33 1/3 Series of books

Considering a pitch for the Fania All-Stars' Live at Yankee Stadium. Not because the album itself is world-shakingly great, but because a broader overview of 1970s New York salsa would be a lot of fun to write.

What were the successful pitches last time? I seem to recall the chosen books were a lot safer and more Mojo-esque than had previously been the case.

I would read the Fania book in the blink of an eyelid.

This was the final list from last time:
http://333sound.com/2014/06/03/14-new-33-13-titles-coming-2015-2016/

I was gonna say, I remember there being some weirdo titles in there last time. I mean, yeah, you got Metallica and Bitches Brew and Workingman's Dead and Psychocandy, but Hangin' Tough and Super Mario Bros are hardly the stuff of Mojo!

you know what i'd read --but which 33 1/3 is unlikely to ever publish? -- gary giddins on that bing crosby christmas LP.

never read any of these - which would y'all recommend? (definitely getting the Super Mario Bros. book)

whiney's Public Enemy and Doug's James Brown and Elizabeth's Abba are all good.

Would love to do one on Bill Dixon's Vade Mecum, seen as a game-changer in some circles, but those circles are likely too tiny to support/justify such a publication.

really? Bill Dixon less justifiable than Madness or J Dilla or Sigur Rós or fucking Elliott Smith?

Madness sold a lot of records and still play to big rooms

also they were great

Madness are great, but I think a book on Bill Dixon would be way more interesting!

that is probably true

i didn't mean to lump Madness & J Dilla in with the likes of Sigur Ros & Elliott Smith. just saying all these people are not necessarily more deserving of a book than the crew on Vade Mecum.

in my heart of hearts, if i could do anything i wanted, i would do a book on the history of the house sound of chicago box set and the book would just be reviews of each song. but i don't think these people do box sets.

i think it's a question of sales, no? sadly i imagine that only a tiny number of people are familiar with the music of bill dixon, esp. compared to the many people familiar with sigur ros etc. and the people who /are/ fans of bill dixon's music probably don't have huge overlap with the sort of 'indie' crowd that likely presents the main audience for these books. (that isn't to say that publishing a book on dixon wouldn't expose some people to his music who would otherwise be ignorant of it. but i doubt the numbers would look good enough for the publisher to take the risk.)

xpost

i could totally see them doing a 'canonical' box set like maybe james brown's 'star time'. but in the era of the "vinyl revival" i don't think that sort of thing has the same romance as a proper LP.

That was what I meant, yeah. Every Dixon fan would buy it, and a significant number of fans of that area of music in general would buy it, but those numbers probably aren't large enough for the publisher to consider it.

xp

(fwiw, there is a tremendous Dixon book out, Dixonia: A Bio-Discography of Bill Dixon, but it's fairly pricey.)

just saying all these people are not necessarily more deserving of a book than the crew on Vade Mecum.

They are if you look at who the actual audience for 33 1/3 books is, and what's been published so far: classic rock, indie rock, 80s pop, kitsch (Super Mario Brothers), hip-hop, a dash of metal as long as it's been long since approved by critics or the market. No jazz to date, though of course they picked Bitches Brew for the first one in that area. They're basically appealing to Atlantic/NPR/Paste/Pitchfork/Slate readers (and writers).

The more I look at the list of already published titles, the more I see just how doomed a Fania All Stars pitch would be.

The Super Mario Bros. book is really good, definitely not only about video games. In some parts it is very musicological and a little too much for my bare-bones education to understand at first. I am actually learning about music in general from it.

No jazz to date

I don't follow this series v closely and have only read a few but this is surprising/sad. I would totally dig album-specific books about idk Free Jazz or Ellington at Newport or Mingus Ah Um or Unit Structures or or or

never read any of these - which would y'all recommend? (definitely getting the Super Mario Bros. book)

― example (crüt), Wednesday, June 3, 2015 3:21 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i re-read these ones over and over:

Song Cycle - Van Dyke Parks
Low - David Bowie
Live Through This - Hole
Aja - Steely Dan
69 Love Songs - Magnetic Fields

i can't fucking stand the ones where it's all about the author and how this record changed my life and i lost my virginity to the single in a car, blah blah blah. horrible writing and no information about the record or interviews with people involved. i love learning about musicology, how this or that effect or sound was achieved, and stories about how a certain song was written, or who/what inspired it. a little bit of personality is fine but so many of the early books are utter garbage. i want to learn about the context leading up to the album, how it was made (production & songwriting), and as many anecdotes or asides from people who were there. my favorite books in the series are a good balance of that.

In Utero is also good but pretty slight/nothing new if you're already well read on Nirvana.

i can't fucking stand the ones where it's all about the author and how this record changed my life and i lost my virginity to the single in a car, blah blah blah. horrible writing and no information about the record or interviews with people involved. i love learning about musicology, how this or that effect or sound was achieved, and stories about how a certain song was written, or who/what inspired it.

ha yeah - I was looking into the Tago Mago book and was perplexed by this bit of the blurb: This hugely unique and influential album deserves close analysis from a fan, rather than a musicologist. Like, what?? I've never read a scholarly analysis of Tago Mago, only noise dudes talking about the first time they smoked weed while listening to it

i want to learn about the context leading up to the album, how it was made (production & songwriting), and as many anecdotes or asides from people who were there. my favorite books in the series are a good balance of that.

― flappy bird, Wednesday, June 3, 2015 3:17 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You'll probably like the one on Amazing Grace, which fits all of these criteria. It's easily one of the most rigorously-researched volumes in the series.

I loved Drew D's 20 Jazz Funk Greats.

it drives me up a fucking wall. go nuts in your preface, but i want to read about chords, tones, cultural context, the people involved, studio anecdotes. they've gotten a lot better about that as the series as gone on

You'll probably like the one on Amazing Grace, which fits all of these criteria. It's easily one of the most rigorously-researched volumes in the series.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, June 3, 2015 7:26 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sweet, thanks for the rec - a lot of my friends & family adore that record but i've never given it time.

xpost yeah gonna read Drew's book next!

I liked Loveless, Double Nickels On The Dime, Court & Spark (fits flappy bird's criteria though), People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm & Twenty Jazz Funk Greats.

Really didn't like OK Computer, Fear Of Music and Achtung Baby.

I liked the Slint one. It was a nice history of the band, as well as an encapsulation of the scene from which the band emerged and that particular time in indie history.

i love franklin bruno's armed forces, which deconstructs every song note by note and syllable by syllable, while also providing context, anecdotes, recording minutiae, etc. and the writing is beautiful.

that guy went to my high school (there were awards named after him, for some reason?) he's awesome

are there /any/ other of these books like the bruno one? with close musical analysis throughout?

frankly, almost all of the other volumes i looked at were rather dire.

The Minutemen one provides about as detailed an analysis as can be for each track on Double Nickels. Good companion for the album.

My favorites are zoso and master of reality

Flappy bird would hate both of them

Let's Talk About Love, Dangerous and Master of Reality are fantastic. Harvest, Exile on Main St., Armed Forces, Horses, Loveless and Fear of Music all good reads if you are already a fan of the artist/record in question.

I have a huge stack of others in the series to read and will probably do ABBA next.

are there /any/ other of these books like the bruno one? with close musical analysis throughout?

frankly, almost all of the other volumes i looked at were rather dire.

― he quipped with heat (amateurist),

Try the Court and Spark and Low] ones. Also: It Takes a Nation of Millions and Exile on Main Street.

Just crossed his path on the way home and passed along your praise, amateurist./fourth_wall

you mean franklin bruno? yes, i like his stuff very much!

also thx for recommendatiosn alfred.

Yes. He lives in my neighborhood, two blocks away. I don't really know him too well but he is supersmart and fun to talk to.

He's a charming fella -- met him at EMP in April.

Saw him perform last week with Laura Cantrell in Brooklyn, both as opening act and sideman. Some of his songs are quite cleverly constructed, as you might imagine.

some other 33 1/3rd books i'd love to read if handled well:

- joao gilberto - the 1973 s/t album
- anything by al green
- anything by scott walker
- the strokes, is this it (has this been done? i think their songs would bear careful analysis)
- anything yellow magic orchestra!

I've never read any of these but I'd read one on Big Science because I don't understand how that album was made.

Cornelius "Fantasma" would be pretty neat

Just remembered that the last thing he told me about in that conversation was free La La Brooks show tomorrow in LIC.

Avoid the Replacements one by the guy out of the Decemberists if you hate anecdotal ones. I appreciate Let It Be is not exactly the kind of album that lends itself to detailed in-the-studio analysis, but I would still be interested to learn about the context in which it was made and read some genuinely insightful comments about the lyrics, as opposed to Colin Meloy's mundane anecdotes about being picked last at the school dance.

The Murmur one is pretty good. Great on context and the production. Perhaps overreaches with some of the lyrical analysis, but fair play to the writer for being thorough.

On an Athens note, surprised nobody's done the B52s yet...

i wish i had that B-52's book that came out in 2002. the cheapest copy on amazon is $160!