Page 64 - JULY - SEPTEMBER 2024 NEW TITLES_Neat

GHOSTS: JOURNEYS TO POST-POP

HOW DAVID SYLVIAN, MARK HOLLIS AND KATE BUSH

REINVENTED POP MUSIC

Matthew Restall

ISBN 978-1-78952-334-8

9 7 8 1 7 8 9 5 2 3 3 4 8
Publication: 29 AUGUST 2024
th
ISBN: 9781789523348
Price: £20
Binding: Paperback

Format: 210 x 148 mm
Extent: 224 pp
Illustrated: 16 colour pages
Thema: AVLP Popular Music

Comparative title: 9781789520972 Kate Bush On Track
• Written by a respected author and academic.
• Discusses the work of these three artists, whose
work and lives took similar paths, in one book for
the first time.
• All three had considerable commercial success.

Three music-obsessed, suburban London teenagers set out to
make their own kind of pop music: Kate Bush became an
overnight star, while success came to David Sylvian (and
Japan), and to Mark Hollis (and Talk Talk) after years of
struggle. But when their unique talents brought them
international acclaim, they turned their backs on stardom. ‘Just
Sonic Bond podcast at http://www.sonicbondbookcast.co.uk/ when I think I’m winning,’ sang Sylvian on ‘Ghosts,’ a 1982
Japan hit, ‘when my chance came to be king, the ghosts of my
Matthew Restall is an historian of Latin America and of popular life grew wilder than the wind.’ Haunted by doubt, spooked by
music. London-born, and raised in England, Spain, Venezuela, and fame, shocked by the industry’s classism, sexism, and
Japan, he currently holds the Sparks Professorship in History and rapacity, Sylvian, Hollis, and Bush were driven to brave new
Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. Having destinations by multiple factors: creative originality and the
written some thirty books on Latin American history, his first book on inspiration of artists from every genre; the turmoil of personal
pop music was Blue Moves in the 33 1/3 series, and he is now writing relationships and inner psychological struggles. Along the
way, as sacrifices were made – bands, friendships, marriages,
On Elton for Oxford’s Opinionated Guides series. He dreams of the trappings of stardom – and experiments were pursued with
retiring to write on nothing but pop until he drops. matthewrestall.com dogged fearlessness, these musicians forged something new,
changing how we hear pop music and the role of its creators
in modern society.

Sales: Star Book Sales LLP Ghosts uses the Sylvian, Hollis, and Bush journeys to define
T: 01404 515050 post-pop for the first time. Weaving together memoir,
E: enquiries@starbooksales.com biography, musicology, cultural criticism, and history, the book

Orders: Combined Book Services Ltd. shows how the story is both personal – as individual artists
Email: orders@combook.co.uk struggled with their own ghosts – and contextual, a larger
Phone: 01892 837171 history of pop music, popular culture, and the creative process
itself. The post-pop story is about music and fame, ambition
Prices and specifications are provisional and are subject to change and fear, happiness and melancholy. As a journey from noise
without notice. 07/03/2024 to silence, the journey to post-pop is ultimately about life itself.