33 1/3 Series of books

wait they spelled it 'cancelled', that's ok

lol u irish

Both are acceptable in Webster's (though "canceled" is listed first).

Man, if Sinker did one on Dragnet or Y, I would buy five copies instantly.

Really interested in the Dummy one, although I think I might even be more into reading one about Third at this point.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Friday, November 18, 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The author participated in that One Week One Band tumblr a week or two ago and tackled all things Portishead, not just Dummy. http://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com

are the cancelled projects the writers' or publishers' decisions?

could be either i think. some writers giving up, some writers coming up with stuff the publisher's not convinced by.

true, true. maybe i should do this. do they accept proposals from no-name jerks from the internet?

Tyler, I hope you're really considering doing it! I know at least two of my friends would definitely buy it. Or I'd buy it for them as a gift. dan selzer would surely buy one so there's five copies secured already - go for it dude! ;-)
IIRC, the publisher's open to pitches from anyone.

could be either i think. some writers giving up, some writers coming up with stuff the publisher's not convinced by.

kind of makes you wonder about their selection procedure. like many others I submitted a proposal which wasn't accepted. I wouldn't have given up nor would (imho) Continuum have been unconvinced by what I would have written. I'm sure many others would have been the same, and yet the slots they could have taken have now gone to waste.

IIRC, the publisher's open to pitches from anyone

there are specific times when proposals are accepted, now is not one of them.

I said anyone, not anytime ;-)
I agree with you re. the selection process - with so many cancellations one could question its quality. Would you care to share the album title you had proposed?

sure, it was a Peter Hammill album, Over. would not have been a best seller, admittedly.

There's quite a dedicated Hammill following in the Netherlands (admittedly, a small market), so with a bit of adequate marketing it could sell reasonably well I'd say

I'm sure Italians would buy it, if they still have any money by the time it comes out

I've only got the Abba Gold, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, and Master of Reality ones in this series...what're normally regarded as the best? Fancy putting a few on my Xmas list...

i ranked my favorites upthread, i've read a couple since then so i'll add those and do it again:

Led Zeppelin IV by Erik Davis
Aja by Don Breithaupt
Use Your Illusion I and II by Eric Weisbard
The Who Sell Out by John Dougan
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Christopher R. Weingarten
Born In The U.S.A. by Geoffrey Himes
Electric Ladyland by John Perry
Sign O' The Times by Michaelangelo Matos
Armed Forces by Franklin Bruno
Let's Talk About Love: A Journey To The End Of Taste by Carl Wilson
Exile On Main Street by Bill Janovitz
Double Nickels On The Dime by Michael T. Fournier
In Utero by Gillian G. Gaar
Radio City by Bruce Eaton
Illmatic by Matthew Gasteier
Let It Be by Colin Meloy

like many others I submitted a proposal which wasn't accepted. I wouldn't have given up nor would (imho) Continuum have been unconvinced by what I would have written.

Having had my proposal for a book on Black Vinyl Shoes (and power-pop more generally) rejected a number of years ago--which, ditto, I never would have abandoned and, in my very unhumble opinion, would have been excellent--I'm glad that the secret curse I put on the entire series is finally starting to take effect.

They are still publishing books, guys, so it's not like these six or so cancels has affected output (also six cancels from six different writers doesn't seem like a lot to me). Folks get busy, get other better offers, or realize that the project isn't worth the time, I don't know, it doesn't surprise me at all. That said I am bummed that Skiz Fernando's Wu-Tang book isn't ever coming out cuz while his book on Rice & Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cooking sounds interesting it isn't really the same sort of reading.

Either way if your proposal is a good one, resubmit it again.

that's not how it works, Alex in SF

Sorry I'm not totally clear on the rules submission (I know they periodically do open calls). Can you not resubmit a tweaked proposal?

they pretty much only do open calls unless you're Jonathan Letham

The Who Sell Out by John Dougan

This was something of a revelation for me. Tremendously illuminating history of UK pirate radio.

As weird as it looks now, I knew a couple of fellow thirteen-year-olds who bought Roll With It.

haha – wrong thread

maybe the right one too, if I pitched this.

The author participated in that One Week One Band tumblr a week or two ago and tackled all things Portishead, not just Dummy. http://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com

holy shit this site is amazing

what're normally regarded as the best? Fancy putting a few on my Xmas list...

Live At The Apollo is the bestest ime. Disagree with s. dude about Nation Of Millions tbh. If you like 69 Love Songs, that one is great, if you're not into the record it's probably of no interest.

(annoyingly it does keep directing you to a dedicated website for even more, than even on archive.org is nothing but a big imagemap with 90% of the images missing)

what're normally regarded as the best? Fancy putting a few on my Xmas list...

David Bowie, Low (I've read a dozen)

Sabbath, Throbbing Gristle, Eno are my favs (and not just because the authors post here.)

The Sabbath one hit me hard. Made my wife read it and, even though she has no use for or familiarity with the band, she was similarly moved.

Of the dozen or so I've got, the Prince, MBV, Eno, TG, Joni Mitchell & Minutemen ones are all great, the Tribe one is good although people seem a little down on the writing.

I guess I didn't like the U2 one and really couldn't get on with the Radiohead, ditching it 3/4 of the way in.

Per 33 1/3's website:

Unfortunately we are not accepting proposals at the moment. We have a bunch of awesome 33 1/3s lined up for publication in the next two years. Please check back soon.

Oh also six canceled titles since the series began is really not that bad... I worked for a publisher and there was always a book here or there that fell off the list, for any variety of reasons.

Sabbath and Celine are the best ones I've read so far but both are, for one reason or another, probably unusual for the series.

Of the straight history/critical analysis ones I've read, Bill Janovitz' one on Exile is terrific, and Philip Shaw's one on Horses has a lot of interesting pre-history (though it goes surprisingly light on the album itself).

New call for proposals.

In the middle of the Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones. A huge amount of conjecture, but somehow the writer seems to make it valid and hugely entertaining.

I'd love to read a Let England Shake one.

Damn, that's a lot of requrements.

it is actually... i guess they must get a lot of applications and want to vet only the people who are deadly serious about it. i remember applying a few years ago and it was just something like 1000 words about what you wanted to do.

Yeah, that is quite a few more requirements this time around, particularly the part about how the author is going to market it.

I was wondering why I wasn't more up for this myself this time and it hit me -- I just came off a stop-start three year project that would be a kind-of equivalent with the Disco Inferno feature in Pitchfork. So in my own way I think I've done my time!

whenever a call for new proposals comes up i think i should pitch Crazy Rhythms, but I don't think it'd sell all that well! not that i'm really the person to write it, but it sort of seems like that album belongs in this series...i'd read it, anyway.

I'd read it! I'd consider pitching, but I know the album I'd best be equipped to write about has been submitted and rejected over and over again.

yeah, i mean, i can see maybe 2,000 people being excited about a feelies book. guess it would help that there's literally no competition.
have these books always been no-advance deals? as someone who has written a (non-music) book w/o advance, it's a little bit of a drag. so far i've made about $10 in royalties.

Are y'all following Whiney/aero discussing this on Twitter? Very entertaining.

It is entertaining, both have some pretty good points about the whole thing though.

Definitely! Esp. aero's point about publishing getting hit w/what music did and this being the new normal.

Yeah, I really can't figure out if I'm Team Aero or Team Whiney at this point, because I definitely felt that kneejerk "what? there'll never be any royalties" when I saw the posting. But this is where things are right now.

Side topic, was Whiney banned again? He's noticably absent from the poll threads.

http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

helpful post, tbh

hmmm, i guess if i had the opportunity to write one of these, i could buy a zillion copies at cost and then sell them in my store forever. bound to make some money that way eventually. i could just make people buy them. guilt them into buying one.

i only have one album i'd really want to write about though and i don't know how popular it would be.

I've had oneive been writing in my head for a while now, but now that the call is up and the due date is relatively soon (relative to the lst of requirements, that is; when I submitted one in '08 thy didn't want nearly this much) I'm wondering if I'll ever have time to get enough of it own on paper.