33 1/3 Proposal List

[kitt kat]

Don't know who reads these books...But they just closed the open proposals. Looks like they got nearly 600 book proposals for famous albums sent in.

http://33third.blogspot.com/2009/01/longlist.html

There's some good ones (esp. Dinosaur Jr. Woudl love to read a book about "You're Living All Over Me.") and some bad (BRITNEY? FALL OUT BOY?)

What ones would you buy/read?

[wmgaretjax]

I don't think they took my proposal seriously... Because it's not listed.

I was deadly serious.

[wmgaretjax]

I hope they accept the Young Jeezy one.

[shakermaker113]

what was your proposal?

I never understood the point of these books. what do they tell you that you didn't know already?

[TommyboyUNM]

Animal Collective!! Woo!!!! jk don't mind me.

Umm I think Iggy & The Stooges "Raw Power" and Tool "Aenima" would be good starts for me.

[Boourns]

Pulp – Different Class
Pulp – Different Class
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Pulp – This Is Hardcore

[wmgaretjax]

I wanted to write about Merzbow's Houjoue from the point of view of an old Mercedes that has had all 6 CDs stuck in it's changer for the last 5 years.

[kitt kat]

I wanted to write about Merzbow's Houjoue from the point of view of an old Mercedes that has had all 6 CDs stuck in it's changer for the last 5 years.

that actually sounds AMAZING

[kitt kat]

and if you sent one in, you should tell them it's not listed!

[wmgaretjax]

and if you sent one in, you should tell them it's not listed!

I did send it in. Maybe I will shoot them an email. I don't think I could ever commit to something like this anyway. I can only write seriously when I'm drunk. I don't get drunk often enough to finish a book.

[SoulDischarge]

Black Oak Arkansas are on there. I'd imagine it'd have to be written from the perspective of the seam of the singers pants.

[zenidogx]

i can't believe these albums haven't had their own books:
The Fugees – The Score
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass
Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power
Mogwai - Young Team
Yo La Tengo – I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

and these should have one made sometime in the future, but not anytime soon:
The White Stripes – Elephant
of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
The Decemberists - Picaresque

i would have made a proposal for Picaresque had i known.
have i mentioned how All Things Must Pass is the greatest album ever? well, it is.

[Pixiessp]

there are way too many from that list that i would want to read.

I'd probably start with these:
Pornography-The Cure
Are we not men-DEVO
Dummy-Portishead
Queen II-Queen
A Ghost is Born-Wilco
Spirit of Eden-Talk Talk
Rumours-Fleetwood Mac(this would be the juiciest one for sure)

If I had taken part in this I would have nominated these:
The Colour of Spring-Talk Talk
Siren-Roxy Music
The Kick Inside-Kate Bush
Misery is a Butterfly-Blonde Redhead
Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons-Blonde Redhead
Blue Sunshine-The Glove

[Tylerdurden31]

if they actually do the book for Emergency & I, I will be the first in line to read it.

I also would've suggested Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart

and whoever the jackass is that picked Phantom Power over Rings Around the World by Super Furry Animals obviously doesn't have Rings Around the World

[stuporfly]

My proposal is among the hundreds.

Alas...

[paulb]

I LOVE my Pauls Boutique 33 1/3 book...I may pick up the Slayer Reign In Blood 33 1/3 book aswell.

[shakermaker113]

again, can someone please explain to me what they reveal? I look at these books and expect them to be a "dummies guide to...", which is only useful if you know nothing about it. Is it more than that? What the hell can these people who didn't work on the albums tell us about our favorite records?

[bug on your lip]

The Church – Priest = Aura


wow ! this of course would be a dream to me....

there isn't a musician i idolize more than Steve Kilbey of the Church

[kitt kat]

again, can someone please explain to me what they reveal? I look at these books and expect them to be a "dummies guide to...", which is only useful if you know nothing about it. Is it more than that? What the hell can these people who didn't work on the albums tell us about our favorite records?

Groan.

They're all different...But a majority of the books have the author's interview the band/the engineers/the producer/WHATEVER. They're actually really great because no matter how many reviews you read, you still don't KNOW about the album. They also give a lot of history, and for bands that have pretty obscure/muddled histories like NMH and MBV, the books are a good historical jumping point. I learned so much from reading these books.

Just fucking read one. They're only like 100pgs or so.

[shakermaker113]

Groan.

They're all different...But a majority of the books have the author's interview the band/the engineers/the producer/WHATEVER. They're actually really great because no matter how many reviews you read, you still don't KNOW about the album. They also give a lot of history, and for bands that have pretty obscure/muddled histories like NMH and MBV, the books are a good historical jumping point. I learned so much from reading these books.

Just fucking read one. They're only like 100pgs or so.

thank you.

I mean groan.

[mountmccabe]

Groan.

They're all different...But a majority of the books have the author's interview the band/the engineers/the producer/WHATEVER. They're actually really great because no matter how many reviews you read, you still don't KNOW about the album. They also give a lot of history, and for bands that have pretty obscure/muddled histories like NMH and MBV, the books are a good historical jumping point. I learned so much from reading these books.

Just fucking read one. They're only like 100pgs or so.

I am not sure that I would state it in that fashion. I have read five - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Bee Thousand, Endtroducing..., Master of Reality and Horses - and of those I would only say that Endtroducing... "[had] the author's interview..." Also I would say that was the least interesting of the five.

Master of Reality is fiction, written from the point of view of a teenager that likes the album.

The others (that I have read) are all what I would consider the default type of book, a general history of things around the album. They all have a different scope, though. Bee Thousand focuses on the recording process and the songs themselves, Aeroplane is an attempt at a complete story of the band, Horses takes quite a broad critical approach, very literary, very much an attempt to discuss the culture at the time and how this album fits. I suppose some of these have original statements from people involved in the album but in no way is that the focus.

I think I have learned the most from Horses (even though I haven't quite finished), a good amount from Bee Thousand and a little from Aeroplane. I have a GbV biography/band book somewhere that is a lot thicker and if I had finished that this 33 1/3 book probably would be superfluous. If you prefer 500 page tomes then these 150 page things may not be your thing.

I like 'em.

[mountmccabe]

Also my favorite submission from that list is

Wilco – Forthcoming 2009 Album

[kitt kat]

^Well, if they don't interview the artist, they interview people connected with the scene, etc, like in the NMH book. (Which, BTW is EXCELLENTLY organized and written IMHO.)

The Loveless one is very good, and the Low one is STELLAR.

[wmgaretjax]

I'm in the middle of the Sonic Youth one... It's a little overeager... But there is some really good stuff in it.

[kitt kat]

^Agreed. I read that one over break.

[wmgaretjax]

^Agreed. I read that one over break.

The dude clearly loves the album, he just tries a little hard to speak about it in poetic terms.

[Pixiessp]

I read "Doolittle" and am preparing to read "Rid of Me".

[bug on your lip]

Doolittle = awesome

Loveless = awesome

U2 = total Horseshit. AVOID AVOID AVOID


just started the MATS one

[bballarl]

I read "Doolittle" and am preparing to read "Rid of Me".

Rid of Me is terrible.

[bmack86]

On a similar note, anyone read the Sonic Youth biography that just came out recently? It's awesome except when he talks about the songs, because then the author seems like he's disconnected. Other than that, it's a great history of a really cool band.