Books with author Gilbert. Parker

Follow every step of David Bowie’s career; from Ziggy Stardust to Tin Machine, from “Space Oddity” to Let’s Dance to Blackstar, in Bowie: The Illustrated Story. David Bowie released an incredible 27 studio albums, beginning with his eponymous 1967 debut and ending with Blackstar, released just two days before his untimely death in January 2016. Widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians and performers of the previous five decades, Bowie demolished what were thought to be the limitations of stagecraft in rock music, as well as proving it possible for an artist to constantly--and successfully--redefine himself. As a result, Bowie has been credited with inspiring genres as disparate as glam and punk rock. This sharply written and gorgeously designed retrospective follows Bowie’s career from the folkie baroque rock of his debut, to his breakthrough single “Space Oddity,” and on to his flamboyant glam rock alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. Author Pat Gilbert continues through Bowie’s soul phase, his electronic Berlin trilogy, his massive pop success in the 1980s, and his turn to electronica in the 1990s, as well as subsequent tours, notable performances, collaborations, and accolades. Nearly every page is illustrated with stunning concert and candid offstage photography, including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, concert ticket stubs, and more. The result is a fitting tribute to one of the most influential and admired stars in rock history.

Excerpt:Standing out from Carteret on the Belle Suzanne, they steered for the light upon the Marmotier Rocks of the Ecréhos, which Angèle had paid a fisherman to keep going every night. This light had caused the French and English frigates some uneasiness, and they had patrolled the Channel from Cap de la Hague to the Bay of St. Brieuc with a vigilance worthy of a larger cause. One fine day an English frigate anchored off the Ecréhos, and the fisherman was seized. He, poor man, swore that he kept the light burning to guide his brother fishermen to and fro between Boulay Bay and the Ecréhos. The captain of the frigate tried severities; but the fisherman stuck to his tale, and the light burned on as before—a lantern stuck upon a pole. One day, with a telescope, Buonespoir had seen the exact position of the staff supporting the light and had mapped out his course accordingly. He would head straight for the beacon and pass between the Marmotier and the Maître Ile, where is a narrow channel for a boat drawing only a few feet of water. Unless he made this he must run south and skirt the Écrivière Rock and bank, where the streams setting over the sandy ridges make a confusing, perilous sea to mariners in bad weather. Or he must sail north between the Ecréhos and the Dirouilles, in the channel called Étoc, a tortuous and dangerous passage save in good weather, and then safe only to the mariner who knows the floor of that strait like his own hand. De la Forêt was wholly in the hands of Buonespoir, for he knew nothing of these waters and coasts; also he was a soldier and no sailor.