33 1/3 Series of books

Yes, an EMP presentation. But as with the 33-1/3 series, there would be more people who would want to present on it than listen...maybe the entire audience could walk on stage and perform as some sort of improvisatory jam.

It's like what Charles M. Young said in Musician years ago about the music biz where everyone was releasing an album of their own: We already have a genre for this. It's called Poetry. Everyone writes it. Nobody reads it.

You are crazy. No one writes poetry.

Well, once you turn 20, you stop writing it. Chuck Young was just getting at the idea that it was a genre that had more journals devoted to it than people reading them. Kinda the way I feel when I hit the newsstands and see all these music magazines that seem to be covering the same things.

How many albums does Ryan Adams sell? How many people who buy his albums would then be interested enough to buy a magazine with him on the cover? How many people will buy another issue with him on the cover when he makes another similar album and does a similar interview a year later? Which magazine does the potential reader buy when there are four magazines with this same guy on the cover? Then throw in the fact that most of this info can be found on the internet where you can read it without paying for it and not have to throw it away.

You are crazy. No one writes poetry.

-- Dimension 5ive, Sunday, December 30, 2007 11:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Well, once you turn 20, you stop writing it.

You are crazy. No one writes poetry.

-- Dimension 5ive, Sunday, December 30, 2007 11:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Well, once you turn 20, you stop writing it.

You are crazy. No one writes poetry.

-- Dimension 5ive, Sunday, December 30, 2007 11:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Well, once you turn 20, you stop writing it.

You are crazy. No one writes poetry.

-- Dimension 5ive, Sunday, December 30, 2007 11:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Well, once you turn 20, you stop writing it.

You are crazy. No one writes poetry.

-- Dimension 5ive, Sunday, December 30, 2007 11:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Well, once you turn 20, you stop writing it.

You are crazy. No one writes poetry.

-- Dimension 5ive, Sunday, December 30, 2007 11:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Well, once you turn 20, you stop writing it.

looks like the throbbing gristle book is out now - yay!! and accoring to p-fork, you can get a portion of john darnielle's sabbath book by emailing the publisher or something?

yep, just send an e-mail to sabbathsampler at yahoo dot com. got mine yesterday, maybe an hour after I sent in the request! haven't read it yet, tho.

so did people actually learn anything (like, information, ideas) from the celine dion book, or is it just 100 pages of handwringing over the problem of canons of taste? it's a great idea for a book but i worry that it'll be like one long 'thoughtful' blog entry.

most of these books, even the ones written by authors i enjoy, have been mediocre. it's too bad--it's an interesting concept. i think it shows how undeveloped pop-music criticism is compared to, say, film criticism (cf. the BFI Film Classics series).

if franklin bruno could work his paper on "blonde on blonde" into a monogram, i'd buy it. but he'd have to keep in all the close analysis and retain the basic argument that the album is monument to "pop formalism."

Anyone read the Trout Mask Replica book?

I spotted a couple of 'greatest hits' volumes on Amazon. What are these - six full volumes in one, or are they edited versions?

so did people actually learn anything (like, information, ideas) from the celine dion book, or is it just 100 pages of handwringing over the problem of canons of taste? it's a great idea for a book but i worry that it'll be like one long 'thoughtful' blog entry.

I really enjoyed reading it. Wilson is really engaging and his writing is too good to dismiss as 'handwringing', but the book just doesn't really go anywhere or, I guess, just ends up exactly where you'd expect. Which is maybe what you mean by "thoughtful blog entry".

I agree with everyone who said the Quebec sections were the most interesting.

I found the chapter on the history of schmaltz pretty enlightening, too.

I enjoyed the Trout Mask book, but there are some errors in it that are pretty unforgiveable. It was written by a Zappa "scholar" (for lack of a better or more appropriate term) and there's almost a hint of defensiveness.

How do you get the Master of Reality book?

yep, just send an e-mail to sabbathsampler at yahoo dot com. got mine yesterday, maybe an hour after I sent in the request! haven't read it yet, tho.

-- Ioannis, Saturday, January 12, 2008 5:50 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

as someone mentioned a couple of days ago, apparently if you email sabbathsampler at yahoo dot com they'll send you some of that book; not sure if the offer's still valid, but probably is! I loved Carl Wilson's book so much, but I guess maybe the nature of the project itself determined that there could be no obvious or easy conclusion: he almost writes/thinks himself into a corner. But it's still a good corner to be in! I'm still waiting for my copy of DrewDaniel's book on TG.

Cool, I emailed there. Thanks. That's probably my favorite album of all time

If Carl's book had come out in 1999, I think I would've been ecstatic, since I spent so much of my last two years of college thinking about exactly the kind of stuff he talks about. Probably would've merited a couple of citations in my senior project, too, especially the parts at the end where he seems to call for a more personal, contextualized criticism that doesn't pretend toward objectivity. As it is, I found it to be a pretty intelligent summary of various issues in aesthetics with the bonus of centering on the career of a woman whom I've spent very little time thinking about.

Great start JohnD on the excerpt I got of the Master of Reality book. I like the concept. And I agree with your protagonist, the lyrics of Sweet Leaf never fit the heavier themes of the rest of the album (which are really out there), but the sound and feel of it totally do. I look forward to reading the whole thing.

the best chapter of carl's book is that fucking AMAZING chapter 7, i think, ending with the buddy holly/love-scene bit. devastating. the book's quebec bits were for me, by far, among the least-interesting sections - but that's why i'm not really the 33 1/3 market demo anyway. loved the intersection of the very PERSONAL with ideas of aesthetic philosophy and the problems-with-music-crit. can i say again it's fantastic?

xp

Yeah, I just finished reading the excerpt myself (finally!). Really great shit, John; can't wait to read the rest. Now where the heck is my copy of Master of Reality?

For some bizarre reason, I have like 10 versions of Master... in all sorts of different formats.

Agree with Sean about that Buddy Holly bit in Carl Wilson's book - I've read that out loud to friends a couple of times, and on both ocassions I haven't managed to get to the end, because of the tears. Is there supposed to be a book on Brian Eno coming out in this series? can't find anything relisable about it anywhere...

God I love Master of Reality.

No shit, it's about as fucking mind-blowing as you can get. I think I played Into the Void like 40 times in a row one time.

Still waiting for the Master Of Reality book..

..but I'm really loving the 20 Jazz Funk Greats book. (And the "Daniel Drew" thing has been fixed) Drew wondered if people would start to dig on TG after reading this book... I haven't finished the book yet, but I do see a POV of extreme curiosity at the very least. I don't think Throbbing Gristle are a band that anyone can write a good book about and people will just starting going "yeah yeah yeah sounds so raaaad", much less evoke excitement. Drew's discovery story (specifically the discovery of the "place", sorry can't spoil it here) is a perfect setup for that curiosity, which I can't imagine being done better by someone else offhand.

Of course, if you're a TG fan, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this book, or even a fan of the related groups (Chris and Cosey, Coil, Psychic TV, etc.) You will get plenty of quote/interview & story love from Chris, Cosey, Sleazy, and Gen.

Sorry, I posted too soon. I thought people above already bought the Master Of Reality book, instead of talking about the album.)

Notes:

- I am 100% behind the Wilson
- a surprisingly large part of that is just based on marveling at his skill with organizing thought patterns and evidence
- not to mention the few smack-on-the-head moments where he makes some kind of incredibly astute / mature aside about human relationships

I really enjoyed the GnR UYI book because it was written completely from memory. He hadn't listened to the record in like ten years, then finally revisits the album in the final chapter. Pretty great approach to criticism IMO.

:)

This approach is lifted from Nicholson Baker's U and I, a critical study of John Updike's novels written from memory. Or at least that's what I think it was; I haven't read it in years.

I'm sympathetic to Carl's aims--there quite simply isn't any commercial venue to talk about issues of music at a length longer than an article (and most academic volumes are super dry), and so if you've got a book, you should be spending a significant amount of time talking about ideas. It's just your duty as a critic. There is lots of info about Celine elsewhere. When I've disliked a 33 1/3 book it's due to the author focusing on the music too much, if anything. (Not naming names of course, though Matos' focused on the music in exactly the right way, I think.)

I haven't read the full book yet (though some guy in my class last week mentioned having his mind blown by it) so no comment there.

yeah, Weisbard acknowledges the Nicholson Baker debt; he refers to his own book at times as UYI & I.

Yes, he cites where he got the idea in the introduction. But regardless of the inspiration, I thought it worked here. I was entertained and I don't know that I've even heard those records played start to finish. Nor do I care to.

oh, it definitely worked; I liked the book a great deal, especially the introduction, where he contrasts the early '90s blockbuster moment with now (the--please forgive me--blogbuster moment?)

I actually disliked the GnR book. A little too smarmy, a little too hard on Izzy, a little too reverential to the Pfork legacy in it's 'so over this' tone.

But I just started the Trout Mask Replica book and love it so far. I'm pretty vanilla when it comes to these, I find - I don't want 'novellas,' or 'stories insired by' the albums or word jumbles, or any other nonsense. I like them to read like liner notes. Like I give a fuck about Colin Meloy's life.

hahaha "reverential to the Pfork legacy"--by a guy who'd been writing a decade before Pitchfork even existed

I'm just saying, it's very 'new journalism,' very self righteous. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

The Carl Wilson book is the best book on music I've read in many years. So refreshing to read something about pop culture that's all smarts & no snark.

Is the Eno out? Anybody read it?

I'm reading 20 Jazz Funk Greats right now and loving it.

a little too hard on Izzy

I didn't read the GnR book. What's this about? Izzy is my fave member. He's the main diff between bad and good GnR, I think.

from the silence on the publishers blog, i'm guessing that the eno book isn't even written yet?

The books will come out if/when they come out.

This goes for any book, Eno or not.

I thought Geeta said somewhere it was finished or almost finished.

"I'm reading 20 Jazz Funk Greats right now and loving it."

me too. a+

I got my galleys/press copy of my book this week. I have to say, since "writer" was the second thing I ever wanted to be in the world (the first was "conductor" - lotsa of albums with Toscanini or Bernstein on the cover in the living room when I was toddlin'), that seeing a bound copy of something I'd written was a thrill comparable only to the first time I got a test pressing back from a vinyl pressing plant. But better, really.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/2213513468_328712cc03.jpg?v=0

Congrats! I cannot wait to read that come April.

nice

awesome, dude.

i totally can't wait to read your book, john -- congrats!

They should release the book with that cover. Metal!