Monday 30 July 2018

Two fantastic Infographic titles celebrate two amazing titans of pop and rock - "Biographic: Bowie" and "Biographic: Hendrix" by Liz Flavell (Ammonite Press)

I've often wondered whether poor C gets a rough deal, inheriting some of her music taste from her parents...
My wife was definitely a 90s girl, so her tastes stretch from that decade, and cover such diverse bases as Take That (shudder) and deep trance / house (YAY!).

In my case though, my music taste has stretched back multiple decades and covers such a weird subset of different genres that sometimes I get very odd looks from both my wife and daughter when I state that 'this is a classic' if something crops up on the radio.

C definitely does love Bowie though and there are many, many reasons for that - most of which are covered in this fantastic new "Biographic" book on the great man himself, the thin white duke, David Jones AKA David Bowie, Aladdin Sane or whichever guise of Bowie's expansive career you choose to focus on.

The late grand-meister of glam rock and pop has always been in our playlists somewhere, and every time "Let's Dance" or "Starman" comes on, C instantly bops along.

Liz Flavell's fantastic Biographic titles are packed to the gills with information on various musicians, artists and other notaries - all presented in a really cool minimalist infographic style so that older kids can really get under the skins of some of the most famous folk to roam the planet.

The Bowie book is utterly fantastic and answers a ton of her questions (even stuff I couldn't answer about the great man himself) and has given us tons of inspiration to dig out some of his more obscure tunes (Arnold Corn anyone? The Laughing Gnome?)

"Biographic Bowie" by Liz Flavell is out now, published by Ammonite Press. 

And along similar lines, someone else I've been meaning to introduce C to musically...

"Biographic: Hendrix" covers the (all too brief) rock career of a true guitar god. Jimi Hendrix, a man who could play a guitar with his teeth (then set fire to it) and could generate a real wall of sound with the most amazing electric guitar skills that I personally don't think have ever been bettered or superseded.

Which is handy of course, because C fancies herself as a bit of a guitar guru (I'm trying to teach her, but I'm dreadful on the guitar so it's a bit of a long process).

As you can imagine, both books will talk about the ins and outs of these rock god lifestyles so expect mentions of sex, drugs and rock & roll so definitely check through both books yourself before letting your kids loose on them (personally I think Liz has hit just the right balance of making these approachable and not dwelling too much on those subjects, so definitely check them out first before letting your little ones near 'em).

"Biographic: Hendrix" by Liz Flavell is also out now, published by Ammonite Press (both books kindly supplied for review).