33 1/3 Series of books

oh no kidding? did not know that.

De La Soul Is Dead is the biggest "yes, that needs to be a book" album on the list for me

yeah, that'd be good!
was just telling my friend that he should submit a go betweens proposal -- looks like a couple people beat him to it!

also kind of intrigued by the idea of a volume on I, Jonathan, though it seems like a book about the Modern Lovers debut is more likely.

i love that album so i liked seeing it ont he list, even though yeah it does seem a little implausible

lol thank me later

bunch of repeats in that list, they should've sorted them alphabetically...

The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas

Artists getting more than one proposal:

The Mountain Goats (6)
Bob Dylan (5)
Manic Street Preachers (4)
Pet Shop Boys (4)
Richard Hell (incl. Voidoids) (4)
The Beatles (4)
Van Halen (4)
Wilco (4)
Danger Mouse (3)
Fiona Apple (3)
Frank Zappa (inc. MOI) (3)
Fugazi (3)
Jandek (3)
John Lennon (incl. w/Yoko) (3)
Rush (3)
The Beach Boys (3)
The Go-Betweens (3)
The Mekons (3)
The Monkees (3)
The Waterboys (3)
They Might Be Giants (3)
Van Morrison (3)
X (3)

surprised there's no Blur/Suede/Pulp in that list* and like FOUR Van Halen proposals! (no offence, fans of The Halen).

*nor books on them already.

Dog Man Star is in there

...but if you meant in that list of multiple proposals please ignore my post

wld read the shit out of a AHWT book. Also The Grey Album. Also a bunch more. Aw hell, here I go to amazon.

Should have pitched a EtWT one as the other one died.

whoever's gone for True Stories is outta their heads. i get the idea of some non-canon albums being better than the canon album of band X (Tusk over Rumours or whatever) or having better behind-the-scenes stories attached, so making for better books (De La Soul Is Dead over 3 Feet High.. ) but True Stories.. gimme a break that album's garbage.
*give me a hundred pages about Remain In Light*!!

144 interesting pages about a mediocre album >>>>>>>>>> 144 boring pages about a great album

true, but that requires some mighty assumptions about which book would turn out boring or interesting

imo after they pick which ones to publish 33 1/3 should do something like share all of the pitches and let people vote on one. actually n/m i'm sure whatever act has the most rabid online fanbase would hijack that. but it would be fun to see the pitches.

xpost

I guess...? My only point is that the quality (or lack of quality) of the album/subject doesn't rub off on any analysis of it. I'd love to see a Bizarro-world 33 1/3 Series about really bad albums, reportage and historical analysis about how these turds got made, what the principals were thinking, how they tried to polish said turds, etc.

oh totally. a lot of my fav albums in the series are ones that aren't dragged down by a tone of awestruck fandom.

a Bizarro-world 33 1/3 Series about really bad albums,
http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/image.aspx?BookId=125649
kind of what this volume is about....

wmc otm

i mean, eg céline

ha xp!

though the point of that book was not dismissing it as a bad album

yeah, no, it wasn't really about dissing the album, more just the idea of writing a book about something you don't really like.

whoever's gone for True Stories is outta their heads. i get the idea of some non-canon albums being better than the canon album of band X (Tusk over Rumours or whatever) or having better behind-the-scenes stories attached, so making for better books (De La Soul Is Dead over 3 Feet High.. ) but True Stories.. gimme a break that album's garbage.

I would so love to read a cogent take on, say, how quickly Byrne's ideas ossified. Then after a long wilderness period the band returns to a new level of authority and influence.

The best stuff I've heard regarding True Stories were Stephen Tobolowsky's experiences on working on the film and how he became the inspiration for the song Radio Head based on psychic experiences that he had in his youth.

On the topic of the list, I'm certainly baffled by the presence of "Music from and Inspired by Mission Impossible 2".

Wld love to read a Kimono My House book.

Just went to Amazon.co.uk to buy three of these (Paul's Boutique, Music from Big Pink, Village Green) and some of the reviews for this series are brutal. So many angry one-star slams from aggrieved fans of the albums. Is, say, Amanda Petrusich's Pink Moon really that bad?

I ordered the Paul's Boutique one yesterday.

I know that the talking-point books are deservedly the more ambitious essays/memoirs/novellas but with some albums I just want a really solid, persuasive making-of story.

Yes, many of them, sadly but predictably, are rubbish.

I really enjoyed the Zaireeka one and the Celine Dion one. I liked Geeta's Another Green World one, too. I've not read any others, I don't think.

The ones I want (of albums I love) generally seem to get poor reviews.

the paul's boutique book is a solid 3/5 i'd say. when these books are good, they're great - thinkin' specifically the 'riot goin' on' volume, which is gangbusters - but when they suck, like the one on daydream nation or the one on 'songs in the key of life' that's mouldering in my rucksack and that i never want to gaze on again, the sense of an opportunity squandered (not to mention the inept, self-indulgent writing involved) awakens the HULK SMASH in me tbh.

Which are the best?

1 Dusty in Memphis- Dusty Springfield 1969 Warren Zanes
2 Forever Changes -Love 1967 Andrew Hultkrans
3 Harvest -Neil Young 1972 Sam Inglis
4 The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society -The Kinks 1968 Andy Miller
5 Meat Is Murder- The Smiths 1985 Joe Pernice
6 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn- Pink Floyd 1967 John Cavanagh
7 ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits -ABBA 1992 Elisabeth Vincentelli
8 Electric Ladyland -The Jimi Hendrix Experience 1968 John Perry
9 Unknown Pleasures- Joy Division 1979 Chris Ott
10 Sign “☮” the Times - Prince 1987 Michaelangelo Matos
11 The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground 1967 Joe Harvard
12 Let It Be -The Beatles 1970 Steve Matteo
13 Live at the Apollo -James Brown 1963 Douglas Wolk
14 Aqualung-Jethro Tull 1971 Allan Moore
15 OK Computer-Radiohead 1997 Dai Griffiths
16 Let It Be -The Replacements 1984 Colin Meloy
17 Led Zeppelin IV -Led Zeppelin 1971 Erik Davis
18 Exile on Main St. -The Rolling Stones 1972 Bill Janovitz
19 Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys 1966 Jim Fusilli
20 Ramones- Ramones 1976 Nicholas Rombes
21 Armed Forces -Elvis Costello 1979 Franklin Bruno
22 Murmur- R.E.M. 1983 J. Niimi
23 Grace - Jeff Buckley 1994 Daphne Brooks
24 Endtroducing..... -DJ Shadow 1996 Eliot Wilder
25 Kick Out the Jams - MC5 1969 Don McLeese
26 Low - David Bowie 1977 Hugo Wilcken
27 Born in the U.S.A. -Bruce Springsteen 1984 Geoffrey Himes
28 Music from Big Pink -The Band 1968 John Niven
29 In the Aeroplane over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel 1998 Kim Cooper
30 Paul's Boutique -Beastie Boys 1989 Dan Le Roy
31 Doolittle - Pixies 1989 Ben Sisario
32 There's a Riot Goin' On -Sly and the Family Stone 1971 Miles Marshall Lewis
33 The Stone Roses -The Stone Roses 1989 Alex Green
34 In Utero-Nirvana 1993 Gillian G. Gaar
35 Highway 61 Revisited -Bob Dylan 1965 Mark Polizzotti
36 Loveless -My Bloody Valentine 1991 Mike McGonigal
37 The Who Sell Out -The Who 1967 John Dougan
38 Bee Thousand - Guided by Voices 1994 Marc Woodworth
39 Daydream Nation -Sonic Youth 1988 Matthew Stearns
40 Court and Spark -Joni Mitchell 1974 Sean Nelson
41 Use Your Illusion I and II -Guns N' Roses 1991 Eric Weisbard
42 Songs in the Key of Life-Stevie Wonder 1976 Zeth Lundy
43 The Notorious Byrd Brothers -The Byrds 1968 Ric Menck
44 Trout Mask Replica -Captain Beefheart 1969 Kevin Courrier
45 Double Nickels on the Dime -Minutemen 1984 Michael T. Fournier
46 Aja -Steely Dan 1977 Don Breithaupt
47 People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - A Tribe Called Quest 1990 Shawn Taylor
48 Rid of Me -PJ Harvey 1993 Kate Schatz
49 Achtung Baby -U2 1991 Stephen Catanzarite
50 If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian 1996 Scott Plagenhoef
51 Pink Moon -Nick Drake 1972 Amanda Petrusich
52 Let's Talk About Love -Celine Dion 1997 Carl Wilson
53 Swordfishtrombones -Tom Waits 1983 David Smay
54 20 Jazz Funk Greats - Throbbing Gristle 1979 Drew Daniel
55 Horses -Patti Smith 1975 Philip Shaw
56 Master of Reality -Black Sabbath 1971 John Darnielle
57 Reign in Blood - Slayer 1986 D.X. Ferris
58 Shoot Out the Lights -Richard and Linda Thompson 1982 Hayden Childs
59 Gentlemen -The Afghan Whigs 1993 Bob Gendron
60 Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash -The Pogues 1985 Jeffery T. Roesgen
61 The Gilded Palace of Sin - The Flying Burrito Brothers 1969 Bob Proehl
62 Pink Flag -Wire 1977 Wilson Neate
63 XO - Elliott Smith 1998 Mathew Lemay
64 Illmatic -Nas 1994 Matthew Gasteier
65 Radio City - Big Star 1974 Bruce Eaton
66 One Step Beyond... - Madness 1979 Terry Edwards
67 Another Green World - Brian Eno 1975 Geeta Dayal
68 Zaireeka The Flaming Lips- 1997 Mark Richardson
69 69 Love Songs -The Magnetic Fields 1999 LD Beghtol
70 Facing Future - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole 1993 Dan Kois
71 It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back -Public Enemy 1988 Christopher R. Weingarten
72 Wowee Zowee -Pavement 1995 Bryan Charles
73 Highway to Hell- AC/DC 1979 Joe Bonomo
74 Song Cycle -Van Dyke Parks 1968 Richard Henderson
75 Spiderland - Slint 1991 Scott Tennent
76 Kid A - Radiohead 2000 Marvin Lin
77 Tusk - Fleetwood Mac 1979 Rob Trucks
78 Pretty Hate Machine Nine Inch Nails 1989 Daphne Carr
79 Chocolate and Cheese Ween 1994 Hank Shteamer
80 American Recordings Johnny Cash 1994 Tony Tost
81 Some Girls The Rolling Stones 1978 Cyrus Patell
82 You're Living All Over Me Dinosaur Jr. 1987 Nick Attfield
83 Marquee Moon Television 1977 Bryan Waterman
84 Amazing Grace Aretha Franklin 1972 Aaron Cohen
85 Dummy Portishead 1994 RJ Wheaton
86 Fear of Music Talking Heads 1979 Jonathan Lethem

Thanks to the Amazon 99¢ ebook sale, I was able to grab a whole bunch of these.

I read the Paul's Boutique and It Takes A Nation Of Millions... books on my trip last week and liked them both. I agree that the Paul's book is around a 3/5 - lot's of good information, if not the most engaging volume. Whiney's PE book was definitely a step above that. Much more engaging.

I also read the Kinks Village Green which was pretty rough. I wouldn't read it again, that's for sure.

I'm interested in reading these:

2 Forever Changes -Love 1967 Andrew Hultkrans
8 Electric Ladyland -The Jimi Hendrix Experience 1968 John Perry
15 OK Computer-Radiohead 1997 Dai Griffiths
16 Let It Be -The Replacements 1984 Colin Meloy
23 Grace - Jeff Buckley 1994 Daphne Brooks
24 Endtroducing..... -DJ Shadow 1996 Eliot Wilder
25 Kick Out the Jams - MC5 1969 Don McLeese
26 Low - David Bowie 1977 Hugo Wilcken
30 Paul's Boutique -Beastie Boys 1989 Dan Le Roy
31 Doolittle - Pixies 1989 Ben Sisario
32 There's a Riot Goin' On -Sly and the Family Stone 1971 Miles Marshall Lewis
33 The Stone Roses -The Stone Roses 1989 Alex Green
36 Loveless -My Bloody Valentine 1991 Mike McGonigal
47 People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - A Tribe Called Quest 1990 Shawn Taylor
48 Rid of Me -PJ Harvey 1993 Kate Schatz
49 Achtung Baby -U2 1991 Stephen Catanzarite
50 If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian 1996 Scott Plagenhoef
51 Pink Moon -Nick Drake 1972 Amanda Petrusich
62 Pink Flag -Wire 1977 Wilson Neate
71 It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back -Public Enemy 1988 Christopher R. Weingarten
75 Spiderland - Slint 1991 Scott Tennent
76 Kid A - Radiohead 2000 Marvin Lin
85 Dummy Portishead 1994 RJ Wheaton
86 Fear of Music Talking Heads 1979 Jonathan Lethem

the live at the apollo james brown book was a pleasure to read.

I thought the Loveless was great.

xp Oh balls, I just ordered Village Green. I blame the ILX Kinks poll. I've read the following:

Great - There's a Riot, Low, Sign O' the Times, Live at the Apollo, Nation of Millions, Another Green World, Let's Talk About Love - apart from the Carl Wilson, which is its own thing, they're all well-crafted making-ofs with an intelligent spin
Solid if you just want the basis back story for reference - In an Aeroplane, Kick Out the Jams, Loveless, Unknown Pleasures
Waste of time - Armed Forces (infuriatingly, it's structured alphabetically by theme - lots of repetition and confusion)

I've heard from many source that the OK Computer one is a crashing bore Nick.

Village Green has some great information about tracks and recording, but the author occasionally tosses in his opinions to no purpose ("this is the worst song Ray ever wrote", "throw away song x") when he is otherwise absent. Also, it is a bit stilted and dull. I learned a lot from it but didn't enjoy the time with it at all.

MY favorite is still Darnielle's Black Sabbath book, despite it being only sort of related to the record. One of the most moving novella's I've ever read. My wife, who has no use for Sabbath at all, also found it quite moving.

I'm reading the Marquee Moon book right now and it's pretty good, although really it's more about the band's early history way more than the album itself -- I'm like 2/3rds through and it just got to the point where they add "See No Evil" to the setlist -- but since there's probably never going to be a proper biographical book about Television I'm kind of ok with that.

Avoid the Ok Computer one, it's truly sterile.

Thought the Loveless and Low ones were great though.

of the over a dozen i've read, only a few were ones Sick is interested in -- Electric Ladyland and Nation of Millions are really good, Let It Be is really not

The Beatles or The Replacements 'Let it Be'? I'm quite interested in checking out the Replacements one although I understand it's one of those album-inserted-into fictional-tale ones so I'm not sure.

LOW one is brilliant. AJA is probs my fave so far though.

the 'Mats one is the one Sick and and I were referring to

it's not a work of fiction, just far more autobiographical than about the album itself

I prefer the ones about how they put the album together, the writing and recording process. I'm really not interested in how the author was affected by this album when they were 17.

For example, waiting in line at a record store with Black Francis and watching him peel off the cellophane to what may be the 36th Doolittle CD he's bought and driving around Oregon listening to the tracks, that was a solid 3/5, if not more.

A+: Zoso, Master Of Reality, Sign O The Times
B: Bee Thousand
C-: Forever Changes

Yeah, Loveless / Doolittle / In the Aeroplane all really great, really revealing making-of's

OK Computer is terrible.

some good ones that iirc delve pretty deeply into the making of the albums: The Who Sell Out, Aja, Nation of Millions, Armed Forces, In Utero, Exile, Double Nickels, Zep IV