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33 1/3 series of books


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Maybe this has been given consideration by numerous threads before, but has anyone heard whether or not one of the Wilco albums (YHF, e.g.) has been or is now being considered for the 33 1/3 series? I bought the one on REM's Murmur, and it seems that Wilco would be a great candidate. I would offer my services but I'm sure someone more qualified could be found.

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This is the list of planned books for the 2007-08 "season" announced so far:

 

"If You're Feeling Sinister" by Scott Plagenhoef

"Aja" by Don Breithaupt

"Shoot Out the Lights" by Hayden Childs

"Pretty Hate Machine" by Daphne Carr

"Use Your Illusion" by Eric Weisbard

"Horses" by Phil Shaw

"Double Nickels on the Dime" by Mike Fournier

"Pink Moon" by Amanda Petrusich

"People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" by Shawn Taylor

"Achtung Baby" by Stephen Catanzarite

"20 Jazz Funk Greats" by Drew Daniel

"The Dreaming" by Ann Powers

"Rid of Me" by Kate Schatz

"Another Green World" by Geeta Dayal

"Songs in the Key of Life" by Zeth Lundy

"Trout Mask Replica" by Kevin Courrier

"Let's Talk About Love" by Carl Wilson

"Lucinda Williams" by Anders Smith Lindall

"69 Love Songs" by LD Beghtol

 

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Tiny books about record albums.

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i've never really sat down and read through them, but from what i've read, they're awesome.

if you're interested in music and have been to a Barnes and Noble or any music book store, you've seen 'em.

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Basically, these are books about an album written by another musician, or music nut that were influenced or moved by that album. One author per album. Colin Meloy wrote one about The Replacments' "Let It Be".

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33%E2%85%93

 

 

What I love about Colin's 33 1/3 book is that it had a story and a plot and was super entertaining. I discovered The Decemberists by reading "Let It Be." I've tried to read a few of the others - the ones on Neil Young and the one of ABBA - but they're a little dry.

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Some are great and some are horrible. "In an Aeroplane Over the Sea" is awesome, in depth, but not too "nerdy". "OK Computer" is just way too nerdy, filled with how the length of each song makes the record and not enough about the music. It just depends who writes it.

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There was a larger list of proposed books by interested authors...books on several Wilco (and Uncle Tupelo) albums were pitched to the publisher. I'd say it is a matter of time before someone makes the right pitch and there is one for at least YHF.

 

Check their blog out for more details.

 

Big fan of the series...i'd love to see one of these done that really dissects the making of and content of either YHF or Summerteeth.

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Well, you can't tell me that ALL of those books are good...
I rarely see these in any store, in fact I only saw them at Tower Records one time and they closed down.

 

I can't imagine many of them are that good. It seems to me that now there are so many, about some rather unimportant albums, what exactly is the point.

 

LouieB

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No, of course not. My point was that I know people who liked that Radiohead book.

 

And I, for one, hated the Neutral Milk Hotel book. Can't believe it took her three years to get that piece of shit done.

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I rarely see these in any store, in fact I only saw them at Tower Records one time and they closed down.

 

I can't imagine many of them are that good. It seems to me that now there are so many, about some rather unimportant albums, what exactly is the point.

 

LouieB

 

I've read 4 of them at this point and they have all been really well done. I have three more I plan on reading over the summer. Isn't that like saying there are so many books about Band X that there is no possible way someone could write a better and/or definitive one than any of those? Also, some of the albums they've chose to greenlight one of these books on are exactly the reson I like the series...what's unimportant to you, is not unimportant to me.

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I've only read one of the books, like I said. I guess I'm surprised that there hasn't been

a UT or Wilco book given the broad spectrum of books out there already in the series. I'm guessing

they don't sell alot of copies so whoever wrote it would have to do it out of love for the subject matter

and not be concerned with how many copies they sold.

 

I would nominate A.M., Summerteeth or YHF myself.

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I've only read one of the books, like I said. I guess I'm surprised that there hasn't been

a UT or Wilco book given the broad spectrum of books out there already in the series. I'm guessing

they don't sell alot of copies so whoever wrote it would have to do it out of love for the subject matter

and not be concerned with how many copies they sold.

 

I would nominate A.M., Summerteeth or YHF myself.

 

Though a Wilco book would be nice at some point, you might notice that very few of these books are about albums that are less than a decade old, as the editor of the series appears to be of the mind that there needs to be some distance from the release, to allow for the full import of an album to reveal itself.

 

Which means you might have a bit of a wait on a Summerteeth or YHF tome.

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