A book of interviews offering in-depth conversations about the craft of writing songs. It's fascinating how differently these writers approach their work.
Damon Albarn seems restlessly drawn to the discovery of new sounds and directions, identifying "joy in mystery". Noel Gallagher, in contrast, seems to lack any musical curiosity, admitting he'd often rather go to the pub than write songs. He does, at least, acknowledge his failings. On Be Here How: "I listen to those words now and cringe. I was heavily into drugs at that point and didn't give a fuck." It's surprising just how honest he is about the limitations that, ultimately, prevent him from creating great work: "I'm not one of the world's great thinkers. Damon Albarn said this once in an interview: he can 'see four black dudes playing cards in a pub in Notting Hill and write a symphony about it'. I could see the same four black dudes and to me it's just four black dudes playing cards. It's just how you perceive things in life. I'm not a great reader of books; I'm not a great art lover." Later, he says: "It's difficult for me because I haven't got a lot to say."
It's refreshing how articulate and perceptive so many of the book's subjects are – for example, Joan Armatrading, Bryan Ferry, Robin Gibb (Bee Gees) and Squeeze's Difford and Tilbrook. The Pet Shop Boys may be the most witty and chatty of them all. Less interesting are the interviews with Mick Jones of The Clash, Sting and – especially – Annie Lennox.
Particularly illuminating is a conversation with XTC's Andy Partridge, who talks vividly about the process and inspiration behind his songs: "You're digging around in your guts and you pull up an idea, a concept or a thought and it just comes flopping out like some big, wriggly, wet fish. 'Oh my goodness, where was that hiding, whoa!', 'That is so sad, what made me bring that up?' I've been known to blub like an idiot...Sometimes you do go real deep down, scrimmaging around like a lucky dip. Your psyche is this barrel of bran…’'There's something!' I've paid my sixpence: I'm going to hoick it out, but it's not till you've got it out in the open and pull the wrapping paper off: ‘Ah, it's a hand grenade. I've pulled out a really uncomfortable personal feeling,’ or ‘Wow, that's really jolly, I do feel that great.' You can hoick out all sorts of stuff that you're not always expecting to.”
Three small criticisms:
1. The dates of the interviews are often not given. It would be useful to know the exact point that each writer spoke about their career, as in most cases that career was still unfolding at the time of the conversation.
2. The book feels over-designed and the black-and-white portrait photography gives it a certain “coffee-table” seriousness but ultimately adds little.
3. The overviews that introduce each subject could have been much shorter: two or three sentences would have been fine.
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