Name: Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love
Rating: 4.142857142857143 (7 reviews)
ISBN: 9780826427885

Carl Wilson

This book is a riveting investigation of what it means to love music and what it means to hate music, both of good taste and bad taste.

A Journey to the End of Taste

Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love

Greg Talbot

"Hell is other people's taste" - Momus (p.2) You're in a room, you hear the songs of a wistful flute, your mind floods with the images of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. From the bow of the ship, you can feel those gentle strings. They bring you the feel the wind against the bow. And possibly you see seagulls make a heart in the sky. The voice of Celine Dion takes leads youto self-discovey, her voice is your stalwart companion, powerhouse of emotion, unrestrained, carrying you, and your heart to safety. Carl Wilson's beloved book, "Let's Talk About Love", is considered by many people a highwatermark in the 33 1/3 book series. Generally it's a series of books where music nerds like myself binge out reading about the serious music of Joy Division, or David Bowie's dance with insanity during the "Low" recordings. Wilson audcacity, asks the critical community to take Dion as a an artist, treating "My Heart Will go" not as a supermarket artificial noise but as a construced piece of art. Like other child pop star stars, notably Michael Jackson, Wilson trace her roots and her influence. He explores the range of her sound, how from the insulated world of Candian pop, she became a breakout star. He writes of her influence "Parlor music that stressed sentiments of the heart; an indispensable function or parlor songs shared the reinforcement of values by most americans (p.58).". Also, he stresses there are progressive values that Dion sings about, and far more adventurous songs in her catalogue than the general mainstream public is aware of. At face value the book could be trollish and bilious, however ity dives deep into the questions of taste. Wilson investigates the scorn. Why did a music critic famously proclaim "“I think most people would rather be processed through the digestive tract of an anaconda than be Celine Dion for a day "(p.8-9).? Why do millions of people see Celion Dion's show in Las Vegas ("A New Day"), beloved by taxi drivers across the globe, admired by pop teens in Ghana, considered good music in China, and taught in Iran by opera singers like Alahai Hamedi (p.42-43), and yet she is virutally not talked about as an influence to American aritsts. Book experiment in taste, examinig Celine like he would any other artist, understanding her origins and the Quebec pop before the 60s (variety acts, heirs of Montreal’s Prohibition-free, roaring-20s vaudeville heyday (p.27). He takes into account the emotional landscape - words like schmaltz comes to find, and finds related singers like Barbara Stresiand, Diana Ross and some opera acts. The cognitive biases of how we identify with music, and in-group conformity play a huge role in ours likes/dislikes. For a book about a record, he dives into the philsophical arguments of Hume and Kant about taste and aesthetics. Addressing the criticisms of "showing off" and "inauthenticity" he gives dimensons to Celine as an artist and human being. Wilson reminds us "a critic often gets noticed by argueing that some music everyone has trashed is in fact genius". In this book he takes on an artist who has little ground in the critical darlings and youth culture, but clearly has has a huge impact among millions of people. It's a facinating journey to see what music we appreciate, what we honor and what we call ours. We change, and so do our cultural tastes. Disco music is happily decorating the Pitchfork Media's recent Top Albums of the 1970s. I've heard Hall and Oates celebrated at many bar meetups. And Rick Ashley's minor hit "Never Gonna Give You Up"became major with millions of youtube viewings. Wilson shares his journey from dabbling in Dion, to projecting her music out across his apartment so the neighbors could hear. Ultimately, it daring us to all find music that speaks to us, and hits us in ways no one else could ever understand. Finally, just wanted to state that the 10-year anniversary edition of the book is absolutely worth reading. Some great critical essays on race, rockism, authenticity. Writers include Nick Horny, Kris Novesleic (of Nirvana) and James Franco.

Patrick Book

This was so much more than I could’ve ever expected it to be. It would be so easy to take potshots at an “easy” target, but Wilson actually and earnestly considers the question: is Celine Dion any good? In doing so, he winds up teaching the reader about the history of Quebec music and culture, examining concepts of local and international culture and status, and tumbling down a philosophical wormhole into the self. 

This is easily one of the most fascinating pieces of cultural analysis/criticism I have ever read.

Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love A Journey to the End of Taste

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