33 1/3 Series of books

film is completed, i think, but aretha's blocking it.

The one about Tusk is a piece of shit.

reading the amazing grace book right now, which is pretty solid, a little bit subdued in tone, but that's not a bad thing. lots of interesting background about the gospel world. mainly makes me wish they would get the film of the sessions completed, for the love of GOD.

Yeah, the film-in-limbo is pretty frustrating. Great book, though. Tremendously informative.

yeah, frustrating, looks like amazing footage.

The one about Tusk is a piece of shit.
― Lil' Kim Philby (Call the Cops)

Why?
I was considering buying it.

Village Green & Song Cycle both seem pretty great, tho.

i got to meet Weisbard at EMP over the weekend and had to tell him that Use Your Illusion was by far one of my favorite 33 1/3s -- he seemed genuinely surprised to hear that from anyone and said it was the lowest selling book in the series (i don't know if he meant literally the single lowest or just that it was pretty far down there)

nevermind, i forgot that there was an actual sales ranking on the official 33 1/3 blog -- GNR is in the bottom 10 but as of last year the lowest was Van Dyke Parks apparently

is anyone else here planning on submitting a proposal?

Man, that's too bad. I really dug Use Your Illusion, as well. It's prolly in my top five (with Let's Talk About Love and Master of Reality and some other stuff...kinda want to see Another Green World get some use as an improv text).

as of last year the lowest was Van Dyke Parks apparently

How we lost $35,509 on 'The 33 1/3 Book of the Year' (Dammit)

Don't mean to be too negative but The Tusk one is more a book about the author than the record, which I find utterly tragic. Dip into it in a bookshop if you can. YMMV.

The Song Cycle one, on the other hand, should be at the top of the charts rather than the bottom. It sheds all hell of new light on many aspects of what is to many an obscure and at times impenetrably referential LP. Plus it's well-written by a guy who has loved the record since it came out.

Wot Lil' Kim Philby said! re: Song Cycle book.

And I do dearly hope that somebody's already writing as good a little tome on The Osmonds' The Plan.

Just bought Spiderland and am eagerly anticipating tearing through it in one sitting.

need to read the song cycle one -- a friend talked a bit with VDP recently and the man himself recommended it!

Whoa! I wonder how many artists have read/spoken abt their books

I am just going to write my own books on Cheap Trick and Erykah Badu and the Boo Radleys and El Gran Silencio's Superriddim Internacional Vol. 1. They will all be self-published [in my head].

(xpost)
tylerw, should you await any more recommendations re Song Cycle - buy it, goddammit! buy it!:)
i'm on page 76 and loving it helluva lot.

...did check those 33 1/3 lists as per which titles are in the making. sadly, no mention of The Osmonds' The Plan:(

does anyone know if there are distribution issues with these now? i've been watching the shelves of these dwindle at Reckless and I noticed today that the entire display is gone.

xp tbh i'm not sure if VDP actually *read* the book, but he gave it his blessing.

it says in the book that VDP was interviewed for it and cooperated in any-which-way most kindly.

Don't mean to be too negative but The Tusk one is more a book about the author than the record, which I find utterly tragic.

That was certainly my impression as far as I was able to get into it before putting it down for good. It reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally put me off.

that's too bad, there's a good book waiting to be written about Tusk.

there's a good book waiting to be written about Tusk.

^^ true dat. it's one of those albums with so much potencial for a great book.

finishing 'sign o'the times' and really enjoying it. 'use your illusion I & II' is on queue.

BTW perhaps this is obvious, but Revolution in the Head is a supreme work of music writing, likely setting the tone for this series in many ways - yet still out there on its own in terms of quality of research and depth of perception.

You're Living All Over Me book is really tediously written.

yeah i just read that one recently, i enjoyed it and it did give me a new perspective on a great album, but the way he had to self-consciously frame every section and observation was exhausting.

inspired by this thread I finally got myself the first anthology, plan on getting some more individual ones soon.

The Barnes & Noble in Union Square NYC has a whole display rack of these, btw, if anybody's looking for them.

Reckless in Chicago also has a wonderful selection, for those unaware.

BTW perhaps this is obvious, but Revolution in the Head is a supreme work of music writing, likely setting the tone for this series in many ways

Not obvious to me since I'm missing the connection.

Also, you two need to meet:

i've been watching the shelves of these dwindle at Reckless and I noticed today that the entire display is gone.

― stan this sick bunt (jon /via/ chi 2.0)

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Reckless in Chicago also has a wonderful selection, for those unaware.

― Marty McBrundlefly (Deric W. Haircare)

Well, they maintained a great selection for several years. Apparently that's changed in the last 9 months or so.

fwiw, its been in like the last few weeks. i was in there again on Friday and the entire display was gone, but I forgot to ask about it. disappointing because it was the one place i knew i could find them. oddly enough, none of the big chains downtown carry any of these.

Greenlight bookstore in Fort Greene usually has a nice lil stash of em. and an impressive selection of other music writing given the bookstore's size

I get mine from the library mostly (although I do own a few.)

They've shot me down twice so far, but I plan to pitch again.

I still think Use Your Illusion is the best in the series that I've read.

the Sound Garden in Baltimore usually keeps a nice amount of 33 1/3s on their bookshelf

I thought for years about proposing a Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors volume, but my theoretical approach was obliquely similar to that ultimately used by Carl Wilson, so I never did much with it. Plus there's that whole thing where I'm in no way a professional writer, so whatevs.

re: chicago, they have a pretty good selection of these at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square.

I also bought a bunch of half price remaindered copies at Powell's in Chicago but, again, it's been a while.

Ordered the "Song Cycle" one from Amazon today. They had only 1 left in stock!

i pitched one of these once (for Thursday's 'War All the Time'). it seems to me that for various (very legitimate) reasons these really need to be about [relatively] well-known albums in order to have any shot at being marketable and all the good album stories i'd want to tell are for albums that a) not enough people have heard of or b) no one has heard of. if i could figure out a spin on a more well-known album that would let me do my thing on it, i might pitch again but i'm at a loss :/

Chicago dudes: there's a decent selection available at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Sq.

i feel like i see them everywhere

10 kindle books $1 each. What's good?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_362668562_3?docId=1000789181

At that price, I'll probably get them all.

Nation Of Millions and Low out of those ten (that I've read).

yow that is a steal. almost makes me wish i owned a kindle.

I don't own a kindle either, but there's a free app that allows you to read kindle books on your Mac (and I think there's one for PC and phone). Got Nation, VGPS, Low, can't wait to jump in.