Keith Cameron

The story of Manic Street Preachers is unique in pop. Raging out of the stricken mining communities of south Wales in the late 80s, they were bonded by friendships, family ties and a self-styled 'geometry of contempt', whereby James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore would orchestrate the daring intellectual broadsides written by Richey Edwards and Nicky Wire. Seemingly condemned to mere cult status by a cruel juncture of artistic triumph, commercial failure and personal despair, the story took an agonising twist when the tragedy of Edwards' 1995 disappearance was followed by a remarkable rebirth built upon 'A Design For Life's hymn to the band's working-class roots, and then the award-winning, multi-million-selling album Everything Must Go, a majestic soundtrack to history and loss. Less than five years later, Manic Street Preachers played to 60,000 at the national stadium of Wales and had their second UK Number 1 single. Subsequent output has confirmed the band as both a wellspring of restless creativity and a barometer of the cultural conversation. Because it was music that saved them, it's through the prism of their music that Keith Cameron tells the definitive history of Manic Street Preachers, drawing on many hours of new interviews to dive deep into 168 songs, from 1988's debut single 'Suicide Alley' to the late day peaks of 2025's album Critical Thinking. Writing with the band's full co-operation, his book charts the dynamic evolution of a universe in which Karl Marx and Kylie Minogue happily co-exist, that accords Rush and The Clash equal favour, and where Morrissey & Marr meet Torvill & Dean via Nietzsche and New Order in a single four-minute pop song - all in the name of what Nicky Wire himself calls 'the fabulous disaster' of Manic Street Preachers.

Kamahl’s journey from where it all began in 1953 as a chronically shy Tamil teenager named Kandiah Kamalesvaran. He arrived in Australia at the height of the White Australia policy, to complete his education. Little did he know where or what he would beome by choosing to study in Australia. For what was supposed to be a short term stay in Australia turned his world into a life most people could only dream of in the music industry. Kamahl has been in the music industry for over 70 years. He was one of the first people to appear in concert at the Sydney Opera House and has graced world stages such as London Palladium and Carnegie Hall to name a few. It has been reported Kamahl has sold more than 20 million records worldwide. He recorded more than 30 albums and earned more than 100 Gold and Platinum records. This isn’t however just a story of how a show business identity became famous, it is a quintessential migrant success story. It also chronicles how much Australia has changed over the last seventy years. Armed with a unique talent, priceless friendships he made along the way, and unflinching hope he trans- formed into one of Australia’s most talented and loved performers. The larger than life Kamahl

'...probably the best book written about grunge' Paul Brannigan, Classic Rock 'Mudhoney are the jewel of Seattle.' Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth If rock fans associate Seattle primarily with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, time has shown that the city's most influential grunge band may well have been Mudhoney. They're still going strong and this is their story. Formed in early 1988 Mudhoney originally comprised Mark Arm, Matt Lukin, Dan Peters and Steve Turner and their debut single, 'Touch Me I'm Sick', was the catalytic force behind Nirvana and Pearl Jam who took grunge global. Mudhoney's would have been another story of half-forgotten pioneers paving the way for others who grabbed the prize... except they not only survived all the classic rock band excesses, but they also kept on producing great music. Bolstered by new member Guy Maddison, they celebrated their quarter-century with a superb 2013 album, Vanishing Point, and showed no signs of slowing down with the release of Digital Garbage in 2018 and Morning In America in 2019. Updated with a new chapter drawing on fresh interviews with the group, this book tells an unconventional tale of rock heroism about a band that missed out on superstardom but kept control of the music and triumphantly outlived their more famous disciples.

When a number of language experts were each invited to choose and translate a piece of writing on the subject - simply - of 'flower', Jonquils was the result.