Customer Reviews

Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Standing apart from the slagheap of so-called histories of "Lounge" music is Joseph Lanza's brilliant "Elevator Music."  Lanza has contributed an exhaustively-researched and riveting account of a genre of music too often dismissed by those deafened by the relentless rhythms of today's popular music.  Without resorting to the insipid and meaningless exploitation of kitsch nostalgia, the book makes a convincing argument that this music does indeed serve to "elevate" the spirits of its listeners.  Rather than being an inescapable aural assault, elevator music has the possibility of being considered as pleasurable foreground, if the listener so chooses, or benign background, as a subconscious presence.  One need only walk into Howard Johnson's from the bustle of Times Square to experience the oasis that elevator music creates within that space. Our society would no doubt be much better off if elevator music were more prevalent in its public spaces than the angst-ridden, self-conscious pop and rap that now dominate our daily soundscape.

Lanza's exploration of elevator music, easy listening and all things moodsong is the definitive book for anyone who has an interest in a very misunderstood genre. As someone very close to the Easy Listening and Mood Music programming that quietly ruled FM radio for much of the 70's, let me tell you... Joseph Lanza nails his subject matter impressively. Whether you consider yourself a Percy Faith, Roger Williams or Mantovani fan... or are just curious about these plush, melodic sounds, "Elevator Music: A Surreal History Of Muzak, Easy Listening and Other Moodsong" makes for enjoyable reading. This isn't a book that seeks to cash in on what someone recently decided to call lounge music but an evenhanded evaluation of fascinating, mostly instrumental adult pop music with melodies that always lingered on.

The author did a marvelous job researching the subject ofpoporchestra easy listening music. He covers in some detail all thegreats who made this style of music so popular during the 1950s, '60s and '70s. The welcome chapter on Beautiful Music stereo FM radio stations of the '70s should have included the name of Bob Chandler, who programmed WGAY Washington, D.C. Bob was the person most responsible for making 'GAY the best station of its kind in the U.S. and the #1-rated station in our Nation's Capital during much of the 1970s. Please note that Time-Life Music has issued a series of Instrumental Favorites featuring all the artists discussed by the author. ( ) Author Joesph Lanza has written the annotations to this series of exquisite recordings.

A thorough and fascinating history of "elevator music" and "easy listening" music in general. Clearly points out that "ambient" music is just a new name slapped on an old idea. Very interesting facts regarding how music can affect the performance of workers, etc. Like all books of this sort, the inclusion of a sampler CD containing the some of the works discussed would be helpful. Sure, it would increase the price of the book. But it would make it a better book. When will the publishers catch on?

Where did that pleasant, non-intrusive music go? After reading this book, I now understand why I liked Christmas music so much. When going shopping, it used to seem like Christmas all year long. Music and health are related. I can think of no better work that explains this complex subject of Muzak and background music. It sets the record straight. And it does so with a bit of humor. It may take awhile to fully grasp the significance of this subject. But I can say it has been very meaningful.

I loved those beautiful music radio stations back in the 70s and 80s . There was so much background information in this book about the makers of that wonderful music that we all grew up with.I had no idea about . It was interesting reading about the beginnings of MUZAc and the orchestras of that period.They really were very high quality.They were indeed quite artistic and always entertaining.I agree with the author that that type of music did not deserve the criticism it got. There was a lot of prejudice.The muzac today is really the problem as it does invade one's privacy.

Lanza's historical treatment of modern moodsong is interesting, but uneven. Rather than telling a cohesive story, the book appears to have loosely connected sets of facts that meander chronologically. At times, there are sentences in the same paragraph that don't have anything to do with each other. Moreover, he uses quotes but doesn't attribute their source. In a passage about Brian Eno, I can't tell if the quotation was said by Eno or about Eno. Finally, the treatment of New Age music is cursory and one-dimensional. The advent of Windham Hill and Will Ackerman's rejection of the term "New Age" to describe the label is missing. However, if you have the patience to read through it, it does contain some interesting details about background music, easy listening, and the like.

Despite the fact that this book is endorsed (on the back cover) by no less than Wendy Carlos (a fairly well-known composer and musical traditionalist), and despite the fact that I personally like a lot of "easy listening" type music, Lanza still fails here in his attempt to write a good book.

Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that there really is no definable genre that could be called "moodsong." All music creates a mood of some sort, when it comes right down to it (whether by accident or design, what's the real difference?). And Lanza does a poor job of covering the history of the Muzak Corp. or any specific area of "easy listening" (all are drastically short-shrifted in a mere 233 pages). In defining the genre, it seems Lanza defined it too broadly -- it would take a thousand pages at least to really do justice to the material he covers -- not to mention, a lot more in-depth research than he apparently did or was willing to do.

What's more, his speculative arguments fail to convince me... I do enjoy most of the music (aesthetically) and am not ashamed to say so, but it's my right-brain, emotional side that likes it. Lanza's attempts to analyze or 'justify' easy-listening and mood music in general fall flat, and his utopian speculation just ends up sounding silly and contrived. I agree with most of the points the previous reviewer made.

Lanza has done an outstanding job researching and analyzing the use of "Muzak" in our culture. Quite a bit of it is clearly tongue-in-cheek, and the humorous tone is much appreciated, but underneath it are very important observations about music's role in our society.

I can only speak to the topic of Mantovani, being a somewhat informed
fan, Mr. Lanza's statements, offered as historically accurate are so
far off base as to be laughable. For instance, Mr. Lanza states that
Mantovani "loathed the accordian", nothing could be further
from the truth. He loved the accordian and featured it beautifully in
arrangements as appropriate. There are dozens of errors on the history
of Mantovani, which leads me to believe the rest of the accounting is
also erroneous and perhaps not worth the purchase price of the
book. Too bad, there is a lot of wonderful history regarding
light-orchestra music, but Lanza simply isn't the one to put it
together.