Every Song Ever

October 26, 2015
New York Times music critic Ratliff (Coltrane: The Story of a Sound) is known mainly for his books on jazz, but in this insightful guide to contemporary music appreciation, genre limitations are off the table. Proclaiming proudly his purposes of “listening for pleasure, and listening to more,” Ratliff demonstrates 20 contexts in which music can be appreciated, now that centuries of masterpieces are available through the Internet. Ratliff employs a “strategy of openness” that
dispenses with genre barriers, freeing himself to make leaps of musical logic. Famous artists such as Neil Young and the Jackson 5 share space alongside lesser-known acts such as Sleep and Aztec Camera. Ratliff’s scholarship shines; there’s a lot to be said for a book on music appreciation that can draw apt parallels between DJ Screw and Bernstein’s rendition of Mahler’s ninth symphony. Ratliff helpfully includes playlists after every chapter. Agent: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency.

November 15, 2015
A veteran New York Times critic, Ratliff here goes beyond the focus on jazz in his previous books (The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music, 2008) to explore the consumption of music in its widest variety and availability. This is the critical equivalent of a series of mixtapes, the playlists compiled (now on computer rather than cassette) to share favorite music and to illuminate and entertain through juxtaposition. Streaming and downloading have made just about everything available to just about everyone, for better and worse, as programming algorithms strive to give listeners more of what they like rather than push them into unfamiliar territory. Urging "a strategy of openness" and offering "a spirit in which to hear things that may have been kept away from you," the author proceeds to analyze common elements--sadness, silence, intimacy, density, virtuosity--among musical performances and styles that aren't often considered to have much in common. At the end of each chapter is a playlist of the music covered. The best essay, "Blues Rules: Sadness," is as startling as it is provocative, meandering its way to what might typically be considered blues through the haunted mortality of Nick Drake, some Mozart, and then proceeding to Slayer and Black Sabbath. One senses that the author could write a whole book on heavy metal: "it's all inverse gospel, and the code for listening to it is as complex as gospel's." Other essays are all over the musical map, but it's fascinating how Ratliff can bring a fresh ear to such familiar music--making the Beatles the centerpiece of a chapter on "Closeness" while the Rolling Stones are their polar opposites in the power of "Discrepancy"--and how inviting he makes some little-known music sound, particularly when everything is so available. A collection of essays that makes unlikely connections that will encourage music fans to listen beyond categorical distinctions and comfort zones--though reading the book feels a little incomplete without the listening that should accompany the experience.

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February 1, 2016
In this age of access and abundance, the seemingly impossible dream of listening to every song ever recorded now appears to be within our grasp. And with this overwhelming cornucopia of musical options comes the challenge of deciphering and filtering the sounds that we listen to. Departing from the precedent set by Aaron Copland's classic What to Listen for in Music (1939), Ratliff (The Jazz Ear, 2008), a New York Times music critic, veers away from discussing such musical terms as melody, harmony, and rhythm and, instead, concentrates on such categories as repetition, stubbornness, virtuosity, density, sadness, community, and the perfect moment. Drawing on his expansive knowledge and eclectic taste, Ratliff breaks down the act of listening to music into 20 distinct chapters, making perceptive connections between artists ranging from Shostakovich to Ali Akbar Khan to the Jackson 5, and on to the Beatles, Phish, the Mothers of Invention, and Kanye West. Ratliff's primer, while often dense and obscure, is filled with bold statements, close listenings, and playlists and will be immensely rewarding for those who stick with it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2015

Given the practically unlimited access we have to songs today, New York Times jazz critic Ratliff (The Jazz Ear) argues we should experience music in a way differently than from the way we did in the past. Instead of focusing on genres, for example, the author suggests that we listen for repetition, improvisation, and intimacy. With his encyclopedic knowledge of music both popular and obscure, Western and Eastern, and traditional and experimental, Ratliff provides a stunning breadth of examples to work out each of the 20 categories of listening he has devised. In a chapter on density, he conjures up examples from Miles Davis, rumba artists Patato & Totico, Beethoven, R&B singer Chaka Khan, and the Eighties industrial rock act Big Black. The results can be overwhelming, especially since Ratliff's categories often overlap. If the author had reduced the number of categories here, he would have been able to fully explore each facet. VERDICT Despite the issues mentioned above, this ambitious book is well worth reading. Though intended for a broad audience, it is geared more toward music cognoscenti looking for new material and fresh ways to listen, rather than casual listeners. [See Prepub Alert, 8/10/15.]--Brian Flota, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015

There's an astonishing range of music ready to effervesce under our fingertips with just a click of the mouse, and Ratliff, longtime jazz and pop critic at the New York Times, argues that what matters now is not what the composer intended or how the music was recorded but how we shape our listening experience.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.