projectgus reviewed How Music Works by David Byrne
Mixed bag, but some gems in here
4 stars
This book incorporates some chapters that were originally published elsewhere, and it is really a collection of essays around the common theme of music. There's a mix of personal theories of music and composition, discussions of the primacy of context in music, advice on more practical topics such as the music business or "How to create a Scene", and some biographical accounts of creative process. I enjoyed the biographical elements the most, although I felt some had probably been simplified and sanitised a little for the book - I know enough history of Talking Heads to guess that some of these sessions probably came together a bit less smoothly when everyone was "in the room"!
Some chapters have aged noticeably, but this provides something of a historical snapshot. For example, the chapter on the music business mentions multiple "new" distribution companies. A decade later only iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp are …
This book incorporates some chapters that were originally published elsewhere, and it is really a collection of essays around the common theme of music. There's a mix of personal theories of music and composition, discussions of the primacy of context in music, advice on more practical topics such as the music business or "How to create a Scene", and some biographical accounts of creative process. I enjoyed the biographical elements the most, although I felt some had probably been simplified and sanitised a little for the book - I know enough history of Talking Heads to guess that some of these sessions probably came together a bit less smoothly when everyone was "in the room"!
Some chapters have aged noticeably, but this provides something of a historical snapshot. For example, the chapter on the music business mentions multiple "new" distribution companies. A decade later only iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp are still distributing music. The other names such as ithinkmusic, Topspin, CDBaby, and eMusic either no longer exist, or exist in a different form.
This is a revised edition, and from what I can tell most of the major revisions were done by adding some paragraphs to the end of chapters. Updating a book in this way seems perfectly fine, but I probably would have preferred explicit labelling for the new content rather than the somewhat clunky transition at the end of some chapters. For example, the chapter on music distribution ends with a section on streaming that contradicts much of what came before it. At least that update seems prescient: if I understand the time line correctly then the original content is from 2009 and the updates were written 2012 or 2013, which pretty much covers the rise of streaming services.
Interesting references are sprinkled throughout the book. For example, I made a note to follow up about the Brazillian composer Tom Zé and his concept of music and dancing as "fabrication defects" in otherwise perfectly manufactured corporate workers.
If you're a David Byrne fan like myself, or you're interested in popular music, then I think you'll find something of interest here. Don't be afraid to skim through if a particular chapter doesn't grab you!
