December 2022 MBR The Music Shelf

The Music Shelf

Magnifico!: The A to Z of Queen
Mark Blake
https://permutedpress.com
9781637585900, $32.00, HC, 432pp

https://www.amazon.com/Magnifico-Z-Queen-Mark-Blake/dp/163758590X

Synopsis: Addressing the phenomenal success of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, music journalist Mark Blake builds on the legend of Queen and their enduring audience appeal. Providing a fresh, unparalleled take on Queen's music, story, and legacy, Blake's complete portrait covers not only the major hits and bestselling albums, but also the inside stories behind the music. Via a series of essays, interviews, and biographies, Blake shares a wealth of lesser-known details (drawn from over thirty years of original material) and explores what the songs of Queen say about their creators.

Critique: Informatively enhanced for the readers with the inclusion of a two-page Bibliography, "Magnifico!: The A to Z of Queen" is organized and presented alphabetically and a 'must' for the legions of Queen fans. While unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Rock Music History & Criticism collections, it should be noted for students, academia, and Queen fans that "Magnifico!: The A to Z of Queen" is also available in a paperback edition (9781788705738, $15.04, Amazon) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).

Editorial Note: Mark Blake (www.markrblake.com) has been writing about popular music and culture since 1989 and was a former Assistant Editor of Q and regular contributor to MOJO and CLASSIC ROCK magazines. He can be followed on Twitter @markblake3

Riders Of The Purple Sage: The Making Of A Western Opera
Zane Grey, author
Craig Bohmler, composer
Kristin Atwell Ford, director
First Run Features
630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213, New York, NY 10036
www.firstrunfeatures.com
B0BDVSXJ87, $17.99, DVD, 1 disc (1 Hour, 22 Minutes)

https://www.amazon.com/Riders-Purple-Sage-Making-Western/dp/B0BDVSXJ87

Synopsis: "Riders of the Purple Sage: The Making of a Western Opera" follows a classically trained composer as he adapts a dime novel masterpiece into a grand opera. In 1912, Zane Grey's 'Riders of the Purple Sage' flew off bookshelves around the world and today is recognized by the Library of Congress as "One Hundred Books that Shaped America."

A century later, composer Craig Bohmler takes shelter in Zane Grey's cabin during a rainstorm. There, amidst posters from Grey's Hollywood Westerns, Bohmler discovers a story with the grand dimensions of opera; he decides then and there to mount the legendary frontier novel for the operatic stage.

Alongside a team of designers, musicians, singers, and fine art painter Ed Mell, Bohmler translates America's cowboy culture and sprawling beauty of the West into the realm of Puccini and Verdi.

Critique: "Riders of the Purple Sage: The Making of a Western Opera" is a DVD that will have special appeal to fans of musicals, westerns, and behind the scenes production insights into the making of a musical adaptation of one of a legendary western novel by one of the best known western and enduringly popular authors of westerns. Simply stated, this DVD edition of "Riders of the Purple Sage: The Making of a Western Opera" from First Run Features is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Music Documentary collections.

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