Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era
by Ken Emerson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ken EmersonEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-09-26
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era
Book Review: +1/2 -- Detailed but unsatisfying chronicle of '60s pop songwriters
Summary: 3 Stars
Ken Emerson's detailed history of seven pairs of writers (Leiber & Stoller, Bacharach & David, Sedaka & Greenfield, Mann & Weil, Goffin & King, Pomus & Shuman, and Barry & Greenwich) is a detailed chronicle of the Brill Building's seminal place in the history of pop music writing. Unfortunately, Emerson's pedantic writing style and his inability to find narratives makes this a less than lyrical read. His collection of vignettes fails to lift the writers off the page or deliver a feel for the arcs of their careers. Most ironically, his university professor prose is riddled with ten-dollar words ("perdurable," "routinized," "auguries," "lamasery," "rumbustious," "subalterns," "roisterous," etc.) that are at odds with the vernacular exalted in these songwriters' work.
Worse yet are Emerson's writing tics, which his editor should have stamped out in the first draft. He repeats the phrase "the Brill Building and 1650 Broadway" throughout the book, rather than pointing out the importance of the sister building once and then using the colloquial "Brill Building." He rotates the attribution of the songwriting pairs -- "Goffin and King" on one page, "King and Goffin" on the next -- as if using the formal credit by which they're famously known would slight the second named partner. His prose is filled with distractions and the occasional pointless aside, and he supplements the academic treatment with 34-pages of end notes that source the quotes in the 270-page main text. That's 11% end notes that could have been posted on a website, rather than sold in paper to every casual reader of this book.
The presentation is a shame, because much of the research, both original interviews and reuse of existing materials, is excellent. Emerson provides a good look at these writers' roots, their beginnings in the music business and their individual paths to greatness. His discographical research provides interesting detail about who wrote what for who, extending well beyond the signature hits of each songwriting pair. He not only digs up surprise associations of songwriters and musical acts, but chronicles a good deal of the musical chairs played between the well-known pairings. Of particular interest are scenes that show how music publishers (particularly Don Kirshner) and song pluggers served as conduits from songwriters to sympathetic producers and musical acts, and how records found their way onto the radio.
Particularly illuminating are descriptions of what happened after Don Kirshner sold his publishing company (Aldon) and record label (Dimension) and eventually abandoned his songwriters at Colpix. The continued influence of these songwriters during the British Invasion - a time when groups were becoming more self-contained - is quite enlightening. Less so are the textual descriptions of songs, which tend to the clinical and provide a poor substitute for actually hearing the music. Readers would do well to pick up a collection of Brill Building hits (e.g., "The Songmaker's Collection: Music from the Brill Building" and "The Colpix-Dimension Story"), selections from the Daisy and Tiger labels (e.g, "The Daisy/Tiger Records Story: Everybody Come Clap Your Hands!"), and a compilation of Red Bird releases (e.g., "The Red Bird Story").
Putting a sour tag on the book are the end chapters' weak dismissals of all things bubblegum. Emerson trots out the standard canards about The Monkees, misses the brilliance of Jeff Barry's work for The Archies, and undervalues Andy Kim's output on the Steed label. They're unnecessary pot-shots at an era that he either doesn't get, or simply doesn't like. Ironically, he sounds like the old guard who dismissed the brilliance of the Brill Building's work at the start of the book. Emerson clearly loves the music of the Brill Building era, and there's enough original material here to merit a read, but don't expect it to delight you as does the Brill Building's music. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [?2007 hyperbolium dot com]
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