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James Acaster

Perfect Sound Whatever: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Hardcover – 22 August 2019

by James Acaster (Author)

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*The Sunday Times Bestseller*

The brand new memoir from James Acaster: cult comedian, bestselling author of Classic Scrapes, undercover cop, receiver of cabbages.

PERFECT SOUND WHATEVER is a love letter to the healing power of music, and how one man's obsessive quest saw him defeat the bullshit of one year with the beauty of another. Because that one man is James Acaster, it also includes tales of befouling himself in a Los Angeles steakhouse, stealing a cookie from Clint Eastwood, and giving drunk, unsolicited pep talks to urinating strangers.

January, 2017

James Acaster wakes up heartbroken and alone in New York, his relationship over, a day of disastrous meetings leading him to wonder if comedy is really what he wants to be doing any more.

A constant comfort in James's life has been music, but he's not listened to anything new for a very long time. Idly browsing 'best of the year' lists, it dawns on him that 2016 may have been a grim year for a lot of reasons, but that it seemed to be an iconic year for music. And so begins a life-changing musical odyssey, as James finds himself desperately seeking solace in the music of 2016, setting himself the task of only listening to music released that year, ending up with 500 albums in his collection.

Looking back on this year-long obsession, parallels begin to grow between the music and James's own life: his relationship history, the highs and lows of human connection, residual Christian guilt, and mental health issues that have been bubbling under the surface for years. Some albums are life-changing masterpieces, others are 'Howdilly Doodilly' by Okilly Dokilly, a metalcore album devoted to The Simpsons' character Ned Flanders, but all of them play a part the year that helped James Acaster get his life back on track.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Headline
Publication date

22 August 2019
Dimensions

16 x 3.6 x 23.8 cm
ISBN-10

1472260309
ISBN-13

978-1472260307
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Review

Immensely comforting - a witty and wise account of the rejuvenating effect of opening yourself up the the creativity of others. ― Record Collector

Loved James Acaster's memoir / epic listicle that posits his theory that 2016 was the best year for music. His dry wit I expected, but was impressed by the real life stories of so many musicians the world over. Paints a striking picture of what it means to be a modern musician. ― Edgar Wright

honest, unaffected, poignant - and, yes, entertaining ― Chortle

James is a phenomenally talented comedian and his music taste is second only to mine. ― Romesh Ranganathan

If, as the pundits say, comedy is like jazz then I'm against it. I didn't drill power chords and feedback techniques just to go fannying about looking for the melody. James Acaster, though, is a bit of an outlier. He's a music wonk with a sense of the ridiculous and his controversial theory that 2016 was the greatest year for music ever is off by a mere five decades. Interesting take, though. ― David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap

Review

Immensely comforting - a witty and wise account of the rejuvenating effect of opening yourself up the the creativity of others. - Record Collector

Loved James Acaster's memoir / epic listicle that posits his theory that 2016 was the best year for music. His dry wit I expected, but was impressed by the real life stories of so many musicians the world over. Paints a striking picture of what it means to be a modern musician. - Edgar Wright

honest, unaffected, poignant - and, yes, entertaining - Chortle

James is a phenomenally talented comedian and his music taste is second only to mine. - Romesh Ranganathan

If, as the pundits say, comedy is like jazz then I'm against it. I didn't drill power chords and feedback techniques just to go fannying about looking for the melody. James Acaster, though, is a bit of an outlier. He's a music wonk with a sense of the ridiculous and his controversial theory that 2016 was the greatest year for music ever is off by a mere five decades. Interesting take, though. - David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Headline; 1st edition (22 August 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1472260309
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1472260307
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16 x 3.6 x 23.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 239,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 525 in Comedy (Books)
- 3,748 in Biographies of Composers & Musicians
- 5,136 in Biographies of Actors & Entertainers

Customer Reviews:
1,247 ratings

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Aaron

Thoroughly enjoyed, am inspired to broaden my horizons!

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 29 August 2019

Verified Purchase

An incredibly insightful reflection into a year that was emotionally horrible for our friend James, yet opened him up to a world of newfound music and talent. I'm in the midst of downloading many new albums after reading this, and I'm sure you will be too! A brilliant comedic mind, only James Acaster can write about such horrible feelings yet frame them in oft-times hilarious ways.

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Martin Jones

Perfect Review Whatever

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 14 September 2019

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Perfect Sound Whatever is James Acaster’s account of his life in 2017, a year of stress, both personally and professionally, from which he took refuge in hundreds of albums released the previous year. As he accumulated these albums he built evidence for the humorous assertion that 2016 was the greatest year in music ever. But the humour hides a deadly serious intent to persuade you that 2016 really was the greatest year in music ever.

As chance would have it, I spent 2016 working my way through Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 500 albums of all time, a project culminating in a list of sixty favourite tracks posted on my blog. So I was always going to love the idea for Perfect Sound Whatever. But did I end up agreeing with this claim that 2016 was the greatest year in music? In answer I would like to mention the time when James has a late night snack in New York. He buys lasagna, heats it up, tucks in with a serving spoon and is disappointed. Later, drunk and desperate he turns to the now cold meal and discovers a magical transformation in its cold creaminess, with crispy bits around the edges. A few days after this gastronomic transfiguration, he tries to recreate the experience with another portion of the same lasagna, using the same oven and the same fridge, only to cook up a disgusting, chilly mess. The one variable in this experiment was the fact that James wasn’t drunk the second time. So, the moral of this tale is that there are two things to consider in judging the music of 2016 - the music and the person listening to it. James was going through a turbulent period in his life, and times of trouble can bring with them a kind of hypersensitivity. I recall very clearly listening to Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick when my father was seriously ill. Every tumbling note from Ian Anderson’s flute sounded like bird song. The Victorians used to say that hunger is the best sauce, and hunger for comfort is sometimes better than Hi-Fi when it comes to music. I think something similar happened to James. Sharpened awareness collided with a lot of good music, which turned out to be as delicious as that first serving of cold lasagna. But was that meal objectively delicious, or subjectively tasty? As George Harrison said in Savoy Truffle, “you know that what you eat you are, but what tastes sweet now turns so sour.”

So I don’t agree that 2016 was the best year in music ever. But my reservations don’t take away from James Acaster’s musical journey and what it meant to him. James, as most of us do at one time or another, felt lost and alone in 2017, and in those times music can be a saviour. From humanity’s earliest days, music has been a way of bringing people together, to work as a team. We see that in all kinds of music from sea shanties and marching tunes, to delirious sing-alongs with Blur at Glastonbury. Of course one lot of marchers can clash with another, so it makes sense to join not with one exclusive crew or marching band, but with the music of humanity in general; and James is very good at throwing himself across all kinds of musical frontiers. Along with hilarious accounts of wretched interactions with healthcare professionals, and disastrous dinner dates with sociopathic women, this musical eclecticism was the most attractive aspect of the book for me - a welcome antidote to the present political situation.

James was an occasionally grumpy, but mostly charming companion who thanked me for reading his book on its final page. The only thing I would suggest is that he is the sort of person who when in the grip of an enthusiasm is affronted if the world does not share his passion. There is a generosity here, and something more difficult, a sense that James’s experience should be everybody else’s. Perhaps the ability to go on your journey, whilst letting others go on theirs, is an equally generous approach. I think, to be fair, there is an acknowledgment of this in the book’s title, Perfect Sound Whatever, taken from a song by Jeff Rosenstock. A perfect sound can also be ordinary or imperfect. No one person, and no one time, has a monopoly on perfection.

Perfect Sound Whatever is an extremely funny and often moving book, with great suggestions if your music listening has become stale and in need of a shake up. I really enjoyed it.

33 people found this helpful

Onetricpony

Whatever...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 7 October 2019

Verified Purchase

I find James Acaster hilariously funny. On TV. On paper, not so much. I struggled through the first 100 pages and have given up. Imagine picking up the likes of Q magazine and reading EVERY review of EVERY album that you are in no way interested in or in now way likely be interested in. That is this book. There are snippets of him talking about his life, but they are single paragraphs interspersed between three page long album reviews which are factually written without and hint of humour. Boring. Dull. Uninteresting. Disappointing.

24 people found this helpful

Richard Palmer

'king James' bible.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 July 2020

Verified Purchase

Sometimes, leaving a bad review feels almost enjoyable. This isn't one of those times. James Acaster seems like such a good bloke, and he doesn't deserve to have his hard work stomped on, but this book was so boring that I feel like it's my duty to warn everybody. Musical taste is such a subjective thing and yet I can't help thinking that James has the worst musical taste of any human being alive. Page after page of superlatives about some of the dullest, samiest albums ever released, and I'm meant to care enough to read it all? No.

But all the same, what a lovely feller. Despite disliking the book I don't regret giving him my money.

8 people found this helpful

Janie U

Breakdown of an emotional year

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 15 May 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is two things mixed together. Half of the book is James Acaster telling us about his life in 2017, a really tough year for him as he split with his girlfriend and took a long time to learn to deal with the emotional fall out. The other half is him talking about the music that he listened to throughout the year, all of which was released in 2016. These two strands are weaved together into a narrative which charts his recovery.
I like his comedy and have enjoyed his previous writing so was engaged with the personal journey. The music sections, however, were very hard to read and it felt such a shame that he stepped away from the emotions.
I found the frequent change in pace between personal and factual quite off putting but I suspect the music allowed him to think about something outside his world and give him time to heal.
This book is the genuine voice of James Acaster and I felt he did a good job to communicate his complicated feelings of 2017.
Some people will connect with the whole book whilst others will prefer one or other of the strands. And, with no idea who James Acaster is, others may hate the whole book - although not sure why you would buy it in the first place!!

One person found this helpful

Amazonian Customer

Frank & self-deprecating - with a LOT of album reviews

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 15 September 2020

Verified Purchase

2017 wasn't a great year for James Acaster. Recently split from his partner and with his relationship with his agent rapidly souring, he threw himself into music to distract himself from his worries. For a long time he had enjoyed a few favourite albums but during 2016 he had started to listen to new music for the first time in years. In true Acaster style, enjoying rummaging through best-of-2016 lists quickly became an obsession and then a full-scale project as he set out to convince the world (and particularly Ed Gamble) that 2016 was the greatest year for music. Ever.

Perfect Sound Whatever is an account of the events of 2017, interspersed by descriptions of the music that Acaster was discovering at the time. Sometimes there is a clear connection between his state of mind and the music he seeks out, but other times the sudden jump from highly personal soul-searching to a music review jars discordantly. But as he is using the quest for the very best of 2016 as a distraction from his woes, perhaps that is fitting.

His taste is wide-ranging and eclectic - I expected references to a dozen or so middle-of-the-road bands as a device to string a story together (sorry James) but this is much more interesting than that. He is frank, honest, self-deprecating and funny. The albums he seeks out are not generally particularly mainstream and he writes about them and the bands with passion, insight and understanding. One thing is clear - if he ever gets bored of comedy, music journalism has to be a potential second career.

One person found this helpful

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