33 1/3 Series of books

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So the SW is actually worse than Let It Be (the Beatles, not the Replacements)? Because I just read that one and it was unbelievably bad.

― AKA Mr. Jaq (moriarty), Sunday, 11 February 2007 04:45 (nineteen years ago)

That makes me sad knowing there will never be a book on my favoritest album of all time.

: (

― The Reverend (R. J. Greene), Sunday, 11 February 2007 06:47 (nineteen years ago)

Writing about Stevie is admittedly way harder than a lot of other great artists without resorting to simply unpacking his insane but natural-sounding chord changes as in this book, which is really good if you know your way around the mechanics of songwriting.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 11 February 2007 07:01 (nineteen years ago)

and anyone who thinks "Sexual Healing" sucks needs to have his ears examined.

Or simply has listened to I Want You.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 11 February 2007 07:01 (nineteen years ago)

a parody of bad grad-school writing

^^tautology

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 11 February 2007 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

That's for sure.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 February 2007 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

Rodney it's not like this is the only book publisher in the whole world. My friend A-M was asking me "why are you guys all so obsessed with this series?" and my answers sounded kind of lame.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Sunday, 11 February 2007 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

i guess rap books don't sell, but somebodys gotta do ready to die

― artdamages (artdamages), Sunday, 11 February 2007 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

and Dare

― artdamages (artdamages), Sunday, 11 February 2007 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

James Brown and MC5 have sold a lot worse than some of their rap books!

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Sunday, 11 February 2007 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

im tempted to write a proposal for a janet jackson album today just cuz i am bored. maybe the first madonna instead.

― artdamages (artdamages), Sunday, 11 February 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

Do it. You have til Wednesday.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 February 2007 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

>guess rap books don't sell, but somebodys gotta do ready to die
-- artdamages (tha()[email protected]), February 11th, 2007.

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Don't believe the hype. Just because only 3 of the 60 book topics 33 and 1/3 editor Barker selected for this series have been rap does not mean rap books won't sell.

― curmudgeon (DC Steve), Sunday, 11 February 2007 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

ok then someone write it. i just wanna read it. though i do have a good anecdote about getting high in highscool in some kids Audi listening to ready to die and then escaping from cops.

i am off to download Madonna because my tape copy melted over the summer. should be a lark.

― artdamages (artdamages), Sunday, 11 February 2007 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

The latest batch:

Funkadelic: Maggot Brain - by Matt Rogers
Slayer: Reign in Blood - DX Ferris
Tori Amos: Boys for Pele - Elizabeth Merrick
Fleetwood Mac: Tusk - Rob Trucks
Nas: Illmatic - Matthew Gasteier
The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy & the Lash - Jeffery Roesgen
Wire: Pink Flag - Wilson Neate
Big Star: Radio City - Bruce Eaton
Pavement: Wowee Zowee - Bryan Charles
Madness: One Step Beyond - Terry Edwards
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Facing Future - Dan Kois
Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions... - Christopher R. Weingarten
Van Dyke Parks: Song Cycle - Richard Henderson
Weezer: Pinkerton - Jessica Suarez
Black Sabbath: Master of Reality - John Darnielle
Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - S.H. Fernando, Jr.
Afghan Whigs: Gentlemen - Bob Gendron
Flying Burrito Brothers: Gilded Palace of Sin - Bob Proehl
Elliott Smith: XO - Matthew LeMay
Outkast: Aquemini - Nick Weidenfeld and Michael Schmelling
The Flaming Lips: Zaireeka - Mark Richardson

― jaymc, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:04 (nineteen years ago)

someone has finally tackled the monster that is zaireeka!

― unfished business, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

Pavement: Wowee Zowee - Bryan Charles

ehhh. Brian Charles wrote a novel called Grab On To Me Tightly as if I knew the way, right?

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

someone has finally tackled the monster that is zaireeka!

please please please let that be a proposal for four books that have to be read simultaneously to make any sense.

― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

Four books must be place in a row and the text read in impossibly long single lines.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

nah, surely each book has every fourth word?

― unfished business, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Looking forward to Maggot Brain + misc. rap books.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

Is S.H. Fernando Jr. Skiz Fernando of Wordsound fame?

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:48 (nineteen years ago)

Yes. According to google and Wordsound's website.

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

I KNOW MISTER MOUNTAINGOAT WILL DO ME PROUD WITH HIS SAB BOOK! (i was thisclose to submitting a sab proposal. it's nice to know that they are in good hands.)

― scott seward, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

Nice to see the Afghan Whigs cheerleaders on the 33 1/3 board got their wish.

― Joseph McCombs, Thursday, 22 March 2007 03:49 (nineteen years ago)

Nice to see more rap books than ever before, plus Funkadelic.

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

Tori Amos: Boys for Pele - Elizabeth Merrick

hey! wow.

― pisces, Thursday, 22 March 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

This list is split between albums that I am really excited to read about and albums that I would never under any circumstances read about and very little in between haha.

― Alex in SF, Thursday, 22 March 2007 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

I always knew you were a Tori Amos fan, Alex.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 March 2007 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah she's tops.

― Alex in SF, Thursday, 22 March 2007 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

Sweet! I love new 33 1/3 batches. Then I look forward to the brand-new ILX thread demanded a march to Amazon.com to belittle critical customer reviews. ("Folks, I'm a paid, professional critic, trained in the ancient ways. These public-school-educated peons don't know what they're talking about, WTF.")

― No Scintillating Prose in Outer Space, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

Still no Stooges or Cheap Trick. Gotta wonder if the editor hates those groups. Hard to believe there hasn't been one decent pitch yet.

― MC, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

Haikunym's pitch for Cheap Trick was fantastic, I don't know why they didn't say yes.

― jaymc, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

uh there was at least ONE decent pitch I thought.

― Dimension 5ive, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

Slayer: Reign in Blood - DX Ferris
Nas: Illmatic - Matthew Gasteier
Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions... - Christopher R. Weingarten
Van Dyke Parks: Song Cycle - Richard Henderson
Black Sabbath: Master of Reality - John Darnielle
Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - S.H. Fernando, Jr.
Flying Burrito Brothers: Gilded Palace of Sin - Bob Proehl
Outkast: Aquemini - Nick Weidenfeld and Michael Schmelling
The Flaming Lips: Zaireeka - Mark Richardson

MAD AMPED

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

Just finished the MC5 book today. Very good / fast read. Made me sad that the documentary never came out a few years back.

― MC, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

The documentary did come out! I saw it!

― Alex in SF, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

Must have missed it at the local art house then. Is it on DVD?

― MC, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

That hasn't happened I think. They were in court wangling about it last I heard.

― Alex in SF, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

i wish ana gasteier were writing about nas.

― fukasaku tollbooth, Friday, 23 March 2007 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

I've only read the Low and Daydream Nation books.

The Low one, as everyone else I've seen comment on it has said, is great. It was exactly what I was looking for when I was going in: it goes into Bowie's life and mental state heading into and during the recording, talks a good amount his relationship with Eno and Iggy Pop, details the recording process and the players, talks about Berlin and Bowie's obsession with German Expressionism, and so on. I would recommend it for anyone.

The Daydream Nation book was really disappointing. I mean, I love Daydream Nation and all, and it's a NEAR-perfect album, but this book starts with the premise that it is THE perfect album and then rewrites history around it.

― Z S, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 03:57 (nineteen years ago)

The Daydream Nation book was really disappointing. I mean, I love Daydream Nation and all, and it's a NEAR-perfect album, but this book starts with the premise that it is THE perfect album and then rewrites history around it.

I love this series, so it pains me to admit that I was a little disappointed by this one also. The chapters about the actual process of recording the record and the things that inspired the songs are very good. The chapters analyzing individual songs (except for the Providence chapter) fall short when they falter on how the songs were constructed and resort to hyperbole. It is a good record, you don't need to convince me otherwise I wouldn't be the audience for it.

Not that I want the books to be formulaic, but I guess I would prefer more of an approach that discusses the nuts and bolts and actual details behind a recording as well as whatever sources or events inspired it. This is what I liked about the Loveless and Murmur books, for example.

I'm looking forward to the Song Cycle one.

― Bill in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 05:02 (nineteen years ago)

I would prefer more of an approach that discusses the nuts and bolts and actual details behind a recording as well as whatever sources or events inspired it

What else would you want, in this series? Chapters written with the intent of convincing the reader that the album in question is INCREDIBLE seem like preaching to the choir. Is there anyone reading the Daydream Nation book that doesn't already love it?

― Z S, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 06:41 (nineteen years ago)

Reign in fucking Blood. Yes. Also stoked for Illmatic and 36 Chambers. My boss at the Rock Hall wrote the first book in the series, it was fun to talk to him about that.

― chris.steffen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 06:45 (nineteen years ago)

Just finished the one on Joni Mitchell's Court & Spark. Very good, although I don't really get the author's dismissal of Hissing and Hejira.

― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 08:29 (nineteen years ago)

i've given up halfway through the daydream nation book. really obviously padded with waffle, hardly any insight whatsoever, entirely pedestrian interview segments and written in the most annoying authorial 'voice' this side of pitchfork.

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 09:32 (nineteen years ago)

there s an AJA one coming out isn't there? can't wait.

how's the ABBA GOLD one?

― pisces, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:52 (nineteen years ago)

Tom should have written it.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:54 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the Abba Gold one was good.

― the next grozart, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:01 (nineteen years ago)

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