by Rebecca Wallwork ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 2016
A surprising, somewhat convincing argument for a group’s and record’s artistic merits.
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Debut author Wallwork puts the 1980s and ’90s boy band’s smash album into critical perspective for this latest installment of the 33 1/3 book series.
It’s not often in publishing that a blockbuster pop album recorded by a boy band gets a somewhat serious reevaluation. The New Kids on the Block and their second album, 1988’s Hangin’ Tough, which yielded five Top 10 hits, including “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” and “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” polarized serious rock fans and critics but not the group’s teeny-bopper audience. Making the case for the slick-sounding album’s place in music history seems a considerable undertaking. Yet author Wallwork presents more than enough plausible evidence about the band’s place in pop culture through research and interviews with those who worked with the boys during its heyday. She aims to explain why this album still resonates with her and the band’s mostly female audience (now in their 40s), and she tackles her subject on multiple fronts: the science, particularly the psychology, of why music from people’s teen years sticks with them well into adulthood; the genius of the band’s creator, Maurice Starr, who was also responsible for its music; and the personalities, talents, and musical influences of the five band members. Wallwork doesn’t attempt here to disguise her admiration for the New Kids; she grew up a fan in Australia and has personally interviewed most of them over the years. Her perspective will make readers appreciate the rags-to-riches story of five white kids from Boston, who were plucked from obscurity by Starr, an ambitious, musically talented African-American songwriter and producer who molded them into a formidable, highly successful act—even though their record company didn’t know what to do with them at first. Starr certainly deserves the credit for making it all possible, but Wallwork posits that the boys were talented in their own right, which may explain why they still endure while Starr’s subsequent acts, such as NK5, haven’t reached such success. She also notes that the members’ down-to-earth personas help account for their appeal. In some ways, this book is not so much a band biography or album history as it is a story about fandom. Even elitist rock fans who don’t remember the New Kids fondly will find that Wallwork’s work may crack their hard, cynical shells.
A surprising, somewhat convincing argument for a group’s and record’s artistic merits.Pub Date: April 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62892-973-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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