The Music in my Head

by Mark Hudson

The world revolves and so the movement of musical cross-currents, interacting and enmeshing across its surface, grows denser by the day. Only one man can make sense of it all, and his name is Andrew "Litch" Litchfield, sometime record-producer, loose-cannon A&R man, epic ligger and hype artist.

Genres: Music

304 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite novels, not so much that it's beautifully written, but the fact that it masterfully celebrates 'style' over 'storyline'. Mark Hudson's vivid and immoderate descriptions are so feverishly gushing and hyperbolic that the 'purple prose' brilliantly highlights and underscores the shallow and superficial nature of his lead character. Andrew 'Litch' Litchfield is a washed up, very minor figure in the music industry who, a couple of decades earlier, inadvertently stumbled upon the music of West African bandleader, Sajar Jopp, and was able to garner him some much needed international recognition. In a masterful and unceasing exhibition of self-delusion, Litch has always blindly maintained that it was his uncanny appreciation and understanding of all that is great in popular music that allowed him to pluck Sajar Jopp from obscurity, yet the fact of the matter is that it was probably just chance. The book provides a delightfully detailed description of a man who loves music, but distances himself from the music itself, and actually is just more enthralled with the 'idea' of great pop music. Litch Litchfield is a man who is driven by his own very misconstrued notions about himself and his relationship to nearly everything, and he is undoubtedly my most favorite 'unreliable narrator' that I have ever come across.

If you are an avid collector of music or a fan of the sounds of West Africa, or auditorily addicted to nearly any genre of music, this might be the book for you. The overpowering allure and intensity of the love for any kind of popular music seems to come from the same place, and if you share that frenzied view, you'll have no trouble recognizing Litchfield's diabolically distorted 'take' on the nature of True Pop. And, this novel also has a soundtrack (THE MUSIC IN MY HEAD-various artists) by the same name and serves as an excellent introduction to the real musicians on the 70's and 80's African Pop Scene. Hudson uses pseudonyms for most of his characters, and Sajar Jopp is modeled rather closely on Fela Kuti or King Sunny Ade. And, Litch Litchfield might be any one of a myriad of fanzine and magazine writers, borderline musical producers, and self-deluded 'movers and shakers' who are hypnotically drawn to the Music Biz.

[Wes Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel about the music scene in fictional N'Galam, metropolitan capitol of the equally fictional African nation of Tekrur. Protagonist is Andrew Litchfield, a music producer, promoter, label owner, and the UK industry's go-to fella for world music. Book outlines the protagonist's ambivalence about Africa, his whiteness, and being middle-aged. (N'Galam, Tekrur, seems to be Dakar, Senegal, and Litchfield's superstar musician protege Sajar Jopp is, I think, Youssou N'Dour or a composite of a few different Senegalese musicians [Jopp's curriculum vitae seems to match up pretty well with N'Dour's in any case].) Hudson's story is all over the place, and he contrasts the unlikeable protagonist's unctuous self-promotion with his European paranoia so regularly, that the contradictions and incoherence herein might be devices he's using to recount the spastic, burbling monologue of a 50-year-old white dude coming to grips with not being black. On the other hand, the whole thing might just be a big mess.

Duder is definitely into the music and it's more fun than it should be to spot who the characters are (one of them is nakedly Salif Keita and the bad guy is Peter Gabriel!), so book actually reads like porn for record collectors who want a sense of the casually funky, randomly fatal Africa that produced guys like N'Dour, Thione Seck, and bands like Etoile 2000 (Orchestre Fin de Siecle here, I think). ATTN: Other guys who have spent way too much money on music that isn't even in their own language, Mark Hudson done wrote us a book.

[Phil Overeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any record collector and/or hardcore music enthusiastic will love this book, providing he has a little patience with the narrator, who's clearly an author-surrogate. Hudson's descriptions of primarily Senegalese and Malian music played live for an audience are worth the trouble of wading through the unnecessary details he feels obliged to include. Also, the portraits of Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel, and Dakar (all disguised by pseudonyms) are classic. Hudson's negotiations of "Safe European Home"/"Holidays in the Sun"-type scenarios are not always completely satisfying, but at least he works hard not to exempt himself from his own disgruntled conclusions. It takes awhile to get rolling, but it's a highly interesting read, and be sure to snag the two companion CDs on Stern's Africa.

[Hanaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was unlike anything I've ever read before. The reader is literally brought into another world. I know that's vague but I couldn't get enough of it.