by ChrisEYoung on Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:27 pm
Hi All
Well, first of all apologies for posting too many times on you site, was not sure how it worked, but guess everyone is logged in and has access to all areas.
MIxed comments from your group. Thankfully, the negative comments have not been replicated in other areas that the publisher has announced the availability of the book, but we thrive on criticism not just praise!
I guess I am somewhat surprised by people writing this book off on the basis of an announcement and maybe 1000 words of excerpts from a 250,000 word book. All I would say is that is you are after a Martin Power book updated, you will be disappointed. This book attempts to "interpret" Sylvian's personal, spiritual, and musical evolution, not report it. Of course, any book tracking 30 years of a composers career will touch on areas you already know about, but hopefully it will delve into many areas that are new.
It is not an academic book. It is however thoughtful, and does not dwell on what David chooses to do on a Friday night and what he eats for his dinner, but does focus on developments in his personal and spiritual life and how that affects his musical output.
The premise behind the book is to understand how someone moves from mainstream popular music, with all that implies in terms of lucrative and potentially short-lived fame, to the "periphery" to become one of the most enigmatic but innovative modern composers around today.
It has been written from the perspective of a fan of 30 years plus, and finding out what I did while researching fascinated me, so I hope it will also fascinate you. I am confident that while obviously not everyone is ignorant of everything in the book, that even the most well informed follower of David's work will find themselves surprised by some of the findings of my work.
Ultimately, if you are unconvinced, don't buy the book. We only wanted to make people aware of its availability, and from there it is down to you.
Finally. some people are commenting that the release date of 12th December is a cynical ploy to get Christmas sales. The book was competed in October, and has only been delayed while attaining official licenses from David's copyright holders.
Hope this explains a little further, and would be happy to give some real insight into the book if people have questions.
Thanks
Chris