God Is in the Radio

by Barney Hoskyns

Overview

God Is in the Radio gathers 50 pieces from 40 years of writing passionately about music. A former mainstay of NME and MOJO – and author of such acclaimed books as Hotel California and Small Town Talk – Barney Hoskyns hymns the artists that have thrilled and moved him most, from Frank Sinatra to Amy Winehouse, via the Cocteau Twins and Queens of the Stone Age. Together with acts as varied as Laura Nyro and Luther Vandross, Burial and Bobby Womack, these are the "unbridled enthusiasms" that – for Hoskyns – dissolve the rationalisation of feeling, producing a sense of rapture that borders on religious ecstasy. Spanning multiple decades and moments of music history, and containing personal reflections as well as recommendations, this is a poignant and evocative must-read book from one of the UK's foremost music writers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913172381
Publisher:	Omnibus Press
Publication date:	10/07/2021
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Barney Hoskyns is the co-founder and editorial director of Rock's Backpages, the online library of music journalism. He wrote regularly for NME in the Eighties, and is a former contributing editor at British Vogue and US correspondent for MOJO. He is the author of—among many other books—the bestselling Hotel California (2006), Lowside of the Road (2009), Small Town Talk (2016) and the addiction memoir Never Enough (2017). He has written for The Guardian, Uncut, Spin, Rolling Stone, GQ, and many other publications. barneyhoskyns.com

Table of Contents

Preface: Speech Of The Heart xi

1 Short Cuts

1 What's New: Frank Sinatra 3

2 In Between The Heartaches: Burt Bacharach 5

3 Cry To Me: Bert Berns 8

4 Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time: Thorn Bell 11

5 Natural Woman: Aretha Franklin 14

6 Dangerous Liaison: Eddie Hinton 16

7 Simply Beautiful: Al Green 20

8 Who's Gonna Fill His Shoes: George Jones 23

9 Gone Solo: Sandy Denny 25

10 Changing Trains: David Bowie 29

11 Gimme Friction: Television 34

12 Forbidden Love: Chic 37

13 The Eternal: Joy Division 39

14 Boys Keep Swinging: Associates 42

15 I Remember That: Prefab Sprout 44

16 Come As You Are: Nirvana 46

17 Deaf School: Queens of the Stone Age 49

18 The Hunter: Björk 51

19 The Revivalist: Gillian Welch 54

20 A Rose Through The Concrete: Mary J. Blige 57

21 I Want You: Rufus Wainwright 61

22 Love Among The Ruins: Burial 64

23 Drawn To The Blood: Sufjan Stevens 66

24 Have One On Her: Joanna Newsom 69

25 Mourning And Melancholia: Grizzly Bear 72

2 Long Players

1 God is In The Radio: The Beach Boys 77

2 That Demon Life: Keith Richards 86

3 Further Up The Road: Bobby Bland 95

4 In A Cold Sweat: James Brown 99

5 Music Of His Mind: Stevie Wonder 105

6 Looking At The Devil: Sly Stone 117

7 Doing It His Way: Bobby Womack 126

8 Right Place, Right Time: Dr. John 138

9 Still Is Still Moving To Me: Willie Nelson 146

10 The Ol' Sonofabitch: Lee Hazlewood 151

11 Dark Angel: Laura Nyro 161

12 My Life Is Good: Randy Newman 172

13 Curb Your Enthusiasm: Steely Dan 178

14 Heart Food And Dark Peace: Judee Sill 186

15 Sky Writer: Jimmy Webb 195

16 Nothing Can Stop Him: Robert Wyatt 201

17 A Little Knowledge: Scritti Politti 209

18 Lonely Kind: Luther Vandross 218

19 The Spangle Makers: Cocteau Twins 223

20 I Want To Take You Higher: Spiritualized 239

21 Darker Days: PJ Harvey 246

22 Long Player: Ron Sexsmith 250

23 A Passing Feeling: Elliott Smith 259

24 The Revelator: Jack White 265

25 A Song For Her: Amy Winehouse 278