This is most evident on the opening “Hell’s Bells,” which, although it is really about a rather terrified Johnson on a dodgy flight with the rest of the group to Compass Point Studios in Nassau, where they had to deal with tropical storms, near-hurricane winds and so forth (hence the references to “rolling thunder, pouring rain,” hurricanes and lightning), also works as a threnody, beginning with the solemn tolling of a single bell, soon joined by the group, deploying an uncharacteristically slow but hard tempo reminiscent of Crazy Horse; you half expect Neil Young, rather than Johnson, to come in.

threnody (n) 1: a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person [syn: dirge, coronach, lament, requiem] – source: Then Play Long: AC/DC – Back In Black

“Alone Tonight” is written by Rutherford and “Please Don’t Ask” by Collins but the effect is the same; we already note how the songs, even the group compositions, appear to be based around Collins’ pivotal drumming (this was picked up by that eximious music critic, Patrick Bateman, in his peerless one-page summary of Duke from twenty or so years ago) but now Duke is essentially turning, or being turned, into a Collins solo record, full of divorce-centred moping.

eximious (a): Select; choice; hence, extraordinary, excellent. [Obs.] – source: Then Play Long: Genesis – Duke

Susan Sontag suffers from the same hamartia, according to Mendelsohn, who is endlessly fascinated by how the lack of self-knowledge makes self-betrayal inevitable.

hamartia (n) the character flaw or error of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall – source: The Wayward Essay

The invisible hand is similarly beguiling. It claims a propitious pattern for which no one is responsible, even while everyone participates.

propitious (adj) 1: presenting favorable circumstances; likely to result in or show signs of success – source: Sleight of the ‘Invisible Hand’

When the company went out of business, Mr Fleenor bought all the test gear from Rollei of America and set up shop in Manhattan Beach, California—just 15 miles down the coast from where your correspondent resides. With camera in hand, he was round at Mr Fleenor’s repair shop in a trice.

trice (n) 1: a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat) [syn: blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, twinkling, wink, New York minute] – source: Difference Engine: Digital disillusion

The 1905 scene has a harum-scarum looseness and wit; the destructive action scenes in movies now are brought off with a kind of grim, faceless glee, an exultation in power and mass.

harum-scarum (adv) 1: in a wild or reckless manner (syn: pell-mell); (adj) 1: cheerfully irresponsible (syn: carefree, devil-may-care, freewheeling, happy-go-lucky, slaphappy); (n) 1: a reckless impetuous irresponsible person (syn: daredevil, madcap, hothead, swashbuckler, lunatic) – source: Has Hollywood Murdered the Movies?

Yacht rock was, in fact, pivotal in the etiolation of pop music in a time of cultural darkness, serving as a dialectical pole to progressive rock as well as to punk, postpunk and even proto-postpunk, spurring drastic retrenchments.

etiolate (adj) 1: (especially of plants) developed without chlorophyll by being deprived of light [syn: etiolate, etiolated, blanched] (v) 1: make weak by stunting the growth or development of 2: bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight 3: make pale or sickly – source: The Birth of the Uncool: Yacht Rock and Libidinal Subversion

But staff members look askance at the editor’s emoluments, and those of other senior managers, when their salaries are barely keeping up with inflation and, after staff reductions, mainly through voluntary redundancies, their workloads increasing.

emolument (n) 1: compensation received by virtue of holding an office or having employment (usually in the form of wages or fees) – source: Alan Rusbridger: the quiet evangelist

Apple demanded a 30 percent vigorish on all single-copy sales through its iTunes store. Profit margins in single-copy sales are thinner than 30 percent; publishers were thus paying Apple to move issues.

vigorish (n) 1: an exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest [syn: usury] 2: a percentage (of winnings or loot or profit) taken by an operator or gangster [syn: rake-off] – source: Why Publishers Don’t Like Apps

Instead, the dropped names of artists, aristocrats, writers and fashion designers ooze from the pages in a great oleaginous gloop of reflected glory.

oleaginous (adj) 1: unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech [syn: buttery, fulsome, oily, smarmy, unctuous] 2: containing an unusual amount of grease or oil [syn: greasy, oily, sebaceous] – source: Letters from Bruce Chatwin