The 33 1/3 thread.... (the book series)

CrazyDiamond84 said:
The Celine Dion book was required reading for a class I took in college, and how I discovered this book series. I highly recommend that one as well.
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How is it that I took a Jazz Appreciation class that was basically an hour of listening to awesome jazz records every week and a class on the Grateful Dead (complete with field trip to the shows at the Omni in 92) in college and I’m somehow jealous of whatever class that was?
 
Lee Newman said:
How is it that I took a Jazz Appreciation class that was basically an hour of listening to awesome jazz records every week and a class on the Grateful Dead (complete with field trip to the shows at the Omni in 92) in college and I’m somehow jealous of whatever class that was?
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I dont remember what the class was, but it some sort of Media writing class. I remember writing like a 10 or so page paper criticizing racial stereotypes in 'Back to the Future.'
 
Oh, the one by d.x. ferris, "Slayer's Reign In Blood" has a companion volume, called 66 2/3 Slayer 66 2/3 -- worth it if you're a fan. (the 33 1/3 is also good)
 
LeeVing said:
I only own one...

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But full disclosure....I haven't read it. I've had it a while now, but I can't read music or know the difference between notes, so most of it is lost on me.
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The Fugazi one was a brief history of the band and then it broke the record down track by track into themes, sound and recording. There wasn’t any “music” y’all in it. I just got done with the chapter in Kahn’s Love Supreme book (not a 33 1/3) and there was a lot of major/minor, this chord, that chord, musical theory crap - but I still found some useful tidbits in there and learning about how RVG recorded was fascinating,
 
After a four day blackout, I read three more: the Fugazi, Sleater-Kinney, and Beat Happening entries. Absolutely recommend all three of them, can't say enough good things.

The Bitches Brew book I have on deck... Will get back to you following that one.
 
I finished the Coltrane book. It helped me appreciate the record a little more, still waiting for it to unlock the universe for me... anyhow, hope to sit down and crack open the Dusty book on Friday. I. The meantime, I got this book today and though I’d tangent again shortly. I picked up the Beatles and Bowie books on vacation. They’re short, informative and entertaining. The concept is to tell the story of the person (this series is not limited to just musicians, there are artist books and historical figures, hell I believe there is one on Sherlock Holmes) through infographics:
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Just started the Dusty book. So far I like Zanes writing and it seems like his experience with the record is similar and in a lot of ways we are probably simpatico. He talks about Atlantic in much the same way I talk about Colemine. He seems to experience music in the same way as me. It’s also a very different kind of book from the Fugazi volume.
 
I have a couple of these! they’re great
  • Big Star’s “Radio City”
  • Black Sabbath’s “Master of Reality” written by John Darnielle (!!!)
  • Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In The Aeroplane Over the Sea”
  • Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds”
  • Angelo Badalamenti’s “Songs From Twin Peaks"
I always ask for some for birthday’s/Xmas because they’re cheap and fun. I need to get some more.
 
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oh yeah that neutral milk hotel one is great, the author spoke to everyone except jeff (he was still disappeared from the public eye when it was written, this was way before the comeback tour)
 
I’m about halfway through the Dusty book. I saw some negative reviews and I’m officially done with caring about what other people say about these books. Zane is writing a long form book about an album he loves. He is telling the story of how he fell in love with it, the story of how it came to be, giving it context and also the story of how he wrote the book. I find the best writing turns our expectations in end... Hemingway could portray a world of emotion in a few carefully chosen words, Tolkien can make a children’s book so rich and well crafted that it becomes its own world. Zane is taking the concept of writing about an album and examining himself, music and the world.
 
Lee Newman said:
I saw some negative reviews and I’m officially done with caring about what other people say about these books. Zane is writing a long form book about an album he loves. He is telling the story of how he fell in love with it, the story of how it came to be, giving it context and also the story of how he wrote the book.
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Zane is taking the concept of writing about an album and examining himself, music and the world.
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oh certainly this is valid; it's often said that the writing tells you more about the author than the subject of the writing. The best books certainly do both, and the ones I dislike the most are the ones that lean into one aspect at the expense of the other (e.g. Jonathen Lethem's "The Talking Heads: Fear of Music" he starts out by saying he wasn't going to interview the band or anyone and wasn't going to look up any information and was going to disconnect his computer from the internet until he was done writing it. So uh good luck on any non-lethem perspectives or facts and information that lethem himself had not already committed to memory. The OK Computer book's analysis on song length is equally maddening for a similar reason: there's a huge disconnect between what readers get and what they want to get. YMMV, I did not enjoy them, but I can see why someone else might.)
 
I think I mentioned this in the other thread when we were talking about these books a while back, but the Music From Big Pink is a nice little read, too. It's not strictly about the album per se, but a fictional story about a young drug dealer living in New York and then Woodstock when the fellas were there and interacted with them, especially Richard, a bit. Draws on at least some true events, like the drunken car crash.

Amanda Petrusich's Pink Moon was also good and I enjoyed Highway 61 Revisited, which I recall had a lot of good info about the recording sessions.
 
yukbon said:
oh certainly this is valid; it's often said that the writing tells you more about the author than the subject of the writing. The best books certainly do both, and the ones I dislike the most are the ones that lean into one aspect at the expense of the other (e.g. Jonathen Lethem's "The Talking Heads: Fear of Music" he starts out by saying he wasn't going to interview the band or anyone and wasn't going to look up any information and was going to disconnect his computer from the internet until he was done writing it. So uh good luck on any non-lethem perspectives or facts and information that lethem himself had not already committed to memory. The OK Computer book's analysis on song length is equally maddening for a similar reason: there's a huge disconnect between what readers get and what they want to get. YMMV, I did not enjoy them, but I can see why someone else might.)
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I’m sure they’ll be some I struggle to get through and some that I may not be able to, I think knowing that each is different going in is going to be a key in being able to read more of them. The fact that the first two I am reading take very different approaches is probably helpful. I honestly look forward to the more zany ones that are fiction and what not.
 
I really like the style of the books. Some are cookie cutter; background of the band, here's what they did in the studio, here's what everyone thought of the album with some personal anecdotes thrown in. But others are VERY different. The Master of Reality one by John Darnielle is barely about the album, it touches upon some of John's personal history a little bit. He creates a fictional story about a character and their relationship to the album helping them in a way. It's different but good.
 
So I finished the Dusty book. 3/4 of it is great. His deep dive into how he discovered the album, Why he fell in love with it and then exploration into its creation especially his attention to making sure the album is given context ... This is a great book.

The last chapter is problematic. Zanes is right in tackling appropriation, but is too keen not to hurt anyone's feelings. Ultimately, his argument boils down to it's complicated, which is fair. However, he takes the stance of it matters where your heart is and that is one of the things that has allowed systematic racism to be so prevelent. The bigger problem is that while he tried to be objective in regards to the appropriation of African-American culture, he fails to see his own bias in his love affair with the South which allows him to use many stereotypes to tell his overarching story, but doesn't stop to realize what those are or to correct them after he has attempted to do so neutrally in regards to race. It was a brave chapter to write, I wish he'd had the strength to call it out in full and to reflect on his own bias.
 
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