Perfect Sound Whatever: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - Hardcover

Acaster, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1472260309 ISBN 13: 9781472260307

Publisher: Headline Book Publishing, 2019

Synopsis

*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.

About this title

About the Author

James Acaster was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire in 1985.
He left school age 17 so he could play drums in a band called The Wow! Scenario with his friend Graeme. Three people, including the people in the band, liked the band. He began performing stand-up comedy in January 2008. He has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award five times and has appeared on Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You, Live At The Apollo and Russell Howard's Good News.

From the Inside Flap

January, 2017.
James Acaster wakes hungover and heartbroken in New York. Thinking this is his rock bottom, little does James know that by the end of the year he will have befouled himself in a Los Angeles steakhouse and disrespected a pensioner on television.

Luckily, there is one thing he can rely on for comfort - music. In true Acaster fashion, this ends up with a completely unnecessary mission: to buy as much music as he can released in 2016, the year before everything went wrong (for James, at least). 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 in the year that James gets his life back on track.

In PERFECT SOUND WHATEVER, James takes us through the music of 2016, the bullshit of 2017, and how the beauty of one defeated the ugliness of the other. He will also reveal how he stole a cookie from Clint Eastwood and attempted to complete his musical odyssey by reforming one of Kettering's most overlooked bands.

Edition details

• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472260309
• ISBN 13: 9781472260307
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304