Review by Booklist Review
In this frequently captivating but somewhat misnamed debut book from Rogers, coauthored with science writer Ogas, the Berklee College of Music professor outline seven areas that define musical taste: authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm, and timbre. Through these categories, Rogers carefully dissects music ranging from the Beatles to Daft Punk and beyond. While the book at first seems like a primer on the intricacies of musical taste, Rogers and Ogas end up revealing more about the business of music than the subtitle suggests. With an accessible and explanatory style, Rogers details her background and experience as she takes readers on this musical journey. Throughout, Rogers cues readers to listen to specific songs that illustrate her points, and a streaming playlist of the songs discussed in the book is promised, though was not yet available at the time of review.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"Be it records or romantic partners, we fall in love with the ones who make us feel like our best and truest self," writes music producer and neuroscientist Rogers in this pitch-perfect deep dive into the power of music. Determined to ascertain how and why music resonates so strongly with its listeners, Rogers--the chief engineer for Prince's Purple Rain--breaks down the emotional and scientific importance of lyrics, melody, rhythm, and timbre. In brainy yet breezy prose, she explores how a song's melody can actually be more impactful than its lyrics; how audiences crave to hear lyrics they can relate to; and why making music with others facilitates a sense of belonging: "Communal music making bypasses the need to express your musical self as an individual, letting you fuse your identity with something larger than yourself." Most resonant is Rogers's fascinating foray into the ways the mind and music connect; because "our auditory circuitry has more varied and direct connections to our emotion circuitry than does our visual circuity," she writes, "music activates our mind wandering network--and our personal self--more easily and fully than any other art form." Combining erudite analysis with plenty of soul, this will have music lovers rapt. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Rogers, who worked with Prince on his 1984 album Purple Rain and produced the 1998 Barenaked Ladies hit "One Week," lays out seven dimensions of experiencing music--four musical dimensions (melody, lyrics, rhythm, timbre) and three aesthetic dimensions (authenticity, realism, novelty)--that create an individual's unique listener profile. Cognitive neuroscientist Rogers, now a professor at Berklee College of Music, and her coauthor, science writer Ogas, write chapters covering each of the seven dimensions, usually beginning with an anecdote from Rogers's career before explaining the dimension and the neuroscience behind it. Rogers uses the idea of a "record pull"--sharing personally meaningful albums or songs for discussion--to illustrate her points. While pitched as a method of self-understanding through music, the book doesn't enumerate concrete steps or tools (like a questionnaire) that would help readers to create their own music profiles. Although the book's neuroscience can be dry at times, Rogers's personal anecdotes shine. VERDICT As long as readers are up for a record pull, they won't be disappointed. Sure to appeal to many popular music lovers, particularly young adults.--Nancy H. Fontaine
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Liberace or Lyle Lovett? What we listen to speaks volumes about us. In this blend of neuroscience and audiophilia, Rogers, who describes herself as "one of the very few successful female record producers in the profoundly male-dominated industry," has spent a lot of time thinking about the meaning of listening to music. One of her great conversation starters is a "record pull," asking the person or people you're with to play their favorite tunes and, in turn, putting yours on the table in a fearless exercise in "self-discovery." The records you offer have predictive value. For example, if you like David Bowie, you might like Lou Reed--whom Rogers declined to work with on the grounds that she was a little too methodical for the improvisational project he had in mind. Writing with neuroscientist Ogas, Rogers identifies seven dimensions that shape our understanding and appreciation of music, four of them musical (melody, lyrics, rhythm, and timbre) and three "aesthetic" (authenticity, realism, and novelty). Some are obvious: The songs we walk away humming or dancing to catch us in just the right way. The aesthetic dimensions are subtler. On the matter of authenticity, Rogers holds up the example of the supremely horrible band the Shaggs, who made up in fearlessness what they couldn't muster in musical skill ("Incompetence. Embarrassing, unsalvageable, breathtaking incompetence"). Interestingly, Rogers argues that nature and nurture play roles in determining musical taste. We have a certain genetic propensity for some kinds of music, but more to the point, it's experience and exposure that help shape our tolerance for novelty (Zappa or Stockhausen, anyone?) and desire for believability (Hank Williams versus, say, Milli Vanilli). Refreshingly, Rogers urges that we rid ourselves of snobbery, for musical taste is broadly various: "It is the limitless diversity of listener profiles that fuels the infinitely rich art form we love." An intriguing look at how what enters our ears shapes our minds. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
