This will be a welcome addition to the earlier volumes of this reference work, indexing individual songs in collections published between 1988 and 2002.
The title might mislead, as popular music here includes not only folk and blues but also spirituals and children's songs. One of the indexed collections is the New Church Anthem Book from Oxford University Press in 1994 which leads not only to entries for classical composers but allows Peter Abelard, for example, to be included as a lyricist! Various carol collections are indexed, from selections with easy piano accompaniment to 100 Carols for Choirs (Oxford University Press again). This makes the book even more useful in its coverage, but potentially not reaching the right market from its title. Although it covers collections published between specific dates, many are anthologies of much earlier songs. For example, artists like Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Marlene Dietrich appear here, alongside recent film music (e.g. Disney's The Lion King). This increases its usefulness for librarians in finding out just where to start looking for individual songs.
The index is set out as straightforwardly as possible, with just three listings: a numbered bibliography of anthologies/collections; a list of song titles (with first lines and first lines of chorus); and a list of composers/lyricists. However, these are spread over two volumes, with the song list split between the two, so the user has to keep moving from one to the other, which is cumbersome, particularly for those who are used to the click of a mouse. However, it is doubtful that the information could be so quickly or comprehensively gleaned from the internet, and one could certainly not always be sure of the authority of bibliographic information gathered in this way.
It is not clear whether all the collections published 1988‐2002 have been indexed (one imagines not), and, if not, how the 333 have been selected in terms of publisher (the vast majority are from the US), genre or deliberate omissions. Such an explanation would have been useful. One summary of the book mentions the inclusion of hymns, but I can find no hymnbooks indexed, and this subject would need a volume of its own!
The volumes will be essential for libraries that have bought the earlier volumes (the first three supplements are still available for purchase), particularly music specialist institutions, and could stand alone as a useful bibliographic tool for any larger general library.
