Books / bristol music
New book on the history of Bristol music
Bristol Music: Seven Decades of Sound – a pocket-sized history of the city’s music scene has been published by Tangent Books to accompany the M Shed exhibition of the same name.
Compiled by Tangent publisher and former music journalist, Richard Jones, it chronicles seventy years of Bristol artists from Russ Conway to Massive Attack. Published in conjunction with Bristol Books and the M Shed it takes readers on a citywide tour for a fan’s eye view of Bristol’s musical mainstream – from the skiffle and rock ‘n’ roll pioneers through to pop crooners, legendarily heavy rockers, to punk, reggae and hip-hop – checking out bands, DJs and producers along the way.
Richard Jones says: “While a book of this size can’t hope to cover every last combo that ever trod the boards around the city, we have tried to capture the essence of the Bristol Sound – and interpret how different bands and groups of fans have contributed to it.”
Richard adds: “It was a real challenge unpicking who played with who and for how long – or when and where a particular genre such as hip-hop first emerged from the city suburbs.
“Very often, bands emerged from small-time gigs to become the must-see band. Some of them, such as Acker Bilk, Massive Attack, Portishead, the Wurzels, Chaos UK and Roni Size went on to make their mark on the national and even international music scene.”
The book includes images of artefacts from the M Shed archive, including posters and fanzines, and an alphabetical timeline of the most successful Bristol-based artists.
To coincide with the book’s publication, Tangent have reprinted two classic titles from their backlist – Wild Dayz and Art & Sound of the Bristol Underground. For more information, visit www.tangentbooks.co.uk/bristol-music.html
Bristol Music: Seven Decades of Sound is out now. For more information, visit www.tangentbooks.co.uk/bristol-music/bristol-music-seven-decades-of-sound.html
Read more: Seven Decades of Sound Exhibition
Photo: Enterprise Sound System, St. Paul’s Carnival, July, 1985 by Beezer from the book Wild Dayz published by Tangent Books.
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