From Library Journal
These companion volumes to Bloom's important American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion (LJ 7/96) and Hollywood Song: The Complete Film and Musical Companion (LJ 3/15/95) focus on popular songs from the early 1890s to 2000, defining "Tin Pan Alley" broadly to incorporate tunes ranging from George M. Cohan's patriotic gems to "easy listening" (e.g., Henry Mancini, Burt Bacharach). Rock, country, folk, and other genres are not treated here. Although these works are presented as Volumes 3 and 4 of American Song, they act as a stand-alone set despite some overlap with Bloom's previous works. Volume 3 is an alphabetical listing by songwriter; Volume 4 includes collaborator, title, and chronological indexes. Bloom uses "songwriter" to mean either composer or lyricist, including those who penned at least five standards within a larger body of work, as well as important creators with fewer standards and some of his personal favorites, making a total of 164 writers with over 54,000 titles. Each songwriter entry begins with a short biographical sketch and the titles of standards for which he or she merits inclusion. Song titles are then listed chronologically under each in two groupings: "pop" and "show" (which includes film). There is some duplication of titles within the lists (e.g., all of the songs from Finian's Rainbow are listed under Burton Lane and E.Y. Harburg), and one misses some duos who failed to make the cut (e.g., Bock and Harnick, Adler and Ross). These, however, are minor drawbacks in an otherwise praiseworthy effort. The title/collaborator indexes refer to the main songwriter list and include years, which is helpful in placing songs in their historical context. Dick Jacobs's Who Wrote That Song? (o.p.) and Lissauer's Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America (LJ 6/1/91) cover some of the same territory, but both are somewhat dated. Recommended for collections owning the previous volumes and all music reference areas as budgets allow. Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
A decade after the first edition, Bloom has revised
American Song. Besides bringing the entries forward to include musicals through 1995, he has added musicals from 1877 on. Now 4,863 shows are included.
Numbered entries are arranged alphabetically by show name. Each gives, when available, opening date, theater, length of run, musical genre, composer, librettist, lyricist, producer, director, songs in the show, and original cast. Notes explain title changes, songs dropped, source problems, etc. There is no description of the plot. Musicals included are pulled from vaudeville, revues, off Broadway, Broadway, regional theater, and now television musicals (e.g., Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella and The Grinch). The three indexes are keyed to entry number. The personal-name index indicates the person's position in the production. Bob Fosse, for example, has entries as director, choreographer, and librettist. In the song-title index, different songs sharing the same title, such as "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight," are given together. Unfortunately, Bloom still files punctuation oddly. For example, titles starting with "Don't" appear before "Dona." The last index is actually a chronology of the shows through October 25, 1995.
As with any work this size, there are errors, but Bloom has corrected errors from previous editions (e.g., "I've Gotta Crow" from Peter Pan). For tracking show tunes, this large and rich source has an advantage over other books, for it includes non-Broadway shows. For identifying cast members, it is limited, as it lists only original cast members. For identifying the backstage names (composer, director, etc.), it works well. Large public libraries, academic libraries, and music libraries will want to give this new edition strong consideration.
