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CELEBRATING 5 YEARS OF QUALITY WRITING

THE BALLAD OF BRITAIN

THE STORY OF NORTHERN SOUL

How Music Captured The Soul Of A Nation Will Hodgkinson

A Definitive History Of The Dance Scene That Refuses To Die David Nowell

An adventure into lyric and melody … and what it means to be British.

An engaging account of the Northern Soul scene by a key player still keeping the faith.

In 1903, the Victorian composer Cecil Sharp began a decade-long journey to collect folk songs that, he believed, captured the spirit of Great Britain.

Over a century later, with the musical and cultural map of the country transformed, music critic and TV presenter Will Hodgkinson sets out on a similar journey to find the songs that make up modern Britain and tries to understand how the country has represented, and defined, itself through lyric, melody and song.

What began as an underground 60s Mod scene in unlicensed clubs in the North West of England became a youth craze that has confounded its critics by growing into a dance phenomenon where followers share a passion for the music of Black America. The Story of Northern Soul takes the first ever in-depth look at the music, the artists and the people frequenting the all-night venues that are synonymous with the British Soul Scene.

THE HISTORY OF THE NME High Times And Low Lives At The World’s Most Famous Magazine Pat Long The definitive, history of the influential New Musical Express.

The History of the NME is an authoritative history, released in time to celebrate the magazine’s 60th birthday, and written by former assistant editor and journalist Pat Long is an insider’s account of the high times and low lives of the world’s most famous, and most influential, music magazine. The bands, the brawls, the drugs and much more, this is the first – and definitive – book about the infamous NME.

CRAP LYRICS

MIND THE BOLLOCKS

A Celebration Of The Very Worst Pop Lyrics Of All Time … Ever!

Johnny Sharp

A Riotous Rant Through The Ridiculousness of Rock ‘N’ Roll Johnny Sharp

A humorous celebration of pop’s music most ridiculous lyrics.

A hilarious collection of nonsense that orbits our beloved rock ‘n’ roll stars.

Former NME journalist Johnny Sharp has trawled half a century of lyrics to find the funniest examples of crippled couplets, outrageous innuendo, mixed metaphors, shameless self-delusion, nefarious nonsense and flagrant filth (not to mention unforgivable over-use of alliteration) of over 120 of the most ridiculous hooks, lines and stinkers from pop poetry through the modern ages.

He’s serious as cancer when he asks: Are we human, or are we dancer? And where do we go from here? Is it down to the lake, I fear?

From deeply suspect sexual politics to insane self-promotion, musicians’ elevated position in popular culture allows them to hold forth freely on subjects about which they know precious little. For the first time, Mind The Bollocks collects some of the finest stools of wisdom ever to fall from their foul, ill-educated mouths. The book also digs beneath the ‘culture of nonsense’ surrounding popular music including hyperbolic album reviews, unkind quotes and unbelievably believable urban myths.

To celebrate our fifth birthday, Portico is proud to present five music titles to sing out loud about. Written and published with passion and authority by popular authors, each one of these fantastic books is a genuine first of a kind. Be it the story of Northern Soul, the history of the infamous NME, a simple ballad of Britain or just a big bunch of bollocks, each book in this series will strike a major chord. Go on, pick up a Portico and press play.

The Ballad Of Britain Will Hodgkinson

The History Of The NME Pat Long

The Story Of Northern Soul David Nowell

Paperback / 9781906032548 / £12.99

Hardback / 9781907554483 / £14.99

Paperback / 9781907554230 / £9.99

Crap Lyrics Johnny Sharp

Mind The Bollocks Johnny Sharp

Paperback / 9781906032593 / £7.99

Paperback / 9781907554469 / £7.99

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