An entertaining record of the soundtrack of the baby boomer era.
A cultural history of the elusive hit single, focused on artists’ recollections and studio alchemy.
In 2011, Myers (Why Jazz Happened, 2012) began the Wall Street Journal’s “Anatomy of a Song,” which focused on “dramatic stories” of creativity. “I realized the column would be better served as an oral history,” he writes, “with the stories told through songwriters’ and artists’ own words.” The resulting book is “a five-decade oral history of rhythm & blues, rock and pop.” Choosing 45 representational songs that topped the charts or were otherwise prominent, the author chronicles American pop from about 1952 to 1991, the era when radio could effectively “break” a song. Developing this overall narrative, Myers provides several paragraphs of context for the moment in which a song arrived, then switches to recollections of artists and producers. It’s a clever concept that becomes repetitive. Still, his interview subjects are well-chosen, and the excerpts provide insight on the constantly changing technology and industry behind the hits. Initially, pop music was segregated and viewed as marginally profitable, allowing regional scenes to become suddenly prominent, as with the Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman.” As vocalist Kat Schaffner recalls, “Motown wanted a No. 1 pop hit, but [nobody] expected that five girls from Inkster [Michigan] were going to give it to them.” While musicians like Keith Richards took advantage of new recording technologies (“Street Fighting Man”), the record industry was gradually losing control, as a reliance on “tightly controlled singles, with albums functioning merely as collections of these short records,” gave way to the creative demands of groups like Led Zeppelin. Myers ably discusses such fluctuations within the cultural landscape during the 1960s and ’70s, though he still tends toward generalizations—e.g., “Punk rock in New York had run its course by the 1970s.” The book’s strength lies in thoughtful, wry reflections from artists including Elvis Costello, Jimmy Cliff, Stevie Wonder, Booker T. Jones, Dr. John, and Debbie Harry.
An entertaining record of the soundtrack of the baby boomer era.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8021-2559-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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