If rock fans will thrill to the musical references, Mitchell groupies will salivate at allusions to previous novels, beginning with Jasper’s surname (“ The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet”) and a recording of “The Cloud Atlas Sextet.” Familiar characters appear, some briefly, like a young Crispin Hershey (“ The Bone Clocks”), others in more significant roles, like Luisa Rey (“ Cloud Atlas”). Elf awakens at the Chelsea Hotel to “A Chelsea morning, with sun through yellow curtains and a rainbow on the wall.” David Bowie meets Jasper on a staircase not once but twice, marking the symbolism himself: “I was on my way up then.
But Mitchell’s narrative finesse, impeccable research, and detail-loving prose bring the band - “a mix of Dean’s R&B, Jasper’s strange virtuosity, folk roots, Griff’s jazz” - and its equally archetypal characters - upper-class Jasper, middle-class Elf, working-class Dean and Griff - to mostly entertaining life.Ĭameos and references proliferate: a London party with John Lennon, Keith Moon, and Brian Jones here American soirees hosted by Janis Joplin and Mama Cass there. This rock ’n’ roll story may sound familiar (a host of oral histories, memoirs, and documentaries come to mind, not to mention last year’s delightful “Daisy Jones & the Six”). Levon’s musical matchmaking is followed by a disastrous first gig in the provinces, the gig where everything comes together, a first single that flops, the single that climbs the charts, an uneventful first album, a rapturously received second, a European tour, the attention-grabbing arrest of a band member, and finally America, including a stay at the Chelsea Hotel, a triumphant stand at the Troubadour, and a surprise ending straight out of a first-year creative writing seminar. The book: David Mitchell’s latest novel, “ Utopia Avenue,” the history of the band Utopia Avenue. The character we meet first: “Angry Young Bassist” Dean Moss, who in two dozen pages is pickpocketed, evicted, and fired he’s also anointed by Levon Frankland, the band manager who will make him - along with “Stratocaster demigod” Jasper de Zoet, “folk-scene doyenne” Elf Holloway, and foul-mouthed “jazz drummer” Peter “Griff” Griffin - a star.
The soundtrack: the Rolling Stones, Donovan, the Kinks, Muddy Waters, Steve Cropper, Cream, and the Small Faces - in the first chapter alone.
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