Vanilla Pop : Sweet Sounds from Frankie Avalon to ABBA

Rating:
Summary: Sweetness w/o Equal
Review: Funny that "Vanilla" should be such a rarefied taste, yet seekers of information on the musically arcane have few other places to turn if they want to learn more about Claudine Longet, Curt Boettcher, the Mike Curb Congregation, Harpers Bizarre or the Doodletown Pipers. The man who wrote the definitive volume on elevator music is back with a survey course on the sweet AM radio fodder that has been unfairly dismissed as MOR schlock but has come back into vogue thanks to folks like the Aluminum Group, Cinerama and even Belle & Sebastian. I find the writing at times somewhat ponderous for a sound that is lighter than air, but Lanza's sly wit helps alleviate his pedantic tendencies. He titles his chapter on the sweet'n'sour sound of the Carpenters "Someone Left the Cake out in the Rain" and his chapter on ABBA is called "Vanilla Ice." You'll likely learn something as you read both.