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Perfect Sound Whatever

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Perfect Sound Whatever

By: James Acaster
Narrated by: James Acaster
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About this listen

 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.©2019 James Acaster (P)2019 Headline Publishing Group Ltd Comedy Funny Inspiring Feel-Good Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Witty

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Audible Sessions with James Acaster

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Now I have loadw of albums to listen to! a really good, enthralling yet easy listen/binge listen over the August bank holiday weekend. it's always great to learn more about James' life. Truly one of the most unique and hands down my favourite comedian! 😍😍😍

I LOVE JAMES ACASTER! A GREAT LISTEN

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Loved it. Acaster is a performer so you're really getting the optimal version here. It will have you belly-laughing.

Brilliant and funny, well researched and deep.

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a great big cake of mature and thoughtful look at albums from 2016, mixed together with smart reviews and insightful back story's to the artists story, sprinkled with how these personally reflected or impacted upon James life, where he bravely gives an upfront and honest example of himself and how mental health can affect us in always.

real life high fidelity

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Such a skilfully woven and brilliantly researched book. Take a listen and rediscover your love for finding new music

a life changing experience

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I really enjoyed this book in a completely different way than I expected. I ended up listening to some of the albums recommended and found some of my new favorite songs thanks to Mr Acasters recommendations. It's refreshing to hear something autobiographical where the story is told through the prism of something the author is so passionate about. It stuck me as a very honest, but still humorous, book.

Interactive!

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A vulnerable view of James Acaster laced in his quirky humour and taste in music. Some great subtle segments in there that will stick with me forever. Just makes me a bigger fan.

Great book which makes me like James Acaster more

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Genuinely can't stop looking at albums I love and discovering they derived from this period! Often hard to hear about someone you invest stock in (without ever having met) because you enjoy the art they put out, but it just makes you invest more and share the joys even more vividly!
Loved this book and am loving the Podcast's it's theory has created (James Acaster's Perfect Sounds)
A triumph!

Amazing theory, stunningly backed up!

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When starting this book, I was struck by something that the author and I had in common. We were both seemingly stuck in a rut of listening to only artists and albums we are familiar with, letting new artists pass us by, and being blissfully unaware of brilliant albums being released all around us. The main difference is that in 2017 Mr. Acaster started doing something to rectify the situation, while I, still sit around listening to albums I bought when I was in my late teens.

What attracted me to this book had little to do with the subject matter, however. I was immediately interested in this book purely because of the author. I have grown to rate James Acaster as one of my favourite comedians, so I dove into the book only really knowing that it was about music, and not about the memoir end, which is just as, if not more interesting than the music side of it (sorry not sorry).

Why was James buying albums from 2016 in the first place? Because 2017 started off badly and continued badly. This is essentially a story of a man who was having an incredibly shit year and used music as an escape. We are taken on a journey through albums and artists from the world famous Beyonce and Kanye West, to artists who are pretty much unknown.

I listened on Audiobook so that made it quite difficult to keep track of the albums that were mentioned. I primarily listen to audiobooks while I am driving so taking note of them as they were mentioned would have been a little dangerous. He has since added a list of his favourite albums from 2016 to his website, however, I'm not sure which of these were mentioned in the book. Of course, all that means is that I am eventually going to buy a hard copy of the books so I can read it again AND have the list.

I had only listened to ONE of the albums mentioned prior to listening to the books - Wes Borland's Crystal Machete - and I only did that because I my aforementioned rut of only listening to bands that I was obsessed with as a teenager (Limp Bizkit and all their side projects), so I am certainly going to venture forth, but what to start with? Maybe I'll just run with the playlist I found on Spotify....

The book is narrated once again by the author, but who else could you have doing it? It certainly adds a lot to the story to have James reading it himself, as he has a certain style.

While certain sections did have me laughing along, it would be wrong to say that this is a funny book, so if you're hear looking for a laugh a minute read, you’re in the wrong place. This is a story about a man putting himself back together by rediscovering his love of music. Overall it is a brilliant, and for some I would say essential read. 

Highly recommended.

Great Naration again - an essential listen

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I like James Acaster. He is a stand up comedian and I have seen him on the telly. In this book he talks about events in his personal life (relationship break up, falling out with agent and bouts of illness) that lead to his fixation with music from 2016. He considers that 2016 is the best year for music ever and his Dave Gorman type obsession resulted in him buying over 500 albums from this year from every genre and every country imaginable. He talks at length and with great humour about his fascination and admiration of, at first, obvious candidates such as Bowie's Black Star and Beyoncé's Lemonade and then takes the listener into more unfamiliar territory and eventually his obsessive pursuit taking him to some completely obscure music with cassette only releases from far flung corners of the globe. This is all very entertaining and I enjoyed his passion for his specialist subject. Listening to this reminded me of being a kid and listening to the top 40 chart run down, hoping that the record you had bought in Wollies that week was a new entry or a climber. In the same way I was rooting for James to mention my favourite albums from 2016. He DID mention my number one which is the incredible Teens of Denial by Will Toledo's Car Seat Headrest but sadly overlooked Masterpiece by Big Thief from Brooklyn New York which, in my opinion, is actually a masterpiece. If he had mentioned Masterpiece by Big Thief I would have had no alternative than to award this five stars but, because he does not mention Masterpiece by Big Thief even though this is undoubtedly one of the best albums released in 2016 or, indeed, the best of whatever the decade is called that started in 2010 and ends in 2019, I am not exactly sure what, then, in my opinion, this book is only worth four stars.

Now that's what I call 2016

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I think I was struggling to understand the book and thought i was getting solely as review of 2016 albums, boy was i wrong. A wonderfully different, refreshing book wonderfully narrated by the man himself. A very happy customer.

Wow i nearly asked for a refund

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