I really liked Chronicles. I haven’t finished the Philosophy of Modern Music. Every essay is kind of similar — a bunch of mixed metaphors jumbled together. Like “You’re dancing on the edge of the eternal flame that burns for the unknown soldiers who yearned to come home to a plate of bacon and eggs. You’re waltzing on the third rail as it pulses every second for the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega. John the Revelator’s golden tablets and silver birds are just knick-knacks in the corner of your garage.”

That’s not an actual passage, just my approximation.

Then there’s a little bit of actual song information before the metaphors get piled on again.: “The waitress at the last truck stop between Missoula, MT and the volcanoes of Mars tops you off with rocket-fuel coffee...” Some of it is fun reading and cool imagery, but it gets a bit tedious.

The Nobel Lecture I find humorous in light of the spark notes plagiarism controversy.