Ken Bloom, whose hefty and fascinating Broadway Musicals - The 101
Greatest Shows of All Time we recommended to those with strong coffee tables,
has tried to do for the pop-song world of about the first 75 years of the
twentieth century what he did for the Broadway musicals of most of the same
period. Here he doesn't have co-author Frank Vlastnik who worked with
him on the earlier tome. Whether it is the absence of Vlastnik, or some
other factor such as a rush to put this one together as a follow up to the
highly successful Broadway book, this one lacks some of the feeling of
polish and care of the other. The language is somewhat denser and the layout
a bit less logical. Still, it is crammed with interesting write-ups about
singers, songwriters and big bands and literally hundreds of photos that
help convey the feel of the time as well as the personalities of those
involved. It is a fun book to peruse and may even serve as a reference
volume from time to time when your interest turns to the songs that formed
the soundtrack of three-quarters of a century. |
Contents: Attractive one to four page
spreads on the author's selection of the greatest and most influential
songwriters and performers provide data, photos, key song lists and
first-person anecdotes. Side stories give additional flavor for the subject,
with write-ups about music publishers, singing instrumentalists, sister and
brother acts, husband and wife teams, song pluggers and influential shows
such as Your Hit Parade.
Strangely, while the book is described as covering 75 years and even
includes chapters of song lists year by year from the "19th century" through
"The 1960s" the cover claims "100 years of American Popular Music" and the
first sentence of the introduction says "Welcome to a look back at 100 years
of American popular song." Mr. Bloom actually makes no effort to carry his
story much beyond the arrival of Elvis Presley and he stops well before he
would have to deal with the impact of the early Beatles or any of the groups
and songwriters that followed them. Perhaps he simply got to the end of the
material that interests him and quit. That may not be too bad a thing,
since many who will share Bloom's fascination with the music of
approximately 1900-1965 might not be too interested in coverage at the same
level of detail of the musical events over the rest of the century.
If you want an intriguing and enjoyable tour through the first, melodic
three-quarters of the last century's popular music, here's a fine book for
you. The book is presented in three major
sections: The Singers, The Big Bands and The Songwiters. The entries are
arranged alphabetically which breaks the flow of the story as you jump from
a performer or songwriter important in the swing era to one important in the
war years and back to one involved in the heyday of Tin Pan Alley. Still, it
does make it easy to find Ella Fitzgerald or Hoagy Carmichael or Glenn
Miller rapidly. Besides, the book is most likely to be something you browse
on occasion, not something you study cover to cover.
Strangely absent are write-ups on record producers,
arrangers and, although there is a segment on "Television" it seems a bit of
an afterthought with hyperbolic phrases like "Possibly no medium has
affected the course of popular music more than television." What about radio
or the phonograph? The write-ups that are included are filled with
intriguing and often fascinating observations. Then there are the
photographs! The cover says there are 600 of them and who are we to argue?
Many will make you wish for more information - Who took them? When? Where?
Why? Who are some of the unidentified people? Collectively, they create a
montage of an art form that still has the power to intrigue and fascinate.
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