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In Listen to This, the award-winning music critic and author of The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross looks forward and backward in musical culture: capturing essential figures in classical music history, as well as giving an alternative view of recent pop music.From his own first encounter with classical music to vibrant sketches of Schubert, Verdi and Brahms; from in-depth interviews with modern pop masters such as Björk and Radiohead to the lives of a high school’s music students, Ross shows how music can express the full complexity of human experience. He explains how pop music can achieve the status of high art and how classical music can become a vital part of wider contemporary culture.Witty, passionate and brimming with insight, Listen to This teaches us to listen more closely.

A collection of remarkable and completely made-up correspondence from the great and the good across history.Many books have collated the exceptional letters and personal writing of the famous, offering a fascinating insight into well-known figures’ personal lives and hidden desires. But what of the undistinguished epistles of the renowned? Can their less auspicious musings divulge clues to their hopes and ambitions? Probably not. But they can be quite funny.‘Letters of Not’ assembles the fictional jotted dross that was never before considered worthy of collection. The Post-it notes, the shopping lists, the failed limericks and the birthday card sentiments of history’s most celebrated sons and daughters.Inside you will find:Werner Herzog’s impassioned note to his cleaning ladyPatti Smith’s gym applicationCaptain Scott’s other last letter to his wifeSalvador Dali’s to do listMark E. Smith’s audio tour of Ripon CathedralHarold Pinter greetings cardsPope Benedict’s handover notesJames Joyce’s out of officeDr Heimlich’s other manoeuvreA letter from the table next to the Algonquin Round TableTweets from the 1966 Newport Folk FestivalInstructions on what to do when you meet Van MorrisonAnd many more, beautifully rendered in their original, blatantly falsified glory and hilariously transcribed for your pleasure.

Matt Goss recounts his unbelievable life story in emotional detail. From financially deprived but emotionally rich beginnings, Matt sees his fortunes literally turned upside-down, with all the fame, glamour and money he could hope for violently snatched away from him.Matt Goss has been a staple part of British tabloid life for years – yet, the general public has had no idea of the astounding life that he has led – and still lives – behind the headlines and sound-bites. Here, for the first time, he takes them into his confidence and reveals the true extent of his own astounding tale.Matt was brought up in a proudly close but financially frustrated south London family with twin brother Luke and his mother. Fortunes changed rapidly for Matt when, alongside his brother Luke and school friend Craig, he created Bros – a band that sold sixteen million records in an intensely chaotic and record-breaking reign over the world's pop charts. By the end of his teens, Matt could boast eleven Top 40 hits, number ones in nineteen countries, a Brit Award and the record for being the youngest band to headline Wembley Stadium.Bros became a by-word for mercurial celebrity extravagance, hysterical fan stories, financial scandal, personal tragedy, tortuous upset and glorious triumph. Yet after those bizarre and insane times, Matt's life became even more tempestuous, crammed with inner fear, personal revelation and unforeseen challenges.He is now back with a vengeance after spells on TV's Hell's Kitchen, finding a new audience through his acclaimed solo music career, which has already included chart-topping soundtracks and further Top 40 hits, plus his appearance in 2013’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas contest.Here he finally tells the true story of his life, revealing a litany of private torment, personal revelations and celebrity anecdotes.This is the account of a man who can truly say that he has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, to have held the world in his hand and seen it snatched away from him in the blink of an eye, yet has the strength of character and personal insight to continue to claim to be 'truly blessed'.