On Celestial Music: And Other Adventures in Listening

Rick Moody has been writing about music as long as he has been writing, and this book provides an ample selection from that output. His anatomy of the word cool reminds us that, in the postwar 40s, it was infused with the feeling of jazz music but is now merely a synonym for neat. "On Celestial Music," which was included in Best American Essays, 2008, begins with a lament for the loss in recent music of the vulnerability expressed by Otis Redding's masterpiece, "Try a Little Tenderness;" moves on to Moody's infatuation with the ecstatic music of the Velvet Underground; and ends with an appreciation of Arvo Part and Purcell, close as they are to nature, "the music of the spheres."

Contemporary groups covered include Magnetic Fields (their love songs), Wilco (the band's and Jeff Tweedy's evolution), Danielson Famile (an evangelical rock band), The Pogues (Shane McGowan's problems with addiction), The Lounge Lizards (John Lurie's brilliance), and Meredith Monk, who once recorded a song inspired by Rick Moody's story "Boys." Always both incisive and personable, these pieces inspire us to dive as deeply into the music that enhances our lives as Moody has done -- and introduces us to wonderful sounds we may not know.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Published: 03/21/2012
ISBN: 9780316105217
Pages: 439
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.22h x 5.50w x 1.19d

Review Citations: Shelf Awareness 03/30/2012
Publishers Weekly 01/30/2012 pg. 46
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2012 pg. 274
Booklist 03/01/2012 pg. 39
New York Times Book Review 06/03/2012 pg. 29
Library Journal 10/01/2012 pg. 107
Kirkus Best Nonfiction 12/01/2012 pg. 28