Words and Music : A History of Pop in the Shape of a City

I grew up reading the liner notes of Paul Morley on records by Art Of Noise, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda, and whatever else he did on ZTT in the early to mid-1980's. I became aware of his work as a journalist with the New Musical Express, but being from Honolulu with no access to the NME, I never read those pieces. Nonetheless, Morley's unique style of writing made a big impact on me, as he seemed to be someone who just didn't take a casual listen. He went in deep, and as Brother J from X-Clan would say after hearing a reply from Professor X the overseer, deeper than Atlantis. "Words And Music" is an intense read from start to finish, as Morley explores the world of pop music through the metaphor of a city, a city that perhaps the author referred to in the video to "Beat Box" by his group, Art Of Noise. If the ZTT building was in the very heart of the city, this book explores every organ, cavity, orifice, avenue, dead end, open end, pond, river, hidden room, and basement in the city that never sleeps, a city that has no beginning or end, a city that has no boundaries within its own self-proclaimed boundaries. WTF? In truth, it's his examination of recorded music, how popular mainstream music has often flaunted with the stranger and avant-garde without really knowing it, and how we as fans, creators, and archivists react to the music we listen to, the voyages we travel on, and the listening experience and what we gain from it. It's heavy with metaphor and it may seem like a difficult read at first but if you stay on track, everything will fall into place once you get closer to the last chapter. As for a chapter, the first one is over 100 pages long, and even if you stumble and fall, Morley knows you'll want to get up, dust off, and get back on his ride. "Words And Music" is very much about music, but it's also about Morley and his love of music, his love of writing, but also his love/hate relationship with it all. He at times (if not most of the time) turns the mirror on himself, which may be a way of reflecting the mirror on you to figure out how and why the music you listen to is as powerful as it could and should be. Outside of being analytical, it's very funny and very Morley. If you're at all familiar with his liner notes, you should know what you're getting into. It's like reading the back of a ZTT album cover, times 100. It's incredibly researched, making the connection between the creative minds of the 18th and 19th centuries, the feel and touch of instrumentation and a curiosity about new technology being incorporated into the music we've create and listened to in the 20th and 21st centuries. For the musical journeyman in all of us, a mandatory read.