Customer Reviews

Noise: The Political Economy of Music (Theory and History of Literature, Vol. 16)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sometimes lazy people like to use phrases like "literary{wind} " to justify their inability to understand difficult topics, or to cover for their own, lacking, vocabularies. The foregoing review did just that. The fact is, sometimes precise thought demands precise language.

Anyway, this book provides valuable insight into the relationship of fringe art/music, and the future of society. Attali postulates that society is founded upon the idea that bad noise must be subverted. Therefore, all forces effecting social change, at some time, have been subverted. Given time though, they find their way into society by way of, here, music, and begin to cause change.

This is a very interesting and well conceived book. A great read for philosophy student and musician alike. It puts a new spin on the effect of music on culture, and the reciprocal relationship between art and society. Good stuff.

In closing, and in response to the previous reviewer, "college isn't taken as seriously as it once was" simply because the hallowed halls are clogged with students who readily dismiss works of sound thought because they don't like having to look up words or work for their own enlightenment.ENDs

This is an essential work for anyone interested in the sociology of music. The author follows 2 significant threads of thought in this work; the commidification of music, and music as indicator (predictor) of social change. Using sophisiticated but well written theories and examples Attali demonstrates how music acts as the subconsciousness of society, validating and testing new social and political realities. Among the powerful analogies he draws is that of how modern people stockpile musical recordings, in some instances more than can possibly ever listen too, much in the same way nations stockpile weapons. In describing the evolution of the orchestra he compares the conductor to the king conducting his flanks of violins and horns with the same dictorial presence of command as one would dispatch foot soldiers and calvaries. Attali clearly has a passion for music drawing examples from Bach to improvisational jazz. In the end this is an optimistic book, illuminating indications of both social and musical evolution during the 20th century. D.L. Jonsson <Reviewer>

A musicology professor of mine recommended I use this book in a presentation I gave on aesthetics. I compared Attali's approach to that of Benjamin and Adorno and found myself highlighting and smiling and nodding. I found this book to be so brilliant and hopeful (where Adorno was so pessimistic) that I used it again in a presentation for another graduate musicology seminar.

If you don't like to read books that use complex sentences and multi-syllabic words, you should not be in higher education in the first place. Attali makes arguments that may seem outlandish, but with more thought and consideration, prove to be intelligent, fresh, and seemingly common sense.

I agree with the difficulty in the read, but I will blame it on a poor translation than Attali's writing prowess (not that I have compared with the French version). The ideas in the book are not very complex, so they do not necessarily require such awkward phrasing.

It is too bad, because there is a lot of value in this text, but its language is holding it back from reaching a wider audience, which is sort of ironic since Attali urges renewed study and composition of music by non-specialists. Many advanced topics (which this text does not really contain) can be explained to almost anyone if they truly understand a topic. If a new edition is printed, please revise the translation!!

... because it is so outrageous to be brilliantly thought provoking. Sometimes I think he is out to lunch and I am not confident that he understands everything he wrote. (or maybe the translation is not right.) Still, the mythology he presents is detailed and well developed and whether you agree with it or not, is fascinating.

There is a lot of coverage of European classical music in terms of "Who is paying whom" as well as the current recording industry. He also gets some things wrong, such as his coverage of Free Jazz (Carly Bley is black?), to which he nevertheless is sympathetic towards.

Therefore, I don't know how much you can trust his conclusions, but at the same time it gets the reader's mind to consider all sorts of new facets, and that is why this book is great.

... because it is so outrageous to be brilliantly thought provoking. Sometimes I think he is out to lunch and I am not confident that he understands everything he wrote. (or maybe the translation is not right.) Still, the mythology he presents is detailed and well developed and whether you agree with it or not, is fascinating.

There is a lot of coverage of European classical music in terms of "Who is paying whom" as well as the current recording industry. He also gets some things wrong, such as his coverage of Free Jazz (Carly Bley is black?), to which he nevertheless is sympathetic towards.

Therefore, I don't know how much you can trust his conclusions, but at the same time it gets the reader's mind to consider all sorts of new facets, and that is why this book is great.

The music industry is on trial as well as it should be. The cloning of America starts with it's youth, and when Bill Graham closed the Fillmore East in 1971 it was due to the capitalism of the recording industry. Image formula's, profit puppets, and total escape became the norm. What is interesting here is that Attali looks at serious contemporary composition as the only hope to create new forms and provides us with social parallels. That is exactly what John Cage was thinking. The only real freedom is internal, but through exposed sound structures multiperspectives on reality - our current situation will eventually collapse. As Varese said, "The modern day composer refuses to die."

This is simply one of the very best books I've ever read in my life. If you're interested in music, or maybe about, don't laugh, the meaning of life in general, this text is a total eye-opener. I just don't look at things the same way as I did before I read it. Very provocative and sophisticated, but very clearly written, needs 100% concentration on the subject and an open mind. Basically renders most of the traditional musicology and approach to music useless. Asks more questions than it answers, but hey, you'll gain new persepective. Rad

This text was a required reading for a college course I took, and it basically summarizes why college isn't taken as seriously as it once was. This purely indulgent, pretentious work ruins any chance of an actual point with jumbled phrases such as "...neither an autonomous activity nor an automatic indicator of the economic infrastructure..." Personally, this is thoroughly unreadable and unenjoyable; it was much more of a chore to get through than it was worth. Attali needs to quit with the literary masturbation and realize that while having a large vocabulary is admirable, he should perhaps learn to "eschew obfuscation", pun fully intended.