Books 110 Items

HoZac Books is proud to present The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Ought to Know, written and compiled by Sal Maida and Mitchell Cohen, who have recruited for their “society” a gang of esteemed music obsessives: musicians, label executives, and journalists who chose favorite albums from the 1960s and 1970s to rave about and expound upon. The only criterion was that the albums never made the top 100 on Billboard’s LP Top 200 (although in a few cases, they did quite well on the R&B or country chart). The selection ranges from east coast vocal-group harmony to punk and metal, from superstars like The Who and the Beach Boys to virtual unknowns. As Sal and Mitchell write in the book’s introduction, “These are the albums you might not read about, except here. No one needs to tell you why Pet Sounds, Revolver or Blonde On Blonde are essential parts of any decent record collection, or guide you towards classics – or even somewhat lesser efforts – by the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Or which Pink Floyd album is indispensable (hint: the debut; you can stop right there). Although we have strong opinions about pantheon artists like Led Zeppelin and Marvin Gaye, and are happy to share those views with anyone in earshot, that isn’t what this book is about. We aren’t here to challenge or endorse rock orthodoxy. Neither is the mission to, once again, assert the brilliance of Skip Spence’s Oar, of such artists as Nick Drake, Big Star, and the Velvet Underground, whose influence, despite the lack of any commercial success in their time, has been thoroughly – one might even say exhaustively – documented elsewhere.” To tell help this story, Sal and Mitchell called on an impressive team of guest essayists: Lenny Kaye, Russ Titelman, Amy Rigby, Brian Koppelman, Dennis Diken, Bebe Buell, Jim Farber, Susan Whitall, Steve Shelley, Phil King, Ira Robbins, Billy Altman, Marshall Crenshaw, Peter Holsapple, Wreckless Eric, Peter Keepnews, Miriam Linna, Joe McEwen, and a cast of dozens.

Featuring never-before-seen unit photography, storyboards, costume and concept designs, and behind-the-scenes photos from Academy Award–winning director Steven Spielberg’s first musical, West Side Story: The Making of the Steven Spielberg Film is a loving chronicle of the years of effort that went into bringing a beloved story back to the screen for a new generation. Author Laurent Bouzereau was embedded with the film’s cast and crew and conducted original interviews with director and producer Steven Spielberg, screenwriter and executive producer Tony Kushner, Tony Award–winning choreographer.

These 450+ questions will test even the biggest Bowie fanatics’ knowledge of Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke. In what film did he play Andy Warhol? How did he meet Iman? Which of Iggy Pop’s albums did he help write while they lived in Berlin? This interactive trivia book is the ultimate chance to flex your knowledge of our Starman, David Bowie, covering his music, his movies, his personas, family and friends. This book will separate the Heroes from the Super Creeps.

Having designed Roxy Music as an haute couture suit hand-stitched of punk and progressive music, Bryan Ferry redesigned it. He made Roxy Music ever dreamier and mellower-reaching back to sadly beautiful chivalric romances. Dadaist (punk) noise exited; a kind of ambient soft soul entered. Ferry parted ways with Eno, electric violinist Eddie Jobson, and drummer Paul Thompson, foreswearing the broken-sounding synthesizers played by kitchen utensils, the chance-based elements, and the maquillage of previous albums.

The production and engineering imposed on Avalon confiscates emotion and replaces it with an acoustic simulacrum of courtliness, polished manners, and codes of etiquette. The seducer sings seductive music about seduction, but decorum is retained, as amour courtois insists.

The backbeat cannot beat back nostalgia; it remains part of the architecture of Avalon, an album that creates an allusive sheen. Be nostalgic, by all means, but embrace that feeling's falseness, because nostalgia-whether inspired by medieval Arthuriana or 1940s film noir repartee or a 1980s drug-induced high-deceives. Nostalgia defines our fantasies and our (not Ferry's) essential artifice.

Shelved for over 20 years, Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, stands alongside Otis Redding's Live in Europe and James Brown's Live at the Apollo as one of the finest live soul albums ever made. It also reveals a musical, spiritual, emotional, and social journey played out over one night on the stage of a sweaty Miami club, as Cooke made music that encapsulated everything he had ever cut, channeling forces that would soon birth “A Change is Gonna Come,” the most important soul song ever written.

This book covers Cooke's days with the Soul Stirrers, the gospel unit that was inventing a strand of soul in the 1950s, and continues on to his string of hit singles as a solo artist that reveal far more about this complex man and the complex music he was always fashioning. A writer and an agent of social change, he absorbed the teachings of Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan while reconciling his own identity and what fans expected of him. Fleming explores how this towering soul artist came to reconcile so many disparate elements on a Florida stage on a winter night in 1963-a stage that extended well into the future, beyond Cooke's own life, beyond the 1960s, and into a perpetual here-and-now. Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 will resonate so long as we all have need to look into ourselves and square our differences and become more human, and more connected with others in our humanity.

For seven years, photographer and psychotherapist Caroline Jensen has traveled back and forth between Stockholm and New York to photograph graffiti writers.

Faces of Graffiti shows intimate portraits of writers that Caroline Jensen has established a deep and personal connection with.

The book portrays New York graffiti pioneers who began writing in the late 1960s, writers who grabbed the baton and established graffiti in Stockholm in the 1980s, and younger writers who have further developed the graphic design of graffiti.

To understand how graffiti affects writers’ lives, Caroline Jensen asked them about their driving forces. Rooted in her work as a psychotherapist, she reflects on self-development and the role graffiti plays in the lives of the writers.

Charmin 65, Nic 707, Riff 170, Rubin, Snake 1, Kaos, Shiro and Taki 183 are some of the artists portrayed in the book, accompanied by images of their graffiti art.

Caroline Jensen is a photographer based in Sweden with the world as her field. She is also a licensed psychotherapist with her own practice for twenty-two years. She combines her two professions with a deep interest in the process of change. Dokument Press has previously published her book Room for Therapy.

“Page after page after page, this book is the photographic art book of the year. If you have little knowledge about this art form this is the ultimate platform to see its beauty and energy. This book shows the passion, unique style, creativity and expression of some of today’s most talented aerosol artists.”

James TOP

Soled Out is an epic compilation of nearly 900 vintage print advertisements sourced from the golden age of sneakers. Featuring sporting and cultural icons such as Andre Agassi, Paula Abdul, Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, MC Hammer, and Shaquille O’Neal, every page is packed with unforgettable imagery, bold graphics, and outrageous trash talk devised by the footwear industry’s biggest players. Sit back and enjoy the spectacular scenery ahead as Soled Out powers through a 720-page marathon celebration of the rubber, leather, and mesh we wear on our feet! - Sneaker Freaker was established in 2002 by Simon ‘Woody’ Wood as the first and only international footwear magazine. With a monthly audience reach of 10 million, it documents every collab, custom design, limited edition, and retro reissue in exacting detail. Based in Melbourne, Woody is recognized worldwide for his encyclopedic knowledge, inimitable writing style, and steadfast role as an authentic ambassador for all things sneakers.

Brand NEW & Expanded Edition! Packed with dozens of additional horror titles and containing limited edition enhanced packaging (foil cover elements + guilded foil page edges).

The expanded second printing of Blood on Black Wax: Horror Soundtracks on Vinyl profiles several additional soundtrack titles, reflecting the consistently strong trend of horror soundtracks being committed to vinyl. The full-color, 272-page book spotlights the intricate (and often rare) artwork on the LP sleeves, as well as album reviews, release details, and backstories. New titles include mainstream entries such as Child's Play, The Silence of the Lambs, Children of the Corn, Silver Bullet, and Cujo, alongside cult hits such as Troll / Troll 2, Bad Taste, Spookies, Ghoulies, and Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

Co-author Aaron Lupton: ''I'll never stop being proud of Blood on Black Wax, a passion project conceived by Jeff and I and brought to life by 1984 Publishing about my life's obsession: horror soundtracks on vinyl. I'm so proud to see the book get this deluxe second printing with even more cool records to add to your shelf.''

Co-author Jeff Szpirglas: ''It was a thrill to go back and revisit Blood on Black Wax with Aaron, and not just as an excuse to re-listen to the Maniac Cop soundtrack. With the new edition, we redoubled our efforts to speak directly to a bunch of composers such as Jay Chattaway, Joe Renzetti, and Jonathan Elias about their work on classic horror film scores. Plus, I love it when I have to watch films like The Kindred for 'work-related purposes.'''

Are you obsessed with John Carpenter's iconic music for the Halloween series? Do you thrill to the unforgettable stabs of the Psycho score, or the pounding synth of Goblin's soundtrack to Suspiria? Do you find yourself being pulled into the hair-raising modern scores for the likes of Get Out, Hereditary, and The Witch?

You're not alone.

Blood on Black Wax is a defining horror soundtrack volume that spotlights iconic franchises such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Jaws, The Exorcist , and George A. Romero's Dead films, highlighting both the music and the amazing - often rare - artwork that graces the record sleeves. It also tells the stories behind the soundtrack, from the mouths of the musicians who made them, including John Carpenter, Fabio Frizzi, Christopher Young, Harry Manfredini, Charles Bernstein, Pino Donaggio, John Harrison, and more.

Aaron Lupton and Jeff Szpirglas, both of Rue Morgue magazine, have curated Blood on Black Wax to reflect their own passion for the darkest slabs of soundtrack music. Their journey into the fascinating history of horror movie scores contains reviews, release details, and wild stories about both renown and unusual releases - everything from the orchestral sounds of Hammer and Universal horror, to the truly experimental albums for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eraserhead, to the outlandish punk and metal songs of '80s soundtrack albums like The Return of the Living Dead and Shocker.

Go back to your favorite horror films one more time, through the jaw-dropping, spine-tingling music that helped solidify their place in cinematic history!

''Blood On Black Wax takes a deep dive into the history of horror movie soundtracks and the cool AF artwork that cloaks them.'' - Alternative Press

Mick Garris (director / The Stand, Sleepwalkers; writer / Hocus Pocus) wrote a foreword for Blood on Black Wax, while composer Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Pet Sematary) penned the afterword.

Blood on Black Wax will contain limited edition enhanced packaging (foil cover elements + guilded foil page edges).

Dimensions : 8.5 x 1.5 x 11 inches

At Nike, the desire to be the best is a journey, not a destination—better is always temporary.

Nike: Better is Temporary is a landmark publication that charts Nike's transformation from rebellious upstart to global phenomenon.

This immersive visual survey offers an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes exploration into Nike's ethos-driven design formula, placing industry-defining innovations and globally recognized products alongside previously unpublished designs, prototypes, insider stories, and more.

Beginning with Breaking2, an introduction detailing Nike's 2017 attempt to facilitate a sub-two-hour marathon, the book lays out in five thematic chapters Nike's focus on performance, brand expression, collaboration, inclusive design, and sustainability.

The book's extraordinary design also nods to its contents. The striking cover features overlapping silkscreened layers of Nike's proprietary Volt yellow and Hyperpunch pink colors overlaying an image of world-champion marathoner Eliud Kipchoge printed in a half-tone dot pattern. The book's spine, visible through the clear jacket, showcases a series of colored tabs that extend from its interior pages.

Combining 500 color illustrations with stories, insights, knowledge, passion, and history shared by Nike's remarkable team, Nike: Better is Temporary will serve as a manual of innovation and inspiration for generations to come.