You can find my review on Open Letters Review:
https://openlettersreview.com/posts/the-endless-refrain-by-david-rowell

My thanks to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for an advance copy of this book that looks at how and why people listen to music, the songs that remind them of the best times, even when played not by the original singers, and in some cases not even by humans.

During COVID I found that a person who used to be my manager at the music store had opened up his own place a few states away. After things calmed down, I went for a trip to see him and see his store. Walking in was like walking in to the store I used to work at. The posters featured the same bands, the setup was close, smaller, but still organized the same. The music playing was exactly what would have been playing if he was working. I felt like I had fallen into a time tunnel, though the air was a lot less funky. In catching up I found that his music taste hadn't really changed much. A few new bands, but except for the receding hairlines, I felt that were continuing a conversation from 1993. I love music. I came to it late, starting in middle school, maybe high school. I still feel I am catching up on music, and yet I continue to look for new sounds. Maybe it was because I was a person who liked songs that made me happy when it rained. Many of the people I know are not like this. They seemed to find a musical endpoint, and stopped. This has always been something I wondered about, and it seems so did David Rowell. A long time music journalist for the Washington Post has written a book about music, The Endless Refrain: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Threat to New Music, about what the music industry has done wrong, what streaming continues to do, what the future holds, and why do people feel they aren't making songs like the used to.

The book is broken into three sections Why people don't seem to care about new music, the rise of the cover bands, and the future of touring with holograms, allowing the dead, Grateful or other, to continue singing there songs till the world ends. The first section deals with the fact that new music doesn't seem to have any lasting power. This includes bands from this century, and the previous. I remember years ago a comic strip about a band playing a song that people were weeping over, the next panel saying this is from our new record, and the last panel being an empty arena. This seems very common. Rowell even starts the chapter asking if people want new music anymore. Rowell shows that the viewers for both the Grammys and the MTV music awards are down. Big acts come out with new albums that disappear on the charts, while Greatest Hits collections continue to sell. Rowell looks at the industry, particularly streaming, but finds that many in the industry don't want to talk about this, though they are interested in the subject. Rowell looks at the rise of cover bands, and how people seem to want those songs that spoke to them, the songs that remind people of the better times, while drinking their vodka drink or whiskey drink, just to quote Chumbawamba. And the idea of hologram rock stars, ones who will never burn out or fade away, singing familiar songs in thousands of venues from Vegas to Dubai.

I really enjoyed this book as Rowell seemed to have the same questions I have always had. Why? I knew people who loved music, and yet they seem to hit a certain year, and that's it. Yes one has responsibilities, and life does get in the way, but their music seems to be their Glory Days, and the idea of trying something new seems like such an anathema to people. Many say people don't know how to write songs, or why even bother. Music to paraphrase one women seems to begin and end with Journey. Rowell is a very good writer, and is able to talk to people musicians in cover bands, fans, other critics, even a person at McDonald's about why all the songs we seem to hear in public are from the 20th century. Rowell does not inject himself, though you do get an idea what he is thinking. And one can tell he loves music, not only his favorite band Yes, but all kinds of music, and that is really apparant in the writing.

One of my favorite music books, one that made me wonder about people I knew, and come up with some answers. Working in books it has taken me a long time to just admit to myself that not every book is for me. Let others enjoy something. Music I guess is the same thing. Though I will never understand cover bands. A book that people who love music didn't know they needed, and one that really asks a lot of questions. Not only about music, but what people might need in their lives. This modern world might be a little too much, maybe the world needs a a power ballad to get us through.

Melville House Publishing provided an early galley for review.

I am very much a music junkie. My personal digital library has tens of thousands of tracks in it. I very much enjoy variety.

Yet, as Rowell discusses in his book, I often tend to gravitate towards certain eras of music. I'll spend a good block of time on a specific music decade (both in my playlist listens and in the car via satellite radio). The familiar is comforting and connected to memories of the past.

On the other hand, I do my best to try to stay current with new music as well. As collection developer for my library branches' adult CDs, it is important that I am up on newer artists and releases to best serve my patron base. Occasionally I will discover new artists that I enjoy and will want to add to my music mix. But, as Rowell points out, those tend to not get as exhaustive of listens like I did with albums back in the day.

The book itself has three major sections, bookended by an introduction and conclusion. While I might have preferred that the meat of the discussion to have been broken up into smaller subchapters, I understand why the author went with the approach he did. Like albums of old, this is meant to be consumed fully as an entity rather than parts that could be jumped around or skipped. Since I tend to listen to my music as album plays, I respect that choice.

In the end, this is not a book for answers but instead to leave the reader with questions about how and why we consume the music that we do.