Hearing Luxe Pop glorification, glamour, and the middlebrow in American popular music / John Howland.

SeriesCalifornia studies in music, sound, and media ; 2
California studies in music, sound, and media ; 2. UNAUTHORIZED
Contents Introduction : from Paul Whiteman, to Barry White, man -- Hearing Luxe Pop : Jay Z, Isaac Hayes, and the six degrees of symphonic soul -- The (symphonic) Jazz age, musical vaudeville, and "glorified" entertainments -- Jazz with strings : between Jazz and the great American songbook -- Defining populuxe : capitol records and the swinging early Hi-Fi era -- Phil Spector, early 1960s "teenage symphonies," and the fabulous lower middlebrow -- Mining AM (white) gold : the 1960s MOR-pop foundations of 1970s soft rock -- Isaac Hayes and Hot Buttered (Orchestral) Soul, from psychedelic to progressive -- From sophistisoul to disco : Barry White and the fall of Luxe Pop
Abstract "Hearing Luxe Pop explores a deluxe-production aesthetic that has long thrived in American popular music. John Howland presents an alternative music history that centers on shifts in timbre and sound through innovative uses of media, orchestration, and arranging. He travels from symphonic jazz to the Great American Songbook; teenage symphonies of the Motown label and 1960s girl groups to the emerging "countrypolitan" sound of Nashville; the sunshine pop and baroque pop of the Beach Boys to the blending of soul and funk into 1970s disco; the hip-hop-with-orchestra events of Jay-Z and Kanye West to indie rock bands with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The luxe aesthetic merges popular-music idioms with lush string orchestrations, big-band instrumentation, and symphonic instruments. This book attunes readers to hearing the discourses that gathered around the music and its associated images, and in turn examines pop's relations to aspirational consumer culture, spectacle, theatricality, glamour, sophistication, cosmopolitanism, and "classy" lifestyles"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
LCCN 2020044267
ISBN9780520300101 (cloth)
ISBN9780520300118 (paperback)
ISBN(epub)

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