How Music Works

Description

"How Music Works" is David Byrne's buoyant celebration of a subject he has spent a lifetime thinking about. Equal parts historian and anthropologist, raconteur and social scientist, Byrne draws on his own work over the years with Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and his myriad collaborators - along with journeys to Wagnerian opera houses, African villages, and anywhere music exisits - to show that music-making is not just the act of a solitary composer in a studio, but rather a logical, populist, and beautiful result of cultural circumstance. A brainy, irresistible adventure, "How Music Works" is an impassioned argument about music's liberating, life-affirming power.

Promotion info

From the frontman of Talking Heads comes David Byrne's magnum opus on the subject of music

Reviews

"From the former Talking Heads frontman, a supremely intelligent, superbly written dissection of music as an art form and way of life...Byrne touches on all kinds of music from all ages and every part of the world... Highly recommended--anyone at all interested in music will learn a lot from this book." "Kirkus" (Starred Review)"In this fascinating meditation, Talking Heads frontman Byrne ("Bicycle Diaries") explores how social and practical context, more than individual authorship, shaped music making in history and his own career... his chapters on Heads recording sessions are some of the most insightful accounts of musical creativity yet penned. The result is a surprising challenge to the romantic cliche of musical genius... Byrne's erudite and entertaining prose reveals him to be a true musical intellectual, with serious and revealing things to say about his art."-"Publishers Weekly" (Starred Review)"Endlessly fascinating, insightful, and intelligent."June Sawyers, "Booklist" (Starred Review)"By all accounts, Byrne's style and energy are as apparent on the page as on the stage."Kathryn Schulz, "New York Magazine"

Author description

Known as the force behind Talking Heads and later as the creator of the highly-regarded record label Luaka Bop, Scottish-born David Byrne also works as a photographer, film director, author and solo artist; he has published and exhibited visual art for more than a decade. He has received Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.