Inside the Music of Brian Wilson
Inside the Music of Brian Wilson (subtitled The Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius) is a 2007 book that analyzes the music of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, authored by American musicologist Philip Lambert. It is the first book dedicated primarily to Wilson's music, rather than his personal life.[1]
 | |
| Author | Philip Lambert |
|---|---|
| Subject | Brian Wilson |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Publication date | 2007 |
| Pages | 404 |
| ISBN | 978-0-8264-1877-7 |
| OCLC | 654236799 |
Background
Philip Lambert (1960–2022) was a professor of music at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York.[2] He was initially known for specializing in the music of composer Charles Ives, and authored a book on the subject, The Music of Charles Ives (1997).[3][2] After the mid-2000s, he specialized in popular music and musical theatre. His textbooks Basic Post-Tonal Theory (2018) and Analysis and Principles of Music (2017) are also widely used.[2]
Reception
In his review for PopMatters, Adam Bunch rued that the book has limited appeal to casual fans of the Beach Boys, as it requires the reader to have a rudimentary understanding of music theory.[1] Quentin Rowan of the New York Post concurred, "Lambert himself is a professor of music theory, and at times, although enlightening, his prose borders on being for music scholars alone."[4]
London Times reviewer Jesse Jarnow declared, "Lambert’s work is extraordinary for what it is, examining the young songwriter piece by piece as Wilson teases out his own voice. It’s not exactly poetry, but it is of extraordinary value."[5] Academic Robert Iannapollo referred to it as the finest book ever written about the Beach Boys.[6]
References
- Bunch, Adam (March 28, 2007). "Inside the Music of Brian Wilson by Philip Lambert". PopMatters. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
- "In Memoriam: Professor Philip Lambert". gc.cuny.edu. City University of New York. February 10, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
- Salazar, Amanda (March 18, 2022). "Baruch music professor of nearly 35 years dies at 63". Retrieved April 14, 2022.
- Rowan, Quentin (April 15, 2007). "Inside the Music of Brian Wilson". New York Post.
- Jarnow, Jesse (April 14, 2007). "A couple of mono maniacs". The Times. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
- Iannapollo, Robert (2013). "Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961–1963". Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal. 46 (2): 307–309.
Further reading
- Lambert, Philip (March 2008). "Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds". Twentieth-Century Music. Cambridge University Press. 5 (1): 109–133. doi:10.1017/S1478572208000625. S2CID 162871617.
- Lambert, Philip, ed. (2016). Good Vibrations: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in Critical Perspective. University of Michigan Press. doi:10.3998/mpub.9275965. ISBN 978-0-472-11995-0.
External links
- Inside the Music of Brian Wilson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Inside the Music of Brian Wilson at Google Books
- The passing of Philip Lambert
