Reviews

How Music Works by David Byrne

everything_was_beautiful's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

westonculture's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this. It's a music bio, social commentary, industry expose, production notebook and scurry through history all at once. I have to admit that some of the "this is how we achieved this particular sound on this album" did get a bit tiring but it did help me understand the significance of Byrne's unique approach. I'm sure musicians and fans would find those sections fascinating. Overall, the book heightened my appreciation of music and the people and processes involved in making it work.

wadezone's review against another edition

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3.0

The book was okay. I guess I was expecting something different. The book does contain some very historical information.

mattthew's review against another edition

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4.0

This was dense - took me a year to read! While wanky in parts (wish I could have pressed snooze on some of the philosophical and ~spiritual~ nonsense), I thoroughly enjoyed most of this - particularly the history of New York’s music scene, how money in the music industry works (disgusting) and of course, all things Talking Heads.

A standout quote on CDs:
‘We are seduced by convenience. It’s music in pill form, it delivers vitamins, it does the job, but something is missing.’

Thank you David Byrne for justifying my unhealthy habit of collecting records

mattrw88's review against another edition

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No Rating

motobart's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

For any music lover, this book is a must read. There are SO many interesting tidbits, I found myself constantly looking forward to discovering more as I read. There are some slow parts, but Byrne writes in a conversational way without condescension that keeps things even and compelling. I learned a lot more about music, art, and life from this book.

wadefox's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a great book to just dive into. It could easily have been two or three books. Byrne covers a wide array of subjects. Although the autobiographical aspects might not be for nonfans, he covers so much that any music lover should enjoy this. This may be my favorite book I read this year.

joannchilada's review against another edition

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5.0

I have that ache at the end of a good book where you wish there was more, but it’s over, and you’ll also never read it for the first time again. Music theory, history, art, science, economics, etc- plus David Byrne’s personal experiences and beliefs. Information that spans from the Big Bang (as music) to when the book was written. Byrne is very open to what music can be, and proves his viewpoint that it should be accessible to all. Even the most potentially dry information was interesting - and often funny. Sad it’s over, happy I had the experience.

pjb_reads's review against another edition

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5.0

David writes in a captivating and open hearted way. His music is definitely also!

cthulhu_calamari's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0