- Hardcover: 312 pages
- Publisher: Greenwood Press (30 April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0275973921
- ISBN-13: 978-0275973926
- Product Dimensions: 2.4 x 1.7 x 0.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,346,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, and the Torch Song Tradition
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?Recommended. Academic libraries supporting serious study of popular music at the upper-division undergraduate level and above.?-Choice
Product Description
The torch song has long been a vehicle for expression--perhaps American song's most sheerly visceral one. Two artists in particular have built upon this tradition to express their own unique outlooks on their lives and the world around them. Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello, and the Torch Song Tradition combines biographical material, artist commentary, critical interpretation, and selected exemplars of the writers' work to reveal the power of authorship and the creative drive necessary to negotiate an artistic vision in the complicated mechanisms of the commercial music industry. Author Larry David Smith, as in his Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and American Song, considers the complicated intersection of biography, creative philosophy, artistic imperative, and stylistic tendencies in the work of both Joni Mitchell and Elvis Costello--two songwriters with seemingly nothing in common, one famously confessional and one famously confrontational. Yet, as Smith shows so incisively, they are two personalities that prove fascinatingly complementary. Mitchell and Costello both yielded bodies of work that are cohesive, coherent, and rich in meaning. Both have made historic contributions to the singer-songwriter model, two rebellious respones to the creative and commercial compromises associated with their chosen field, and two distinct thematic responses to the torch song tradition. Smith examines these responses, offering a unique and invaluable exploration of the craft of two of the last century's most towering musical figures.
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First Sentence
The December 16, 1974, issue of Time features as its cover story an article on the "women of rock" with an emphasis on "Rock 'n' Roll's Leading Lady"-Joni Mitchell. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The December 16, 1974, issue of Time features as its cover story an article on the "women of rock" with an emphasis on "Rock 'n' Roll's Leading Lady"-Joni Mitchell. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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1 review
Worth a look
15 Feb 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book reads like someone's doctoral dissertation, which is to say, dry, boring and overly academic in parts. Luckily, when I read it, I was stuck on an Amtrak train for 12 hours (normally a 5-hour ride), and had nothing else to do... otherwise, I may not have finished it. I bought the book because Elvis and Joni are my two favorite singer-songwriters, and I thought it could shed some light on them and their work. And it did. I am not a musician, and I know nothing of composing music--I think this book may be more compelling for someone who has a solid musical foundation. It is methodically and meticulously laid out, with chapters that discuss life story, creative impulse, songwriting methods, etc., with a section dedicated to each artist. At the end, the author compares these facets for both the artists. In all, I did find the biographical information to be interesting, and the book to be worth reading.
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