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THE B SIDE

Name: THE B SIDE
Author: Ben Yagoda
ISBN: 978-1594488498

THE DEATH OF TIN PAN ALLEY AND THE REBIRTH OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SONG

by Ben Yagoda ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 2015

A provocative, consistently engaging counternarrative to the conventional wisdom that rock ’n’ roll killed Tin Pan Alley.

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The latest from Yagoda (Journalism/Delaware Univ.; How to Not Write Bad, 2013, etc.) shows good ears, strong critical instincts and an unabashed love for a variety of music, including the rock ’n’ roll that supposedly closed the pages on the Great American Songbook—the few hundred standards that have endured through a wide variety of distinctive interpretations.

“The songs were composed with sundry goals in mind, producing great art rarely being one of them,” writes the author. “But the songs…took on lives of their own: it turned out they lent themselves to being interpreted in different styles and with different approaches by a range of singers and musicians. They became a repertoire, a canon, repeatedly redefined by distinctive performances.” They had their heyday in the first half of the 20th century, and they were the work of the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and dozens of others. In a conversational style and using an anecdotal approach, Yagoda traces the effects of the broadening from a New York–centric concentration to a wider expanse of vernacular popular music, the shift from sheet music to records and radio, the battle between ASCAP and BMI for licensing, the popular dominance of jazz during the big band and swing eras and its decline with bebop, the ascendance of the singer (who had once been a bit player in the jazz band) and, ultimately, the rock revolution in which songwriter and performer were often the same artist. He makes a convincing case that songwriting was on the decline (and production gimmickry on the rise) before rock and that rock performers have not only helped keep the standards alive, but have extended sophisticated songwriting through the likes of Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb and many others. “The final page had been turned on one songbook,” he concludes. “Another was just starting to be written.” Yagoda appreciates both.

A provocative, consistently engaging counternarrative to the conventional wisdom that rock ’n’ roll killed Tin Pan Alley.

Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2015

ISBN: 978-1594488498

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Riverhead

Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
O. HENRY
by O. Henry ; edited by Ben Yagoda

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW TO NOT WRITE BAD
by Ben Yagoda

- BOOK REVIEW
MEMOIR
by Ben Yagoda

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.