Different tracks : music and politics in 1970

1970 signalled the end of an era. The Swinging Sixties came to a crashing halt as the world seemed to be changing for the worse.

Ideological and generational rifts became deeper and violent protest more commonplace.

Politicians dealt with realities, not dreams. The Vietnam War dragged on. As ever, popular culture mirrored it all with the death of Jimi Hendrix and the break-up of The Beatles.

Yet these apparent crises produced a climate in which new ideas could develop, pointing the way to a decade when creativity and tumult went hand-in-hand.

In Different Tracks, his follow-up to Changing Times: Music and Politics In 1964, Steve Millward charts the major events of 1970 and the reaction they provoked - from the increased militancy of the Black Panthers, the Baader-Meinhof Gang and the Angry Brigade to the new ways of living advocated by foodists, feminists and futurists.

At the same time he makes the connections to a thriving music scene where singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake rubbed shoulders with innovators like Curtis Mayfield and Frank Zappa.

He shows how James Brown defined funk, prog bands reached a peak of extravagance and the search was on to fuse rock with jazz, folk and classical music.

Different Tracks is the second book in a trilogy spanning 1964-74.

It will appeal to all music fans, especially those looking for fresh insights into a turbulent and dynamic epoch.