33 1/3 Series of books

Someone gifted me the Beach Boys Smile one and it was so bad/useless I did throw it away! It didn't even deal with the music for some mysterious and thoroughly incomprehensible reason -- only the band's career up to that point!

I've been having trouble getting into the SAWII and Fear Of Music ones, even though I love these albums. Much as I admire and like the idea of the 'personal take' form of book, it only works well every so often.

Yeah, I can't imagine getting much out of the SAWII one. Seems like a really strange choice for the series.

cool idea, but some stuff is better off not being interpreted

I have not read the SAWII one yet but the author is an excellent writer and thinker IME

i just got a copy of Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile! you ever see that thing? that thing is a whole lotta Smile action. put out by Last Gasp in the 90's.

it's really good. don't really see the point in a 33/3 book about Smile when so much has already been written about it in such vast detail.

The SAWII one is the only one I've felt like tossing out a window.

I know I'll know it, but I'm drawing a blank on what SAWII stands for.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51R45E26TVL.jpg

took me two googles, just add 33 third to the search

selected ambient works 2

i bought The Gray Album book, read maybe 40 pages. then put it aside. then accidentally ruined it while mopping and thus threw it away. no great loss.

about to finish Matthew LeMay's book on XO by Elliott Smith, I really enjoyed it. John D.'s Master of Reality novella was fantastic.

gonna order this surefire classic, will report back

http://333sound.com/2014/05/20/new-33-13-title-koji-kondos-super-mario-bros/

i just finished the Tusk one and it sucks so bad i want to throw it away

― Cory Sklar, Wednesday, July 1, 2015 9:14 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

― just sayin, Wednesday, July 1, 2015 5:48 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM X2 except I think that's the only one I started and didn't even finish.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to be pretty pissed off if the Shlomo Carlebach proposal doesn't get green lighted...

NEW THIS FALL FROM BLOOMSBURY'S 33 1/3 SERIES:
Out Sept. 24, 2015:
Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew by George Grella
Beat Happening’s Beat Happening by Bryan C. Parker

Out Oct. 22, 2015:
Metallica’s Metallica (The Black Album) by David Masciotra
Phish’s A Live One by Walter Holland

This book, structured in abecedarian fashion, breaks down the fundamental components that defined Beat Happening’s self- titled album. Organized in a light-hearted yet incisive format, each of the book’s chapters details a particular facet of the record—band members, historic shows, recording sessions, songs, and ideologies—parts reflecting the album as a whole. These alphabetic ingredients constitute a recipe book for feeding your creative spirit

pretty bummed that it's the black album that got the nod but hopefully the book covers the Cliff years too

just an update to say that thanks to recommendations here i got franklin bruno's volume on 'armed forces.' it's by far the best one of these i've read and i came away thinking i had learned something and that bruno is very sensitive to the right things: nuances of arrangement and lyric, interaction of elvis costello's public profile and his music, etc. that said, the organization of the book--pretty much an "alphabetical," but really more or less random, assemblage of mini-essays--was a bit of a cop-out. i thought t hat bruno had a few threads in there that would have made really excellent, linear arguments that would have been much better served by a traditional structure that provided some context, walked through the album's production and discussed the songs one by one, then talked about relevant subsequent developments, then some kind of summary. maybe that's a little square of me, but it seemed like bruno had so many great observations but failed to develop a structure that wouldl show them off to best advantage.

― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, July 1, 2015 7:01 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

mm i mean i think it's meant to be mirroring the object of enquiry? in that (as bruno states repeatedly iirc) costello doesn't really have a 'thesis' or an 'argument' , just a whole bunch of stuff going on. i think that book is p great tbh

this pitchfork article though:

At the time of its release in 2005, this title was the only book-length examination of Neutral Milk Hotel

I've really enjoyed several of these books, but as the catalog gets deeper I'm having a harder time distinguishing this series from a tall pile of MOJO.

http://333sound.com/2015/09/29/open-call-2015-the-shortlist/

Lulu (JM)-Lou Reed and Metallica

is this one of y'all

No Shlomo, no credibility. Seriously, it could be the best book in the entire series by miles.

One of the Pinkerton proposals on the list is from a writer who identifies as "non-binary transgender". Who knows if that has anything to do with the proposal, but it could make for an interesting perspective.

(GI) (JG) -Germs
Had to look this up to make sense of it. Wasn't familiar with the Germs discog.

Muppets FTW obv. Also, hope Cobra gets a book rather than Refried Ectoplasm, and impressed that at least two people pitched the former.

But I'd read books on most of these TBH. Most exciting shortlist in… well, ever really.

total jazz proposals: 1 (The Inner Mounting Flame-The Mahavishnu Orchestra)

I am so ready to pre-order a possible "Death of a Ladies Man" book.

For the most part this is the most uninspiring shortlist I've seen from 33 1/3.

YESSSS

is the quality of the output predictable by the albums that will be written up tho

not that i particularly care, have only read one of these things

i can't believe turn on the bright lights hasn't gotten a book yet, or anything by animal collective

Animal Collective fans can't don't read.

I would definitely read a book about Death of a Ladies Man

I doubt it's going to make it to the final list, but I would love an Uptown Saturday Night book.

yeees

can't believe there's still never been a Violator one.

Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat-Charanjit Singh

yessssss

of course, since 95% of these books appear to suck, i won't get my hopes up

also that book would sell 0.3 copies :(

disappointed that the Watertown pitch from the longlist didn't make it, one of my favorite albums ever

Brad I can't stand Lulu but I thought yr pitch was really strong, I'm having a hard time imagining the one that made the shortlist bettering it.

Everett True didn't make the shortlist:

http://www.collapseboard.com/everett-true/how-not-to-write-a-book-proposal-rejected-unknown/

I know True isn't to everyone's taste (to say the least) but this would have been a great pick IMO.

jesus christ shut up you fucking baby

also thank you simon, needless to say i am full of curiosity and dread about the one that made the shortlist

i suppose if i were E. True i would feel pretty good about proposing a Daniel Johnston book and i would be taken aback by rejection, but...yes, what Brad said

that E True proposal is terrible

I'm really pleased that Agata Pyzik got shortlisted, though she won't say what for. Presumably Kollaps or Solaris.

if you only read one of these books, read TWENTY JAZZ FUNK GREATS by Drew Daniel. by far my favorite