The Music Books Keep on Coming

U2: Revolution (Race Point Publishing), by Mat Snow

Bruce Springsteen’s adulatory address at U2’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is reprinted as the introduction to this band biography. His remarks about their search “for the same kind of combustible force that fueled the expansion of the universe after the big bang” are descriptive of U2’s sound as well as ambition. British critic Mat Snow isn’t entirely uncritical of the band’s corporate shenanigans (and like many fans, isn’t happy with all of the later music). But on the whole, Revolution is an affirmative chronicle of a band whose meaningful content was embedded in unique sonic architecture and delivered by Bono, whose amp-leaping charisma was surely influenced by The Boss himself. Lavishly illustrated, Revolution is a fine present for any U2 fan.

So This is Permanence: Ian Curtis (Chronicle Books), ed. by Deborah Curtis and Jon Savage

Beautifully bound and printed, So This is Permanence is primarily a set of facsimiles: the lyrics of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis on note paper, complete with lines scratched out in pen. But the introductions by Curtis’ wife Deborah and critic Jon Savage are revealing and insightful on the erudite performer undone by epilepsy and the mounting pressure of stardom. After Curtis’ 1980 suicide, Joy Division regrouped as New Order. He left behind a parcel of intriguing, disturbing songs, including the unforgettable impression of an impending breakup, “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”

Possibilities (Viking), by Herbie Hancock with Lisa Dickey

Keyboardist Herbie Hancock was drilled in classical music but drawn to jazz. In Possibilities, Hancock describes jazz as a way to live in the moment, aware and responding, finding ways to work even with the wrong notes, the “mistakes.” Little wonder his life went from Miles Davis to embracing Buddhism, with stops along the way to play behind Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and Sting. Possibilities is a vividly written reflection on his own life—and a way of living.