Product Description

This massive 920-page anthology explores popular music in all its guises through these 'wrong-sided' musicians - an unusual yet surprisingly coherent perspective. It is an exhaustively researched and richly illustrated collection of 150 in-depth artist portraits: mavericks and legendary artists that represent musical genres from all over the world, including folk, blues, jazz, rock, reggae, pop, punk, metal, R&B, country, and other forms like salsa, bossa, samba, Hawaiian, rai, shaabi, gnawa, gypsy, and flamenco. UNCOMMON SOUND is presented as a luxury two-volume set, totaling 920 pages, housed in a striking full-color slipcase and accompanied by an exclusive 20-track music CD. It is the first book to look at music from this angle, and does so with enough insight and detail to captivate diehard fans, and enough entertaining storytelling to make it a page-turner for the most casual music buff. The featured artists include Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Kurt Cobain, Tony Iommi, Seal, John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants), Beeb Birtles (Little River Band), Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Albert King, Otis Rush, Eddy Clearwater, Babyface, Bobby Womack, Al McKay (Earth, Wind & Fire), Jimmy Cliff, Ali and Robin Campbell (UB40), Bill Jennings, Billy Mackel, Jonathan Butler, Elizabeth Cotten, Dan Seals, and many more. Mark Knopfler and Danny Gatton, two remarkable lefties that play right-handed, are also featured. Besides boasting more than 1,500 photographs, many drawn from the performers own archives, UNCOMMON SOUND also contains 150 pages (a whole books worth) displaying rare left-handed guitars: hundreds of exquisite instruments photographed especially for this book in nine countries on four continents.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1806499 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-03
• Binding: Hardcover
• 920 pages

Review
A surprising tour of the history, impact of lefty players. An amazing amount of research combined with a beautiful layout. -- Bill Piburn, editor of FINGERSTYLE GUITAR magazine

All you could ever need and more on left-handed players and guitars from the world’s foremost authority on the lefty. -- Owen Bailey, dep.editor of GUITARIST magazine

Engel has produced something that is altogether unique and falls straight into the realm of the superlative. -- Andy Barrett, editor of MI-PRO magazine

Should be subtitled ‘not just for lefties.’ Each of these profiles, like the musicians themselves, stands on its own merits. -- Walter Carter, author of works such as Acoustic Guitars and Other Fretted Instruments.

Vast, insightful, beautifully researched, and *fun*! This book is essential reading for all guitarists (righties included!) and their fans. -- Jas Obrecht, former editor of GUITAR PLAYER magazine

From the Author
"This book is a celebration of all music, one of the things that humans do best. It’s about pain and triumph, struggle and beauty, individuality and solidarity," says author John Engel. "It illustrates the complexity of the creative process. By stepping away from the norm and fashioning a unique relationship to their instrument, and to music as a whole, left-handed guitar players symbolize the unique music maker in all of us."

From the Inside Flap
What is it about left-handed guitar players? Is there some magic connection between Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Danny Gatton and Dick Dale? In Uncommon Sound John Engel takes a breathtaking in-depth look at some of the most remarkable musicians to have shaped popular music over the past 50 years or so.

What do they have in common? Stylistically, practically nothing. But already by holding their guitar the "wrong" way, they epitomize the unbridled, non-conformist spirit of popular music. Engel has tapped into probably the broadest range of musicians to ever find themselves in the same book; and their uncommon sound is a tribute to all music makers. They range from incomparable rock guitarist Mark Knopfler to Argentine folk hero Atahualpa Yupanqui, and from Hawaiian slack-key master James Pahinui to new-jazz virtuoso Joseph Carter III. Many are already guitar icons. Others are "musicians’ musicians," the unsung heroes that shaped whole genres.

This hefty tome dispels many of the myths that have grown up around these guitarists through interviews done specifically for the book. Along the way, many surprising facts are thrown up – such as the numbers of left-handed guitarists playing right-handed instruments and even the right-handed players that learned to play left-handed.

But one thing many share is the ability to take an unusual gift and turn it into some of the most exciting and challenging music of our age. Engel’s detailed accounts bring us on a series of personal journeys to the very heart of the music that shaped a century.

Michael Leahy editor, A-Lyric.com

Customer Reviews

On the Other Hand . . .

Make no mistake. This is a serious piece of literature, on two counts: Serious, because it's a coffee-table book like no other: If you attached legs to each volume, you would have a substantial suite of furniture! More importantly; serious, because it is THE definitive study of the world of the left-handed guitarist.

It will take you a lifetime to read and a lectern [preferably with a carved eagle on the back] is recommended. Rather like a latter-day Ten Commandments, it comes in two massive tablets. Not of stone [although, at 19lbs, they approach a similar weight!], but two superbly bound 345mm x 260mm x 45mm [!] volumes.

The first part deals with Rock: Pop: Punk: Reggae: Metal with a foreword by no less than Douglas Adams. Featured artistes are chronicled by date of birth [a novel and reasonable solution]. The second book turns to R&B, Jazz, Folk, Country & World and each volume concludes with a gallery of left-handed guitars for lefties to drool over.

Any Fan of Guitars and Music!
Although I happen to be a left handed guitar player, I can tell you this book is not only for fans of things left handed; it's for any fan of music and guitars. The articles on Hendrix, McCartney, Cobain et al are as in depth and detailed as any book on them individually. Yes, there are the drool-worthy photos of vintage and rare left handed instruments, but the meat of the book (and why any fan of music and guitars should have this in their collection) are the chapters on the players themselves. This book (actually books-it's 2 volumes plus a CD) blows away any other music/guitar book out there. A must for the guitar fan and music fan. Yes, the price is bit steep, but it is so deep and beautifully printed and researched, once you have you'll see that it is totally worth it. If you (or someone you're buying for) is a freak for music and guitars, just buy this. You can thank me later!...:) If I could rate it more than 5 stars, I would! Mine is proudly displayed in my living room with my art and architecture books. And no one looks at the other books anymore when they come over. Just this one...:)