Presents a cultural history of mood music and explores its psychological, social, and commercial aspects.
Joseph Lanza, who writes mostly about film and popular music, is perhaps best known for his pioneering book ELEVATOR MUSIC: A SURREAL HISTORY OF MUZAK, EASY-LISTENING, AND OTHER MOODSONG. He followed that up with THE COCKTAIL: THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITS ON THE AMERICAN PSYCHE. Subsequently, he concentrated less on cocktails and more on the intoxicating and sometimes sexually conflicted charm of crooners in RUSS COLUMBO AND THE CROONER MYSIQUE. He then savored the mystical delights of vanilla milkshakes and the sweet pop songs they connote in VANILLA POP: SWEET SOUNDS FROM FRANKIE AVALON TO ABBA. His latest book boasts a more risqué flavor: PHALLIC FRENZY: KEN RUSSELL AND HIS FILMS.
Recently, Mr. Lanza told the following to Contemporary Authors: "Around the time I revised ELEVATOR MUSIC, I wrote VANILLA POP, where I celebrated the clean-cut, sparkling, and R&B-free sounds of the fifties, sixties, and seventies by such recording artists as the Lettermen, Claudine Longet, and the Carpenters. Blender, an indie-rock magazine, said that I wrote about this music with 'contagious enthusiasm.' Then, in 2007, I went from vanilla to tutti-frutti with PHALLIC FRENZY: KEN RUSSELL AND HIS FILMS. As in my 1989 book FRAGILE GEOMETRY: THE FILMS, PHILOSOPHY, AND MISADVENTURES OF NICOLAS ROEG, I wrote to accommodate the director's style, unraveling Russell's life and work as a picaresque adventure that merges the sublime and the vulgar. Sight and Sound's review said that 'biographer and subject are beautifully matched.' I was so happy to finally meet Ken Russell in New York City. He even reviewed the book for the London Times and called it 'a near-neo-novel with gothic and surreal overtones.' So, on the surface, my subjects might seem quite eclectic, but all of my books are about a secular search for a creative spirit, whether it be through sweet music, rollercoasters, or obsessive cinema."
