'An alternately funny and moving book about the most important art form on Planet Earth. Destined to become a classic (pun intended)' Jarvis Cocker
Music critic and writer Paul Morley weaves together memoir and history in a spiralling tale that establishes classical music as the most rebellious genre of all.
Paul Morley had stopped being surprised by modern pop music and found himself retreating into the sounds of artists he loved when, as an emerging music journalist in the 70s, he wrote for NME. But not wishing to give in to dreary nostalgia, endlessly circling back to the bands he wrote about in the past, he went searching for something new, rare and wondrous – and found it in classical music.
A soaring polemic, a grumpy reflection on modern rock, and a fan's love note, A Sound Mind rejects the idea that classical music is establishment; old; a drag. Instead, the book reveals this genre to be the most exciting and varied in music. A Sound Mind is a multi-layered memoir of Morley's shifting musical tastes, but it is also a compelling history of classical music that reveals the genre's rich and often deviant past – and, hopefully, future.
Like a conductor, Morley weaves together timelines and timeframes in an orchestral narrative that declares the transformative and resilient power of classical music from Bach to Shostakovich, Brahms to Birtwistle, Mozart to Cage, travelling from eighteenth century salons to the modern age of Spotify.
About the Author
Paul Morley grew up in Stockport, Cheshire, and has worked as a music journalist, pop svengali and broadcaster. He is the author of a number of books on music – Ask: The Chatter of Pop, Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City, Joy Division: Piece by Piece: Writing About Joy Division 1977–2007 and Joy Division: Fragments – as well as an acclaimed memoir of his early years, Nothing. Paul has written for a number of publications, including the New Statesman, the Sunday Telegraph, NME, the Observer and the Guardian.
Industry Reviews
“An alternately funny and moving book about the most important art form on Planet Earth. Destined to become a classic (pun intended)”
Jarvis Cocker
“An exhilarating shredding of received wisdom, provocatively casting pop music on the side of the stagnant and conservative – a bit last century – while stressing classical music's dynamic revolutionary potential … It's not the shtick of a down-with-the-kids music teacher, but a writer both in his element and out of it, thrilled at the possibility of new connections, excited to see if he can write about Stravinsky the way he would Hot Chip … Morley remains a brilliant conductor – of music, of ideas, of inexplicable flashes of lightning. He knows the score”
Sunday Times
