33 1/3 Series of books

probably more of a "lots of non-musical/technical stuff surrounding the project to delve into" type of book

would definitely feel better about them doing books about such recently released albums if there had already been 33 1/3s about earlier Bjork and Kanye records

Genuinely excited about Bobbie Gentry book

Not sure how that Bjork album got in the list? Assuming the writer already was involved in writing about said contemporary album and was able to successfully roll it into a book.

Don't know who Mike Foley is but that DKs album (and the band's whole history) definitely deserves analysis.

Not sure how that Bjork album got in the list? Assuming the writer already was involved in writing about said contemporary album and was able to successfully roll it into a book.

― your native bacon (mh), Friday, August 31, 2012 10:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

well people submit pretty extensive proposals, and they apparently liked that proposal

i mean, given the fact that there have been some fairly lousy books about great canonical albums in the series in the past, i think offbeat picks like that are actually kind of a good sign that they're looking out for really convincing proposals that would make engaging books rather than greenlighting things because they're about canonical albums everyone loves and wants to read about

I'm willing to bet the Bjork book is going to focus a ton on technology and interaction and a good deal of it will be abt the iOS app and maybe her live setup

yeah it makes sense to write about in the same way Zaireeka did

offbeat picks like that are actually kind of a good sign that they're looking out for really convincing proposals that would make engaging books

It seemed like the Use Your Illusion book was only chosen because it was the non-obvious pick. It had very little of value to say about the albums, and actually talked more about Appetite for Destruction than UYI. Regardless, all these offbeat picks makes you wonder how this functions as an actual business model.

i disagree and think UYI was one of the best books in the series so hey

really? it hardly talked about the albums at all, seeking instead to talk at length about the band, their history, their fans, their disastrous concerts, their influence, and everything else except the actual albums at hand-- all which conveyed quite clearly that the author was no fan of GNR. In fact, the author states upfront that he hadn't heard the albums in 15 years, and still hadn't before writing the majority of the book. This was presented as a positive thing. When it finally got to the songs, it was presented as a fairly half-assed song-by-song analysis at the end, totaling about 10-15 pages or so.

it hardly talked about the albums at all, seeking instead to talk at length about the band, their history, their fans, their disastrous concerts, their influence, and everything else except the actual albums at hand-- all which conveyed quite clearly that the author was no fan of GNR.

yeah this is not accurate imo

Marc who is writing the Aphex one is a brilliant sound-thinker, I bet this will kick ass.

yeah this is not accurate imo

oh yeah, i left out the huge personal bloglike sides that litter the book, which also have little to do with the albums. how are you gonna write a good book about an album you haven't listened to in 15 years?

xp Use Your Illusion made sense in this series IMO because the story of their implosion is more compelling than the story of their rise and the success of Appetite.. I thought it was great.

sometimes the records that are most heralded or most popular don't always generate the best discussion... I don't think any of the album choices are "offbeat" as long as there's something worth saying about them.

Glad to see Entertainment! but what I'd really like to see - Hex Enduction Hour. Why no Fall yet?

Poliopolice, did you miss the part where Weisb@rd goes song by song?

man I really feel that Rocks or Toys in the Attic (but to me Rocks is the one) ought to get one of these. Does anybody even pitch Aerosmith albums? I mean actual Aerosmith albums. We were an awesome band for about six years and we made some classic records!!

I wonder if those are albums that would hold up to sustained analysis, though. Sure, there'd be plenty of lurid drug stories and I-hate-your-wife-so-I-wrote-this-song-about-how-much-I-hate-your-wife psychodrama, but as far as actual detailed musical analysis, I don't know what there would be to say. The songs are killer, but they're also not particularly formally or technically innovative - they're just really good songs, played by a perfect combination of complementary musicians. Which is on the one hand all you need, but on the other hand really fucking hard to write about in a compelling way.

feel like if someone pitched an aerosmith album it'd be kind of a lol klosterpaws one about Get a Grip and have long alicia silverstone digressions, sorry to say. i'd read something that actually took 70s hard rock seriously, though.

i'd read something that actually took 70s hard rock seriously, though.

Me too. Could you imagine, say, Joe Carducci doing a 33 1/3 book about Rocks?

yeah, carducci was who i was thinking of! he is really the only person i can think of who would do it, who'd be less interested in the sordid stuff and more into how the music does what it does? not sure if he likes aerosmith though.

Excited about SAWII. And reading that proposal convinced me to break out "Passion," which is a great ambient record (of a sort) in its own right.

i wanna read the new talking heads one.

Keeping in mind that I'm a hardcore Lethem fanboy, it's pretty awesome.

Reading Loveless right now. Very entertaining and well written, plus it seems to have some ILM connections!

I read the Tom Waits one a wee while back. Not sure what I thought of it, although it felt worthwhile at the time. The Paul's Boutique one is pretty good too.

I have If You're Feeling Sinister ready to read but I don't know if I can be fucked - is it any good?

"i'd read something that actually took 70s hard rock seriously, though."

you stay here, i'll be right back!

Poliopolice, did you miss the part where Weisb@rd goes song by song?

No, I did mention that:

the author states upfront that he hadn't heard the albums in 15 years, and still hadn't before writing the majority of the book. This was presented as a positive thing. When it finally got to [discussing] the songs, it was presented as a fairly half-assed song-by-song analysis at the end, totaling about 10-15 pages or so.

The analysis of the songs seemed very half-hearted to me. It felt like that part was only there because if he left it out, there would have been very little in the book that was specific to these albums.

As a meandering personal essay about the author's feelings on GNR, and GNR's place in the canon of music, it's a decent, if trifling book... but as an expository essay on the Use Your Illusion albums proper, I'd say it was not illuminating in the least bit, and in fact spent very little time talking about them. The Amazon reviews corroborate this.

Except uh he's not trying to write an expository essay of UYI so who cares.

Then the title of the book should not be "Use Your Illusion."

Brr. I read the one on "Low" based on recommendations from this thread. I didn't like it that much. The historical stuff had some dynamite writing, but it was pretty strange to see "serious anecdotes" from "serious Bowie biographies" put side-by-side with sordid details from Angela Bowie's tell-all book. Admittedly, Angela's account is totally hilarious and interesting but she eats a lot of crow in that book-- the first chapter talks about Bowie's dick iirc-- so to read her account blended together with more serious interview-based stuff read to me as meta-narrative?

The track-by-track chapters were hit-and-miss for me, too. There was a paragraph about Eno/Bowie beating Burroughs and/or Stockhausen at their own game that made me frustrated and sad. Hugo's a good writer though, would read his other books.

i liked the one on loveless. it was rather personal and was based a lot on interviews with the band, esp. kevin shields. i didn't realise before that loveless is almost a solo album by kevin except bilinda's singing.

My two year old niece brought me the 20 Jazz Funk Greats book and asked "Can we play with this?"

I have no idea what she meant but I'm gonna play her some very inappropriate music tomorrow. I have a feeling I've got a very small and very cute Cosey fan here.

look tasty all in a row don't they.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/482718_10151572603944273_13098934_n.jpg

the next one up; FLOOD by They Might Be Giants, is a bit of a surprise

how so?

TMBG aren't as alt/indie canon as a lot of bands of their generation that have had 33 1/3s, so it's a little surprising, mostly just nice that they're going for a cult classic that's obsessed over by a slightly different crowd.

oh the band themselves? yeah guess so. the album is way more beloved than many many others in the range though, so.

I just got excited when it was announced bcz I <3 Flood and I <3 Sandifer - thought it would still be ages away though, iirc was only turned in a month or so ago? hyped now.

why arent those books in chromatic order

Actually, Histoire de Melodie Nelson is next, to be released in October, followed by Flood in November and I Get Wet in January.

unhyped again

I have the "Loveless", "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and Afghan Whigs' "Gentlemen" books and enjoyed them all. Liked a lot of the contextual stuff in the Whigs book about the general events surrounding the making of the album.

didn't see this coming

http://www.amazon.com/Kanye-Wests-Beautiful-Twisted-Fantasy/dp/1623565421/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_9

other new ones according to Amazon include Aphex Twin Ambient II, Oasis Definitely Maybe and Richard Hell Blank generation.

Yeah the upcoming ones are mentioned in this very thread. Also if you go to http://www.333sound.com and browse through the archived posts, you can find Q&A interviews with all the authors of the upcoming books.

Phil Sandifer posted the beginning of the Flood book on his blog the other day

yo yo yo yo yo yo

http://333sound.com/2013/10/07/lets-talk-about-love-by-carl-wilson-a-new-and-expanded-edition/

super-pumped to be in on this critical orgy

James Franco's piece is going to be just a page saying "I agree with the tune was space."

very cool. franco/gaitskill/tuneisspace orgy is quite the orgy.