Books
By Mick Patrick
A book about music lacks the medium it describes. With that in mind, over the last few years Ace have collaborated with a number of authors in the creation of CDs to complement their endeavours.
Julian Cope has some revered monographs on underground music to his credit, including Krautrocksampler, Japrocksampler and, most recently, the hefty Copendium. The tome’s attendant 3CD set makes for as challenging a listen as one might expect. If it doesn’t make you want to go out, get drunk, listen to Charlie Feathers and get into a fight, then you have no soul, wrote one reviewer of Max Décharné’s A Rocket In Your Pocket. Forego the fight and get our rockabilly-loaded CD instead, say we. Based on interviews with the bluesman’s relatives, friends, producers, accompanists, managers and fans, folklorist Alan Govenar’s His Life And Blues is the definitive biography of Lightnin’ Hopkins. Our double-disc is its ideal soundtrack. Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Solomon Burke, Bobby Womack, Elvis Presley and many others made wonderful records at Chips Moman’s American Studios, the subject of Memphis Boys, Roben Jones’ brilliant first book. Find all these and more on the CD that goes with it. Armed only with a Greyhound ticket and enough money for his next beer, Garth Cartwright set out to discover if the American roots music he loved was still alive. His book More Miles Than Money and our 2CD set confirm the answer was yes. Leo Fender’s guitars have had a greater influence on modern music than any other maker’s. Find over 250 of them detailed and photographed in Martin Kelly’s glossy Fender: The Golden Age and a few dozen more on our shiny CD.
Selected releases
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Copendium
This sonic companion to the former Exploding Teardrops majordomo’s expedition into the rock’n’roll “underwerld” provides an insight into his taste for music old, new, psychedelic, uncompromising and frequently uncomfortable.
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A Rocket In My Pocket
Like the 1970s punk movement, 1950s rockabilly was a spontaneous outburst of spirited three-chord songs and urgent rhythms delivered by wild-eyed performers who weren’t planning much farther ahead than next week.
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Lightnin' Hopkins
The 44 tracks on this collection provides the first proper overview of a career that stretched across five decades and 40-plus labels, although Hopkins seemed to settle with particular producers, burning out many along the way.
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Memphis Boys
Established in 1964, it took a couple of years for Chips Moman’s studio to find its audio identity. Once the in-house group of key musicians, the Memphis Boys, were all in place the trickle of hits and classics became a flood.
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More Miles Than Money
Inspired by the adventures of Mark Twain and Jack Kerouac, Garth Cartwright dreamed of riding Route 66 and Highway 61. Eventually he realised his dream and this 38-track double CD is your audio guide to those travels.
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Fender
The pop music explosion of the 1950s and 60s would not have happened without the electric guitar and, perhaps more importantly, the electric bass. Hear the evidence in this Fender-centric soundtrack to Martin Kelly’s book.
