Unbound Publishing (label)
24 March 2024 (released)
08 March 2024
Book Review: OneTrackMinds – True Stories about Life-Changing Songs edited by Kristian Brodie and Adam Shakinovsky
The book OneTrackMinds – True Stories about Life-Changing Songs originated as a live show, where writers, musicians and creatives discussed a life-changing, and epoch-altering song that they heard, and the impact it had on them.
With writers such as Inua Ellams, Joe Dunthorne, Stella Duffy, and many others the songs are a rich variety, ranging from pop to blues, jazz and even more outré faire.
Music is a universal force, linking people and generations, where one song can speak for a whole generation, and change how a musician or a writer views the world. It is a bijou version of Desert Island Discs, with more given to one song than to the eight we are more used to on Radio 4.
The book is a good variety of experiences, with both music and the acts that a song inspired in the subject. So, we have chapters that encompass Leicester and the video nasties boom, then we have stories about AHA’s video for Take on Me, or the heavy metal becoming entranced by the sound and very individual style of Daniel Johnston.
The individual chapters in the book are only short, with many being only 5 or so pages long. There would have been time for a longer discussion during the live shows, and the edited versions perhaps don’t show the emotion that a live show would bring, with ad-libs and ideas built upon as the conversation progresses.
The fact that there are QR codes on every song, with which the reader can access the songs is also a good thing and allows for the discovery of new music, as well as new ideas, writers, people and ways of looking at the world.
