here for the first time, scanned from negatives found deep in Schapiro’s archive.