The "33 1/3" series consists of authors writing miscellaneous info about "seminal" albums (tracks, cover art, impact on their lives/society at the time of and since release, etc). There are a slew of 'em out there (~ $10 per), and while I'm mildly intrigued by a few of em (In the Aeroplane..., Murmur, Let It Be by Colin Meloy), I haven't taken the leap.

Anybody read a 33 1/3 release? Thoughts? Worth the investment or utter crap?

fyi - below is the list of releases scheduled for '06 - '08.

The Pixies' Doolittle by Ben Sisario
The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique by Dan LeRoy
Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On by Miles Marshall Lewis
The Stone Roses' Stone Roses by Alex Green
Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation by Matthew Stearns
Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark by Sean Nelson
The Clash's London Calling by David L. Ulin
The Byrds' The Notorious Byrd Brothers by Ric Menck
Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited by Mark Polizzotti
Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand by Marc Woodworth
Nirvana's In Utero by Gillian Gaar
The Who's The Who Sell Out by John Dougan
Belle & Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister by Scott Plagenhoef
Steely Dan's Aja by Don Breithaupt
Richard & Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights by Hayden Childs
Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine by Daphne Carr
Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion by Eric Weisbard
Patti Smiths' Horses by Phil Shaw
Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime by Mike Fournier
Nick Drake's Pink Moon by Amanda Petrusich
A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by Shawn Taylor
U2's Achtung Baby by Stephen Catanzarite
Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Drew Daniel
Kate Bush's The Dreaming by Ann Powers
PJ Harvey's Rid of Me by Kate Schatz
Brian Eno's Another Green World by Geeta Dayal
Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life by Zeth Lundy
Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica by Kevin Courrier
Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love by Carl Wilson
Lucinda Williams' Lucinda Williams by Anders Smith Lindall
Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs by LD Beghtol
Television's Marquee Moon by Peter Blauner
Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones by David Smay

Steely Dan's Aja by Don Breithaupt

i have an uncle don breithaupt. hmm.

i haven't read any of these but a few of them would probably be interesting.

I've had the Neutral Milk Hotel one on my reading list for a while but it's not in the library and I'm always hesitant to shell out money for something, in case I don't like it.

I have the one on Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures, and it's pretty good. I was thinking about getting the one for MBV's Loveless as well.

The DJ Shadow one is great, though I would recommend these for albums you really know vs. albums you haven't gotten around to yet.

pretty impressive list...could see a few of these coming home with me.

A friend bought "Unknown Pleasures" for me about year ago and I've yet to open the book. Not that I didn't appreciate the gift, but it's just that if it isn't a magazine or newspaper, I don't have the patience.

I've read Floyd Piper, Bowie Low, Zeppelin IV and Dusty in Memphis. I've enjoyed them all, the Bowie maybe the most. Dusty in Memphis is kinda weird--it's more an essay on authenticity in Southern American music using the album as a starting point. The other three are more in line with what you'd expect--story behind the album plus analysis of the music.


Is this fair? Are you allowed to write a book about an album you sang, like, six lead vocals on?

LOVE the Radiohead one.

I read Meat is Murder (not really about the album) and liked it ok. Also Unknown Pleasures, pretty dull actually.

that's the one Joe Pernice wrote, right?

if I were going to get one I'd probably get that. If its not about the album though, what's it about?

A fictional story about someone who listens to the album.