33 1/3 Proposal List

[kitt kat]

^ is it 'goodbye 20th century?"

because i almost bought that at the usc bookstore yesterday

[bmack86]

Yeah. I bought a copy as soon as we got it in at Borders. I'm to Daydream Nation right now.

[Miroir Noir]

Bumping this thread to praise Bryan Charles' take on Wowee Zowee. Really terrific writing there; he covers the album, sketches out the Pavement story as a whole, manages to get great interviews with everyone, and does some really terrific stream of consciousness stuff without ever slipping into lazy self-indulgence. I am absolutely picking up his novel next. My second favorite book in the series thus far, behind only Carl Wilson's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste.

[getbetter]

This is probably the best thread Kitt Kat has ever made.

[buddy]

big star's radio city 33 1/3 book was very informative, as it had it interviews with most of those involved including the recording engineers, the band, and even alex chilton who rarely gave interviews.

and, elliott smith's xo 33 1/3 was mostly trying to dispel the notion that the songs on the album came from a personal place, and the things written about elliott in the book Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing were off base. i wish it had talked more about the making of the album.

[Pixiessp]

I never finished "Rid of Me". In fact, I forgot all about these books.

[venturas90sgirl]

Bumping this thread to praise Bryan Charles' take on Wowee Zowee. Really terrific writing there; he covers the album, sketches out the Pavement story as a whole, manages to get great interviews with everyone, and does some really terrific stream of consciousness stuff without ever slipping into lazy self-indulgence. I am absolutely picking up his novel next. My second favorite book in the series thus far, behind only Carl Wilson's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste.

This is truly one of my top albums of all time. To hear this and get something different out it each time is what makes it special. The Sordid Sentinels version takes it to the next level. I will dwfinitely be reading this.

[schoolofruckus]

I need to pick up that Spiderland book.

[bug on your lip]

June releases:

Television "Marquee Moon"

Dinosaur Jr "You're Living All Over Me'

Rolling Stones "Some Girls"


i need all 3 of these !!

[Miroir Noir]

The Television book is 240 pages!

[bug on your lip]

is that the longest yet? i remember the Smiths one was pretty hefty

[stuporfly]

The Television book is 240 pages!

Maybe that's why this one took so long to put together. The title showed up a few years ago at least.

is that the longest yet? i remember the Smiths one was pretty hefty

The one on Meat is Murder is only around 100 pages. I've got 22 of the books, and the longest in my collection is for The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, which clocks in at 150 pages. Exile on Main Street, which a friend left for me to check out is nearly 170 pages.

[stuporfly]

They just closed the window for submissions on this next round last night. As of April 22, they'd only received 100 proposals, which was certainly a far cry from the 597 they got in 2009. I expect the number at least doubled in the final eight days they were accepting submissions, but I'd be surprised if it got anywhere near 597.

The requirements were quite a bit different this time around, which I was actually grateful for. I think I learned a lot from the last time around, and while I chose the same album as in 2009, my proposal is a lot more focused.

I expect they'll release a list of submissions in the next couple of days, which should be interesting. In the past, multiple proposals were received for the same album. I looked at a list from 2007, and it had Weezer's Pinkerton on it seven times. They commissioned one of those, and apparently it didn't work out because late last year they said it had been canceled. That actually happens more than I expected.

From October 12, 2011...

Weezer's Pinkerton - this project has been cancelled
Wu Tang Clan's Enter the Wu Tang - this project has been cancelled
Tori Amos' Boys for Pele - this project has been cancelled
Funkadelic's Maggot Brain - this project is still alive, and partially written, but I wouldn't hold your breath...
Outkast's Aquemini - this project has been cancelled
The Clash's London Calling - this book is deeply, profoundly cursed. If you pre-ordered it in 2004 when it was first announced, I can only apologise...
Lucinda Williams' Self-Titled LP - 90% written, but cannot be confident of a publication date
Kate Bush's The Dreaming - unlikely this will ever happen, but not yet officially cancelled

[Miroir Noir]

This thread bump reminds me that I need to buy Jonathan Lethem's contribution on Fear of Music that came out a week or so ago.

[Karl Malone]

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.

Not to kick a dead horse or revive on old thread, but I think that was release was proven to be false. Its somewhere in an interview with either Merzbow himself, or with Thurston Moore.

[stuporfly]

Their final tally: 471. The list, not alphabetical, but rather in the order in which they were received.

[Miroir Noir]

94 proposals are still in the running. Including Ashlee Simpson. And 2112 twice.

[TomAz]

This thread bump reminds me that I need to buy Jonathan Lethem's contribution on Fear of Music that came out a week or so ago.

Reply to this old post.

The piece you linked to states:

Jonathan Lethem treats Fear of Music (the third album by the Talking Heads, and the first produced by Brian Eno)

The parenthetical is false; Fear of Music was the 2nd Eno-produced TH album. I doubt Lethem wrote the blurb himself, but it's quite odd that a publication that wants to treat music criticism as serious business would get such a fundamental (and easy-to-confirm) fact wrong.

[zircona1]

My choice for one of these books would be Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. I and II. They're both so different and so mysterious - and RDJ seems to be wary of giving interviews - I'd love to get some answers.

[TomAz]

Also they're sold out of that book already.

[mountmccabe]

I just borrowed that Fear of Music from a friend; I should be starting it soon and plan on reporting back on my thoughts.

[TomAz]

I ordered 9 of those books this morning after reading this thread. And I forgot to order Gilded Palace of Sin, so it will soon be 10.

[kitt kat]

UGH I DIDN'T SUBMIT A PROPOSAL AND THE ALBUM I WOULD HAVE PROPOSED IS ON THE LIST. I HATE LIFE.

[kitt kat]

I hate life mainly because I made the shortlist last time and I probably stood an even better chance this time around now that I'm an "Academic"

[Miroir Noir]

Forthcoming list:

Andrew WK: I Get Wet, by Phillip Crandall
Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works Vol II, by Marc Weidenbaum
Beach Boys: Smile, by Luis Sanchez
Bjork: Biophilia, by Nicola Dibben
Bobbie Gentry: Ode to Billie Joe, by Tara Murtha
Danger Mouse: The Grey Album, by Charles Fairchild
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, by Mike Foley
Devo: Freedom of Choice, by Evie Nagy
Gang of Four: Entertainment! by Kevin Dettmar
Hole: Live Through This, by Anwyn Crawford
J Dilla: Donuts, by Jordan Ferguson
Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, by Kirk Walker Graves
Michael Jackson: Dangerous, by Susan Fast
Oasis: Definitely Maybe, by Alex Niven
Richard Hell and the Voidoids: Blank Generation, by Pete Astor
Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire de Melody Nelson, by Darran Anderson
Sigur Ros: ( ), by Ethan Hayden
They Might Be Giants: Flood, by Alex Reed and Philip Sandifer

[zircona1]

My choice for one of these books would be Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. I and II.

Forthcoming list:
Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works Vol II, by Marc Weidenbaum

!!!!!!!!!!!

[mountmccabe]

Andrew WK: I Get Wet, by Phillip Crandall
Devo: Freedom of Choice, by Evie Nagy
J Dilla: Donuts, by Jordan Ferguson
Richard Hell and the Voidoids: Blank Generation, by Pete Astor
Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire de Melody Nelson, by Darran Anderson

I did rather poor in my guessing. I did not win the set.

[mountmccabe]

Also I am quite interested in how the Sigur Ros, Gang of 4, Hole and Danger Mouse books turn out.

[Miroir Noir]

Yeah, I think I guessed like four or five of them. Gang of Four and Devo will be must-buys for me. Based on this, I'm gonna guess that the Danger Mouse album is pretty heady stuff, which is fine because the idea of that album is more interesting than the album. Probably too soon for the Kanye album, no? It has already been written to death about, and there hasn't been enough time to contextualize it differently yet.

[TomAz]

Colin Meloy's book on The Replacements' Let It Be was mostly self-indulgent dreck. I should not have been surprised.

Franklin Bruno's book on Armed Forces was bizarrely organized but ultimately informative.

The book on OK Computer was mostly OK (get it) though I disagreed with the author's marginalization of "Let Down" and got lost in the music theory places.