Pops Read a Book: A&R

I finished my re-read of Bill Flanagan’s 2000 music biz novel, A&R, about a music exec’s transition from indie to major label and the dramas into which he becomes enmeshed. I was one year out of the biz myself (after a very brief toe-dip), so I could relate to some of the back-stabbing, double-talking, excess-defending, ego-stroking intrigue herein. But the book has aged into a quaint relic at this point (even if it was prescient in some ways). It’s a fun read, although the main character kind of fades into the background in the somewhat-rushed climax. But what struck me on this go-round had nothing to do with the content so much as how I read… I don’t read that much fiction—that is unless it’s in comic book form. And a lifetime of comic reading has had one negative side effect (some would argue more): Without visual reference, I have a hard time keeping characters in a novel straight. Wait, is this that guy or the other guy doing this thing to that other person, and who’s that again?

It’s one of the things I hate about my addled brain.

Oh, but dig that lovely cover by Ward Sutton!

Originally posted on social media, May 7, 2022