The group you'll never hear

Unbelievable but true: a rock novel that does not cause embarrassment.

To make matters worse,

(Random House Literature) is the latest creation by David Mitchell, an English author specializing, in broad strokes, in fantasy and horror.

We already know that, in the territories of rock, reality often surpasses imagination: the coffin stolen from the cargo terminal of an airport, so that the deceased (Gram Parsons) can be cremated in the desert.

The Samson (Jim Morrison) who abandons rock to end up in Paris, where it is discovered that he does not have the stamina of the Lost Generation.

Retired guitarist (Peter Green) who threatens his accountant with a shotgun for insisting on paying his royalties.

In general, rock fictions are parades of clichés and archetypes: the sucking manager, the

with a secret plan, the guitarist preparing to fly solo, the keyboard player with a superiority complex, the camel available 24/7, the ruthless record player .

I must warn that these creatures do not appear in

, which narrates the formation of the group of the same name, in the explosive London of 1967-1968.

Four musicians from widely varying backgrounds: a folk singer who is also proficient on keyboards, including the massive Hammond organ;

a jazz-educated drummer;

a bassist-singer with the ability to compose hit songs;

a guitarist with a psychedelic imagination who may suffer from schizophrenia... or belong to the meta-universe already outlined in previous works by Mitchell.

Do we believe in fairy tales?

Already with some professional experience, the four protagonists are not surprised when, overnight, their logistics, their accommodation and the mythical recording contract are resolved.

They overcome the furious hostility of adults scarred by World War II and have the good fortune to record without trauma and find their way to the promised land, that is, the United States.

They are the second, the third wave of the so-called British Invasion: they no longer come out as rednecks about American food or television, they can give hour-long concerts, they take precautions about drugs (at least before they go out to stage).

Very cleverly, David Mitchell walks his creatures through the nodes of countercultural rock, from the Chelsea Hotel in New York to the house of the Grateful Dead, passing through Laurel Canyon.

Which justifies brief encounters with Bowie, Marc Bolan, Janis Joplin, Gene Clark, Leonard Cohen, Zappa.

Not to mention an amazing evening in Soho with Francis Bacon and his painter friends.

Cover of the Spanish edition of the book 'Utopia Avenue' (Random House Literature) by David Mitchell.

Now, the million dollar question: is what we are told in

believable ?

Hmmm: I think I've already suggested that it's all too easy for them.

Apart from a police extortion attempt in Italy, they are not tripped up.

The speeches of the musicians seem to anticipate the current

sensibility : neither feminism nor Marxism were common topics of conversation in the musical world of 1967-1968.

On the other hand, Mitchell has worked hard on the setting and even describes in detail, lyrics included, the group's repertoire.

's trajectory comes to

an abrupt end, but now we live in the era of technological miracles: the group's third LP, thought to be hopelessly lost, is revived.

Also the

is a rarity in the wasteland of rock fiction.

50% off

Subscribe to continue reading

read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber