The Persistence of Sentiment: Display and Feeling in Popular Music of the 1970s by Mitchell Morris (review)

Abstract

Persistence of Sentiment: Display and Feeling in Popular Music of the 1970s. By Mitchell Morris. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. [x, 248 p. ISBN 9780520242852 (hardcover), $70; ISBN 9780520275997 (paperback), $29.95; ISBN 9780520955059 (e-book), $29.95.] Music examples, endnotes, bibliography, index.In Persistence of Sentiment: Display and Feeling in Popular Music of the 1970s, author Mitchell Morris begins to unpack some of the many parcels of meaning contained within sentimental songs of the 1970s. From Waltons to Will and Grace, Morris uses television, comic strips, film, literary theory, history, economics, and music analysis to approach the music from multi- ple perspectives. Although he sometimes leads by a circuitous route, readers curious as to why, for example, Cher's farewell tour lasted three years, and concluded eight years before the release of her most recent and highest-charting album, will enjoy the unexpected journey.Chapter 1 is not only an introduction to the text but is also the chapter that posi- tions the book within existing scholarship on music of the 1970s. In chapter 2, Morris addresses black masculinity in the United States and the increased economic oppor- tunities available for black Americans after the civil rights movement, focusing on Barry White as his central example. Similarly, chapter 3 addresses economic is- sues of black artists as well, this time con- centrating on the style of soft soul gener- ally, rather than on a single person in particular. Morris considers masculinity from a different perspective in chapter 4, which centers on the unmanly Barry Manilow (p. 90). Morris turns from mas- culinism to feminism in chapter 5, The Voice of Karen Carpenter, focusing espe- cially on Carpenter's vocal delivery in recordings. Morris is notably interested in Carpenter's appeal to young gay men, a constituency that is also central to the last two chapters of the book: on Cher and on Dolly Parton, respectively. last chapter is especially intriguing since, as an artist working in the field of country music, Parton's core audience is generally more conservative than, say, Barry White's. One way that Morris connects the different sub- jects of his chapters is by weaving them throughout the book. Excluding the first chapter, which mentions all of his subjects, and excluding the chapters specifically ded- icated to each of his subjects, Barry White also appears in chapters 3 and 4; Barry Manilow in chapters 5 and 6; Karen Carpenter in chapters 4, 6, and 7; Cher in chapter 7; and Dolly Parton in chapter 6.Morris gently chides his academic peers who might view the music in his book as popular to be (p. 2). music he addresses was certainly quite pop- ular, but other acts were even more popu- lar and have been impressive enough to warrant serious music studies (Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna). Even focusing narrowly on the 1970s, he does not address many of the most popular acts of that decade (Pink Floyd, Queen, AC/DC, ABBA, the Eagles, Genesis, Journey), including some that strike me, at least, as So the music in Morris's book is not really popular to be impressive. But it might be too com- mercial. For example, because Barry White often performed wearing velvet, spangles, or sequins, because Barry Manilow has writ- ten many successful jingles for television commercials, and because Dolly Parton is part owner and namesake of the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, some scholars have found it difficult to take their work seriously. As Morris shows, how- ever, we should.Morris approaches music analysis from a variety of perspectives, as the following sam- ples from his close reading of Barry White's Love's Theme demonstrate (pp. 38-42). He sometimes focuses on music's social function, as when he describes the quality of the song's opening: utterly recogniz- able, it signals listeners that a song they love is about to play and gives them a mo- ment to grab a partner and head out to the dance floor (p. …