* The first book to analyse every Queen song - giving equal weight to album tracks alongside the hits .
* Includes analysis of about 20 classic songs using the original 24 track master tapes.
* Queen remain ever popular and active, and continue to tour despite the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991.

This book examines Queen's music, album by album, track by track, in detail. Where possible, recourse to the original multi-track master tapes has provided extra insight. Those familiar hits are revisited, but those classic album cuts - like `Liar', `March of the Black Queen', `Death on Two Legs', and `Dragon Attack', `are given equal precedence. The book also examines the changes that these same four musicians went through - from heavy and pomp rock to pop as the chart hits began to flow - with a keen and unbiased eye. Whether as a fan your preference is for the albums `A Night at the Opera', `Jazz' or `Innuendo' this detailed and definitive guide will tell you all you need to know.

Queen had strength in depth. These are the songs on which a legend was built.

The Beatles - on track analyses every single song that the Beatles recorded - whether live or in the studio - from the most famous, to the most obscure
The songs that the Beatles performed are the history of Rock and Roll From the hard-won reputation as the thrilling live act in the Cavern and Hamburg, through to their own classic early songs, the Beatles developed as performers and songwriters of rare distinction. They were always one step ahead of their competition. And then, they mastered the studio. In 1965 and 1966 they increasingly pushed the boundaries of what a pop band could achieve, before breaking down the walls for `Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.
Writer and music collector Andrew Wild has gathered together every known Beatles song and every known performance-every studio take, every live recording, every release, every session. In this book, the full breadth of available Beatles music has been collected, catalogued, listened to and analysed, then presented in a format that's easy to read. Almost 1,000 songs, from the very famous to the very obscure, from the dazzling to the dire. Over one thousand recorded versions, over three hundred different songs performed in concert, nearly six hundred different songs recorded, close to four hundred different songs released. If you're a Beatles collector, you need this book.

The Solo Beatles

by Andrew Wild

Published 30 January 2020
As a band, The Beatles released over 200 songs in the eight years between 1962 and 1970. After they split, each commenced a solo career to varying degrees of commercial and critical success, and all four achieved number one solo singles in the US between 1970 and 1974. Their albums included great, half-forgotten songs such as 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)', 'My Love', 'Photograph' and 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night'. Three of the four also had UK number one solo singles between 1970 and 1980 in the UK, with only Ringo missing out.
Between them, Lennon (and Ono), McCartney (and Wings), Harrison and Starr had twenty-two top ten albums in the US and twenty-five in the UK between 1969 and 1980. They were nothing if not productive. But only the most committed fans listens today to Ringo's Rotogravure (Starr), Thirty-three and a Third (Harrison), Some Time in New York City (Lennon) or Wild Life (McCartney). It is surely time to re-evaluate all the Beatles early solo work. This book examines every solo Beatles album from 1969 to 1980, track by track. It includes the classics, the lost gems, the turkeys, the collaborations, the back-biting, the hits and the misses.

The music of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and especially their 1969 self-titled debut album, exemplified the Woodstock generation – three men, three voices, one common view of freedom and justice. Their decision to recruit Neil Young before their first public performance fundamentally altered CSNY the band dynamic. Worldwide acclaim and success followed: their first three albums, released 1969-1971, have sold almost 30 million copies. In 1974 they embarked on the biggest stadium tour then attempted, playing baseball and football stadiums and racetracks across the US to thousands of fans. They were also pop stars, securing nine top 40 singles between 1969 and 1982. And yet, today, with Neil Young regarded as a musical legend with a classic back catalogue, his colleagues Crosby, Stills and Nash remain far less acclaimed.

They comprised Crosby: the drug-addled hippy with weird songs and golden voice, Stills: the blues man and guitar genius and Nash: the hard-as-nails balladeer with a strong social conscience. Together, at their best, they were unbeatable. This book tells you why, aiming to set things straight, with an album by album analysis of CSN’s five studio albums, as well as the three they made with Neil Young.

1979 was an amazing time for UK post-punk pop. t the end of March, a fresh new sound entered the British top 20. 'Sultans of Swing', a very wordy song with lots of driving guitar, a tight rhythm section and some killer musicianship. Dire Straits, unlikely pop stars led by a balding 29-year-old Geordie who could play guitar brilliantly, had finally arrived.

Six years later, they were, for a time, the biggest band in the world. Brothers in Arms sold by the truckload, one of the first massive sellers on CD. Since then, however, their star has fallen. Over exposure as the safe, boring champions of the CD age, has resulted in Dire Straits becoming, to many, the embodiment of a certain sort of benign, homogenised music. Mark Knopfler, their singer, guitarist, producer and songwriter, became a caricature of the middle-aged rocker in the minds of many. Their music remains stubbornly unfashionable, but retains its huge fanbase.

Dire Straits On Track revisits, re-evaluates and contextualises the band's six studio albums and two live albums, as well as EPs and archive releases. Seven ex-members of Dire Straits have been interviewed for this book, providing fresh perspective and insight. The band made a lot of good music. It's time we remembered why.

Eric Clapton Solo On Track

by Andrew Wild

Published 10 September 2021
Of all of the 'classic' British rockers who came to prominence in the 1960s, only a very few have achieved significant, sustained success through to the present day. A list that comprises Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones should also include Eric Clapton. His critical and commercial accomplishments with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith and his first solo album between 1965 and 1970 was followed the inexplicable failure of the Layla album, released under the semi-pseudonym of Derek & The Dominos. Clapton withdrew into heroin addiction for several years.

In 1974, his 'comeback' album, 461 Ocean Boulevard, returned him to the top three in both the UK and America. Always a strong concert draw, Clapton has released another sixteen top twenty albums since. Even 'Layla' returned to the charts in 1982.

Eric Clapton Solo reviews and analyses all of Clapton's studio albums since 1974, as well as successful collaborations with BB King and JJ Cale. It's been a long, varied journey: the laid-back rocker of the 1970s; the commercial sheen of the 1980s; the polished, acoustic yuppie music and hard blues of the 1990s; the slick R & B stylings of the 2000s and the roots homages of the 2010s. All of this was underpinned by the skill and talent of Britain's greatest blues guitarist and a hugely underrated vocalist