Guitarist and singer Chris Rea may seem an unlikely person to become a champion of a new form of book. But back in 2001 he was given only a one in three chance of surviving a cancer operation, and his brush with death reinvigorated his creativity and sent it in new directions--which include issuing some unusual books.
As David Smyth recounts in an article in the (London) Evening Standard, the first product of this new drive appeared in 2005. It was "Blue Guitars," a collection of 11 CDs, 130 new songs, and a DVD, all bound in a hardback book featuring Rea's paintings. It was priced very reasonably at £34 (about $60) and sold 165,000 copies (Rea says they had hoped only to break even at 30,000 copies).
Rea's new project is packaged in a similar way, with a hardcover book augmented by two vinyl records, two CDs that look like records, photos, and more paintings. It tells the story of two fictional bands, the 50s style Delmonts and the 60s blues band The Hofner Bluenotes (it's Rea and company playing both bands, of course).
Rea now plans to start a music book company and says his new music will not be downloadable: "There are enough people in the world who still want album culture," he says.
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