from the bookshelf: The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music

Guess what? Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of this blog! (Like, yay, and stuff!) Since I haven't gotten around to writing up my thoughts on any more of the new albums I've acquired lately, I thought it would be somehow appropriate to write an all-encompassing sort of entry befitting this blog's overarcing, music-without-borders theme ... besides, it's high time that I wrote about another book anyway.

"THE BILLBOARD ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC"
by PAUL duNOYER
(Watson-Guptill, 2003)


Not being much of an actual reader, I tend to gravitate more toward "coffee-table" kinds of picture books and the more concise, browse-worthy reference volumes; this title fits neatly into both categories. It's quite literally everything (basic) you always wanted to know about all varieties of music, organized sensibly and attractively, with sections covering all the general genres (rock, jazz, country, etc.), each broken into chapters by subgenre (prog rock, jam bands, bebop, acid jazz, bluegrass, honky tonk, and countless others). Did you know there are almost a dozen types of reggae music alone? This book covers eleven of them!

Each chapter of this work provies a brief history of the subject genre, lists key artists in each field, provides entertaining and enlightening quotes from music luminaries, and even prints a bar or two of music from a typical work in each subgenre to illustrate its composition. As if that weren't enough, the book includes a glossary of musical instruments, and even a primer on how to read sheet music. At only 448 pages, it can't possibly go into a whole lot of depth, but it does cover an impressive amount of territory.

Since this book is strictly an encyclopedia and not a history of music, its coverage might seem a bit uneven -- dance music, which has been around for only a few decades, gets almost as many pages devoted to it as classical, which has existed for over three centuries. And then of course comes the categorization issue ... for someone like me, who knows how very blurred the lines between genres have become in recent years, the classifications of certain artists can seem somewhat arbitrary, if not downright inaccurate ... but that's a moot point to an extent, since specific artists aren't often mentioned except in short lists in the margins of each chapter, cited as rough examples of their respective genre.

The odd melange of items under the "popular and novelty" section can be a little irksome (Shouldn't Contemporary Christian be a part of the Gospel section? Why isn't Easy Listening at the beginning of the Pop section? And what exactly defines "Nostalgia"?), but that's a small complaint, given the wealth of information in the book as a whole. For anyone who's even a little curious about all the different kinds of music out there, or is otherwise unafraid to broaden their musical knowledge, this is a handy resource to have around and casually thumb through. Hey, music is a "continuum", after all.

Nick Carter

NICK CARTER
"I'M TAKING OFF"
(Sony/Japan, 2011)


When you have to wait nine years for an artist to release their next album, especially if you loved their previous one as much as I loved Nick Carter's solo debut, "Now Or Never", it's nearly unavoidable that you'd raise your hopes and expectations to absurdly high levels. I got off on that album so much because it was such a departure from the squeaky-clean pop he'd been doing with the Backstreet Boys, and also because Nick's raspy, ballsy voice seemed tailor-made for good ol' guitars-and-drums rock. He was ready to burst out as the next Bryan Adams, and I could totally see it happening and was all set to follow him along for the ride ... but the album's sales fell flat and he put his solo career efforts on hold.

Unfortunately, much like McFly's latest effort, shifting gears from rock to R&B has also removed most of what made Nick's previous album so distinctive and enjoyable. He's even tamed his voice back to the milder and more inoffensive timbre heard on his Backstreet Boys recordings. While there's certainly nothing wrong with that in itself, since pop-R&B is of course BSB's home turf and calls for a smoother voice than rock, it essentially makes this sound like nothing more than just another Backstreet Boys album -- only not as good, since it lacks the vocal synergy that A.J., Brian and Howie bring to the group. Has rock somehow gone out-of-style in recent years? The synths and beats of R&B have always seemed colder to me than the warm and organic sounds of guitars and drums.

Lest you think I totally hate this album, I have to say it does have a few good moments, and it's already begun to grow on me a little. Several of the songs have fun grooves and good lyrics, particularly the energetic "Addicted", the power-ballad "Falling Down", the initial single "Just One Kiss", the fine ballad "Great Divide", and the title track. And then there's also the fact that it is, after all, Nick Carter's unmistakable voice which, though it lacks the grit and attitude of its rock persona, is still perfectly pleasant to listen to. If you still love Backstreet Boys, you'll love this album ... but if you're looking for more of the energy that made "Now Or Never" so special, you'll be disappointed.

Buy it from Nick Carter's official site
Buy it on CD from Amazon
Buy it on CD from ImportCDs.com

Teddy Thompson

TEDDY THOMPSON
"BELLA"
(Verve Forecast, 2011)


You know what I like about artists like Randall Bramblett and Teddy Thompson? It usually takes awhile for me to get to like their albums ... and yes, I mean that as a compliment. You see, with the attention spans of the American public whittling away more with every generation (and my patience for them seemingly eroding just as quickly), the music business appears to be preoccupied with grabbing the listener by the ears as quickly as possible with the catchiest nugget of ear candy that mathematical formulas and test audience feedback can cook up.

That's not to say that Teddy Thompson's southern-tinged (you'd never know he's British by listening to him) folk-rock is never energetic. Indeed, the upbeat tunes may even outnumber the tranquil ones on his latest album. "The Next One" seems groomed for AOR radio play, and there's a jaunty syncopation to "The One I Can't Have" which, together with the equally lively opening track "Looking For a Girl", show that his wry humor is still in fine form. Jenni Muldaur lends her vocal talents to the duet "Tell Me What You Want", and the album's more subdued moments come in the fine ballads "Delilah" and "Over And Over", and the delicate acoustic number "Home".

While I'll never outgrow the appeal of a fun pop tune that hits me over the head with its hook, I'll always appreciate the gentle and gradual pull of a singer-songwriter's subtle melody. Not only is it refreshing to hear an act that seems to want to take its own sweet time in turning on the listener (these kinds of artists are few and far between in my library, at least for now), but their "time-release" tunes serve to remind me not only that I've still got some patience, but also that patience is a virtue ... and can often be rewarded with songs that one grows to enjoy fondly.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon