ISBN10: 0472089420, ISBN13: 9780472089420, [publisher: University of Michigan Press] Softcover Very light wear to the covers. Shipped from the UK in recyclable card packaging.
[New Mills, United Kingdom] [Publication Year: 2004]
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Used - isbn: 0472089420 - isbn13: 9780472089420 University of Michigan Press

ISBN10: 0472089420, ISBN13: 9780472089420, [publisher: University of Michigan Press] Softcover Revised and Expanded Edition, University of Michigan Press, 2004, 1st printing. Bright, clean & tight copy, unread, in NEW condition. "For a sound intended to be comforting, unobtrusive and inoffensive, 'elevator music' has ignited strong and often heated opinions. With an arsenal of historical anecdotes and facts, Joseph Lanza sings seriously, with healthy doses of humor and wit, the praises of this misunderstood musical genre. Lanza traces mood music's mystifying presence from the mind-altering sirens who lured Odysseus to the harp David played to soothe King Saul, but the tale gets more intriguing in the early 20th century, with Erik Satie's 'furniture music' experiments, the birth of the Muzak Corporation, and various science fiction stories that featured mood music as a futuristic staple. Lanza also chronicles the parallel development of the 'easy listening' instrumental, discussing such 'mood maestros' as Ray Conniff, Percy Faith, Andre Kostelanetz and Mantovani. Along the way, Lanza addresses mood music's social and even governmental uses, raising questions about music's role in modern life while challenging aesthetic assumptions. This revised and expanded edition delves deeper into the surreal phenomenon of 'metarock'---the art of reinterpreting rock songs into dreamlike, string-laden, ...