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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
"So what have we got on the Housewife Tapes?" Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
best when he gets down to a discussion of craft.,
By joel fass (bronx,, n.y. United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tunesmith (Paperback)
Readers, please forgive me for being technical in my opening remarks. I know of no other way to make my point.I first opened to chapter 7, where Webb talks about harmonic movement in accompaniment. It turned out to be, in my opinion, the book's finest hour, or at least the most useful to me for these reasons: 1. He gives CONCRETE EXAMPLES. 2. This is absolutely subjective, but for me (a composer of instrumental music, chiefly jazz, and roughly of Webb's generation and weaned on much of the same music), the most lasting and valuable contribution of that period's better writers (Stevie Wonder, for example) is the ingenious way they found to manipulate simple triad harmony by using pedals and "open" sounding chords (No 3rds, etc. which Webb explains and demonstrates beautifully). It goes without saying that they also wrote good melodies, or they'd have been long forgotten. Analysis of melody construction/components also is first-rate here (Webb deals with treatment of lyrics in depth in in other chapters). Stephen Sondheim has said "art is craft". Webb spells out the mechanics of that craft masterfully. Also to his credit, he dismisses the inference that any formula for good writing can be gleaned from his (or probably any) book. He encourages people to learn those mechanics, but trust their own creative muses. Other well-turned discussions (of his predecessors' work, for example) show a man who has thought long and hard about his craft--and learned much. (A chapter on at least basic arranging---beyond piano voicings---might have been helpful, too, because presentation is half the battle, especially for people trying to sell songs to extremely jaded artists, executives, etc). Now for the bad news: throughout the book's body, Webb continually digresses, editorializes, and especially seems to want to settle accounts with the (mostly Broadway) scribes of the past, whom he upbraids for their snobbery and rebuff of rock and roll. (In fairness, he goes on in the epilogue to dress down his own generation for their OWN hypocracy and peevish conservatism in rejecting today's young writers.) He grows especially bitter in the epilogue, and his philippics are kind of unbecoming. He is himself opinionated in the extreme, dismissing (for but two of many examples)the chromaticism of late Romantic music and the Schoenberg people (so much for "lightweight" Alban Berg) in a way that frankly doesn't convince me he really listened. What's wrong with this? Nothing, on its face. It's food for thought,and at times great fun. But Webb, of all people, should know not to break his own first rule of composing, one which doesn't quite make the leap of faith from songwriting to book writing: make a promise in the first "bar", then deliver on it. Unless I got some bad drugs in the '60s and flashbacks are causing hallucinations, on the cover the subtitle is "Inside the art of songwriting". Webb also states more than once his purpose: to help the amateur songwriter, and I would never doubt his sincerity. But how these long winded polemics help aspiring songwriters, who after all are impressionable and more in need of bricks than brickbats, learn their craft is beyond me. Such raw and subjective ruminations belong---would be great---in an autobiography or a "rant", NOT this book where they end up a distracting sideshow.(I don't mean music business advice, which he also gives, along with his work habits/routines, both to good effect.) I feel guilty coming down so hard on elements of a book still so valuable, but that first chapter I read promised so much. I find it ironic that someone who so successfully reads and speaks to his public (and is his own best editor in his imaginative and well-constructed songs) could so succumb to self-indulgence and come dangerously close to being saboteur of his own best intentions. But this is merely my opinion. And I still recommend "Tunesmith".
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, Educational and funny!,
This review is from: Tunesmith (Paperback)
If you write songs - you should have this book. You won't believe the things you'll learn. An eye-opener to the business and reality of the music world! It sits on my coffee table and i always pick it up when I find myself in dangerous or unknown territory upon writing a new song! Mr. Webb knows his stuff and shares it in his modest, funny way!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must purchase,
By Jim Norman "Songwriter/Singer" (Toronto, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tunesmith (Paperback)
I refer to this book constantly. Each time, I get something new -- something helpful -- out of it. Webb shares so much on so many topics that I'd be stunned if every songwriter -- no matter how experienced or new to the field -- doesn't get something valuable out of this book. To me, this is an essential part of any serious songwriter's reference library.
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