A Mess of Help: From the Crucified Soul of Rock N Roll

by David Zahl

267 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

David Zahl is the director of Mockingbird Ministries and editor-in-chief of the Mockingbird blog. He and his wife currently reside in Charlottesville, VA, with their two sons where David also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church.

Reviews

[Benedict · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. It's deep without being dense; it moves quickly and presents its comments in a fairly straightforward way. Knowing the artist or band that a given chapter covers definitely helps -- the coverage of the Beatles or the Beach Boys took me back to my childhood tape deck days full of that music that my parents introduced me to -- but I got at least a little something out of each section. Some of the anecdotes are fantastic (e.g., George Harrison responding to an interview question about how he'd like to be remembered by saying, 'Why would I need to be remembered?').

It's not a life-changer, but I learned a lot about music, and it helped draw me back into my own love affair with the deeper layers of human story that musicians often put into their art. It got me thinking about how much is behind those simple lyrics, and how wonderful it is when some turn-of-phrase speaks right down into the core of us. Definitely worth reading; I recommend a chapter a night before bed!