"Infectious Appreciation"

"It's refreshing to read a critic who loves the Great American Songbook and rock 'n' roll, understanding that each expresses a vibrant facet of our polyglot, multiethnic national culture. And Yagoda refreshes his source material, much of which will be familiar to readers with an interest in the music industry or individual artists, by weaving it into a narrative that stresses continuity as well as change. Sheet-music publishers may lose their clout to record companies, live performances give way to recorded music as the primary way people hear new songs, but the complex interaction among commerce, art, and public taste is a constant."


Wendy Smith in The Boston Globe reviews Ben Yagoda's The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebrith of the Great American Song.