Music books, advice for gift purchases. Second part
Like every year, as the great Christmas gift rush approaches, I suggest some books that you could usefully consider as a gift for a friend… or for yourself. We range between genres and themes (and cover prices) hoping to be able to provide the right idea for each of you.
Elio and the Tense Stories
Photo
Rizzoli Lizard, 360 pages, 40 euros
If this book were a novel, it would be a bad novel; many pages and few words. If it were a physics treatise it would have little educational value; lots of paper and no mention – for one – of string theory. If it were a pamphlet it would be ineffective; lots of joy, zero controversy. Luckily it is a book of photographs, hence the title, PHOTOS. And its contents, hundreds of PHOTOS. The subject of these PHOTOS, it is easy to say, can be understood from the name written on the cover: the musical group Elio e le Storie Tese whose members, arriving at the dawn of the second quarter of a century of the 2000s, almost fifty years after the band’s debut, decided to collect a careful selection of images that portrayed them from young to mature, even sprightly, and turn it into a book. Shots taken and taken, posed and in the middle of the action, from the origins to the day before yesterday, which bear the unmissable trace of moments of joy, sorrow, stupidity and neighboring events.
Jill Furmanowsky – Noel Gallagher
Oasis: Trying to find a way out of nowhere
Rizzoli Lizard, 256 pages, 55 euros
The history of Oasis relived through the shots of Jill Furmanovsky and the words of Noel Gallagher. At their side since the “Definitely Maybe Tour”, rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky followed the Gallagher brothers on stages all over the world, until the band’s daring dissolution in 2009. In this volume, supervised and edited by Noel Gallagher, Jill Furmanovsky brings her archive to light – no other photographer has ever had access to the intimacy of the band like her – and retraces the history of Oasis through more than five hundred shots accompanied by the guitarist’s comments. To complete the story, three essays by illustrious music journalists focusing on the life of the band and an introduction by Jill Furmanovsky herself, in which the photographer reviews her career as a rock photographer and the role that Oasis have played in the history of rock.
Claudio Cabona
Marracash. Something to believe in
Rizzoli Lizard, 192 pages, 35 euros
“Persona” of 2019, “Noi, lui, gli altri” of 2021 and “È finite la pace” of 2024 are the stages through which the rapper from Barona has built a unique and personal project. In this volume Marracash, together with the journalist Claudio Cabona, dissects these three manifesto records: within the pages of the book there is space for the sound, with in-depth analysis by the producers Marz and Zef, the anecdotes, the visions, the ideas that animated the genesis of the albums, as well as the tours linked to each chapter. The preface is by Paola Zukar.
Luigi Cuna and Emanuele Felice
Free voices – History of Italian songwriting
Curci Editions, 176 pages, 21 euros
Illustrated guide to the great songwriters and performers of Italian songwriting. A journey along the paths of the history of Italian music that is intertwined with the illustrations of Alessandro Ventrella. A reading for the new generations, to bring them closer to a musical genre capable of describing Italy, its social and cultural changes, and for enthusiasts. Full of listening suggestions, it features an online playlist on Spotify, accessible via QR code.
