A renowned composer and one-time pop star's charming, funny, inspiring memoir of becoming--and evolving as--a musician. Since the release of his first smash bestselling album Look Sharp in 1979, Joe Jackson has forged a singular career in music through his originality as a composer and his notoriously independent stance toward music business fashion. He has also been a famously private person, whose disdain for the rituals of celebrity has led some to call him effete and self-important.That reputation is bound to be shattered by A Cure for Gravity, Jackson's enormously entertaining and self-revealing memoir of growing up musical, from a culturally impoverished childhood in a rough English port town to the Royal Academy of Music, London's punk and new wave scenes, and the brink of pop stardom. Jackson describes his life as a teenage Beethoven fanatic; playing his first piano gigs to audiences of glass-throwing skinheads; and life on the road with long-forgotten club bands. Throughout, he finds a hundred excuses to share his thoughts on musicians past and present, on record companies and critics, on why music is like both sex and religion (and why it isn't), why he loves Shostakovich and The Prodigy and hates Brahms and Brian Eno, and how music saved him from becoming "one of those sad bastards you see milling around outside the pub at closing time, looking for a fight."In 1992, Jackson decided to "retire from the pop world." This book evolved as he tried to figure out what to do next. Far from a standard-issue celebrity autobiography, A Cure for Gravity is an intelligent, passionate book about music, the creative process, and coming of age as an artist.
A Cure For Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage
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Something more than a journeyman and less than a superstar, Joe Jackson has a reputation for being a reclusive and prickly character. But he refuses the low road with A Cure for Gravity, a resolutely non-lurid autobiography of a man who considers music to be a noble calling. It matters not that the author was once lumped in with England's insurgent first-generation punks and new-wavers; here Jackson insistently focuses on his development as a composer, player, and performer, approximately in that order. Born to modest means in a setting where a sickly, creative youngster such as Jackson was regarded with suspicion, if not contempt, the young Brit was trained in the classics and developed his keyboard skills, playing everything from cabaret to progressive rock before finally setting off on his own as a sharp-tongued, ska-influenced Angry Young Man. A more sophisticated musician than his rag-tag running mates (he's recently released an ambitious fusion of pop, jazz, and classical elements dubbed Symphony No. 1), Jackson revels in the intricacies of his craft--as much or more than he does in telling his own up-from-the-gutter tale. Old new-wavers who remember the author from his 1978 Look Sharp! debut and devotees of his more stylish early '80s recordings may be caught off guard by the short shrift Jackson gives his actual recording career; indeed, he shrugs off a couple decades in the final pages of the book. But the articulate, idiosyncratic author is clearly more interested in addressing what makes a musician than what happens once a musician has it made. --Steven Stolder
Pressestimmen
One of New Wave's original "angry young men," Joe Jackson highlights his journey from Portsmouth, England to the Royal Academy of Music to pop star in this lively musical memoir. Jackson, who emerged in the late '70s as a contemporary of Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, and went on to score pop success with such songs as "Is She Really Going Out With Him?," "Steppin' Out," "Breaking Us in Two," "Jumping Jive," and "I'm the Man," has proven to be one of rock's most enigmatic performers. In fact, he's often been accused of being confrontational and pretentious. The latter trait is evidenced early in A Cure for Gravity, and often slows down the flow of the book, as Jackson eschews the linear autobiographical route for sometimes lengthy digressions into a form of music criticism (on subjects that range from Steely Dan, whom he calls one of his biggest influences, to Beethoven). It's not that his views aren't interesting, as he clearly knows his material; it's that they disrupt what is a sometimes comical, dead-on portrayal of coming of age as a musical outcast. Growing up in a portside town as a young asthmatic, Jackson was gawky and unathletic, a deadly combination that often attracted what he calls the "hardnuts" (bullies who ostracized him for being different). However, by the time he was a teenager, he'd discovered his musical gilt, first playing solos in local pubs (despite being underage), then looking for bands to showcase his talents. His tales of the horrible gigs he had to take early on, as in a Greek restaurant where his group backed up a screaming singer and a belly dancer, are often as hilarious as those in The Commitments. Jackson has a remarkable recollection of his days as a struggling musician, and those anecdotes not only entertain, they make Jackson remarkably human, a characteristic not even his fans have always seen. A Cure for Gravity should be required reading for anyone who's ever attempted to start a band, either for fun or to make it as a professional musician. And even those who've only thought about it as a passing fancy will find much delight in this touching musical journey. (Kirkus Reviews)
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I WAS BORN in August 1954 in Burton-on-Trent and spent the first year of my life nearby in a place called Swadlincote. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
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I WAS BORN in August 1954 in Burton-on-Trent and spent the first year of my life nearby in a place called Swadlincote. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
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2 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Von Allan R. MacLeod
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
This book is one of those great surprises that you discover once in a blue moon. It is a memoir of Jackson's early years--from birth to the release of his first album. It is often hilarious in its description of near escapes from rioting skin heads and sad in its descriptions of how a young boy in a working class area who chooses to learn the violin is harrassed and bullied and taunted by hardnuts--the same ones, as Jackson writes, that he hears on tv complaining that the arts are unnecessary luxuries and students should be taught marketable skills and not about music. But what made this memoir special for me is Jackson's love of music in all its forms. For him, the existence of music is unexplainable. Where could something so beautiful and awsome come from? And for Jackson good music is good music. He is no snob. Quite correctly, he assails those who would put down classical music in favour of rock and pop as snobs. As more than one artist in the pop arena has discovered, there is much more openness and diversity to be found in the classical field than in rock. And thus Jackson, a graduate and fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (apparently Simon Rattle was there at the same time), has returned to his roots, which were in classical music. He writes as well as anyone I have read on what music can mean to us. A great read.
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Von Ein Kunde
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
What I liked best about the book was how straightforward and honest it is. There's some great vignettes and insights into what it means to be a professional musician. It's both humorous and poignant.
I am a fan of his music, but I've never really understood what makes the man tick until now. That prickly character is a sensitive perfectionist-- a man who sets high standards for himself and who has always wanted to challenge himself musically. It's remarkable, but not surprising, that he's as good a memoirist as he is a musician.
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Von Daniel Kovacs
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Warm, honest, intelligent and engaging- A must-read for JJ fans and anyone who seriously loves music (or loves 'serious' music). Joe Jackson does not possess great literary style, but the anecdotes in this work are so charming that one overlooks any technical flaws.
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Die neuesten Kundenrezensionen
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Nicht nur für Fans...
...aber Musikliebhaber sollte man schon sein.
Joe Jackson beschreibt seine Zeit von der Kindheit bis zur ersten Platte 1979. Lesen Sie weiter...
Joe Jackson beschreibt seine Zeit von der Kindheit bis zur ersten Platte 1979. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 12. März 2009 von Sniehotta
4.0 von 5 Sternen
A Personal Pilgrimage
Discovering that Joe Jackson had written a book was surprising enough, but finding that Joe's beginnings and rise to success were more similar to the classic "Behind the... Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 9. Februar 2000 von William Veal
5.0 von 5 Sternen
I'm reading this book out loud to my girlfriend...
...and we're staying up way to late at night in order to get more of it. I think it works better out loud. Anyway, we're really enjoying the book. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 27. Januar 2000 veröffentlicht
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Great book... If you like Joe, you'll love this!
If you've read the reviews thus far, you can see this book has been well received by all for it's humor, intimacy, honesty, and that fact that it's a very well written book,... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 9. Januar 2000 veröffentlicht
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Essential Reading for Joe Jackson Fans
Joe Jackson defined music for many fans, particularly in the 30-45 age group. We developed with him from the early pop days into more introspective, searching concepts and,... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 10. Dezember 1999 veröffentlicht
4.0 von 5 Sternen
A rewarding literary journey for any fan of music
As a devoted fan of Joe Jackson, A Cure for Gravity was something I HAD to read, just as the purchase of each of his musical releases is mandatory. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 29. Oktober 1999 von Paul F. Johnson
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