By Steven Suskin
16 Dec 2001

AND OFF THE RECORD
For those of you who need complete song information at your fingertips and damn the expense, Ken Bloom's American Song: The Complete Companion to Tin Pan Alley Song is indispensable. Bloom has selected 164 songwriters — both composers and lyricists — and presents "complete" song information; everything they wrote, be it for stage, screen, or the pop field. If you've ever tried to find a complete list of the works of Johnny Mercer or Jule Styne or Frank Loesser or Hoagy Carmichael, you know how impossible it has been heretofore to get this information.

Many Broadway composers are included, though a few very familiar names are missing; Bloom has restricted his work to people with at least five standards to their credit, and since 1964 the number of standards from Broadway has dwindled down to a precious few. (This set weighs twelve pounds as it is.) It is invaluable for serious fans of theatre composers, though, as it guides you not only to their show tunes but to their non theatre work as well.

The material is as complete and accurate as possible; the vast majority of this information has never before been catalogued. As someone who has done "complete" catalogues of five of these songwriters, I am well aware that "new" old things inevitably (and happily) continue to turn up. There is an alphabetical song index which is probably the finest key to who-wrote that that you will find. The songs are also indexed chronologically and by collaborator.

This two-volume, 2,023-page compendium is officially labeled Volumes 3 and 4 of the American Song series; volumes 1 and 2, The Complete Musical Theatre Companion, was published in 1996. The new publication stands alone, though; the vast majority of the songs here are not theatre-related, and thus don't appear in the earlier books. It is for a limited market, certainly; it will set you back more than the cost of two orchestra seats to Mamma Mia, but you might well find it far more flavorful.

— Steven Suskin, author of "Broadway Yearbook 1999-2000," the forthcoming "Broadway Yearbook 2000-2001," "Show Tunes," and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. Prior ON THE RECORD columns can be accessed in the Features section along the left-hand side of the screen.