I think some of these look pretty good:

"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
“Marquee Moon” by Peter Blauner
“Swordfishtrombones” by David Smay

Wow, Scott, way to go.

It annoys me how rare it is that someone actually writes on an album I give a damn about, though. Of these, the only ones I'd potentially be intersted in are 69 Love Songs and Achtung Baby (and maybe Aja and Use Your Illusions just due to the oddness of the selections)

for Christmas, I got copies of the 33 1/3 books on "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and "Meat is Murder." I've only gotten the chance to read the Neutral Milk Hotel one, but it has been a really good read. Short, but interesting.

I look forward to a few of these, especially the captain Beefheart one. I can't imagine it will have tons of insight other than "they were taking LSD and played some music" or "so after a hard day of gettnig stoned, they sat down and decided to write some songs."

Which of the old ones can you recommend? I saw they just came out with a Neutral Milk Hotel one which seemed interesting. A couple of the previously released ones look interesting.

I think i'd like 69 love songs too. That interview book with the box set is about as long as one of the 33 1/3 books, but with more naked pictures.

Actually, Beefheart was not a fan of the L-train and he really didn't smoke much either...
The devil's drink was his main passion and he liked it at almost any time of the day.

hmmm. i was unaware. i always figured while listening to pretty much any captain beefheart that he was fucked up on something.

'specially during some of those spoken word tracks. those things honestly creep me out something fierce.

The Meat is Murder one is fantastic. Perfectly captures the essence of being a Smiths fan and everything that carries with it.

WTF is this? some techno or rap?

A Tribe Called Quest's first album (an odd one to write about, though I guess since it was the first it might've been the most AFFECTING or whatever)

I'm most interested in these:

Because I like the album
“Marquee Moon” by Peter Blauner
"Aja" by Don Breithaupt
"Rid of Me" by Kate Schatz

Because I like the writer
"20 Jazz Funk Greats" by Drew Daniel
"Let's Talk About Love" by Carl Wilson

Because I like the album AND the writer
"If You're Feeling Sinister" by Scott Plagenhoef
"Pink Moon" by Amanda Petrusich
"Another Green World" by Geeta Dayal

Because it would be an interesting read
"69 Love Songs" by LD Beghtol

There's quite a few nice choices that interest me:

"Shoot Out the Lights"
"Double Nickels on the Dime"
"20 Jazz Funk Greats"
"Rid of Me"
"Another Green World"
"Trout Mask Replica"
“Marquee Moon”
“Swordfishtrombones”

Congrats to Scott!


This one's especially nice to see...a proud moment for PopMatters.

is there time-travelling

I'm writing one on the Arctic Monkeys.

Seriously congrats Scott.

I would check one of these out....



NOT!


Well, I would check out the Sinister one if I knew how to read.

has Sinister really become that canonized? Im not a fan of belle and sebastian, so my thoughts on this album would be pretty bias... but i just never realized that this album was that highly loved.

I'd say it'd be pretty safe to call it one of the ten most beloved indie rock albums of the 90s.

Much more love for that banned in American Indie circles then there is here. Much like Depeche Mode and The Cure.

These books get ripped off at our store a lot. The music book section is off in a dark corner, and these are pocket-sized. Purrrrfect for stealing.

Where is PL anyways?

Congratulations are most assuredly in order.

really?

wow.

Quick! Ten most beloved cds of the 90s....

Anyway, I heard the Joy Division , 33 1/3 book, was really good. I can't remember if it was Closer or Unknown Pleasures, but probably Closer

Sounds like a truly pleasurable read to read any from that list or any already released.

Unknown Pleasures by Chris Ott. Yeah it's a good one.

I second the love for the Meat Is Murder book and add Forever Changes to the pile. I didn't like the OK Computer one

I haven't heard of anyone liking the OK Computer one.

It's dog shit.

These all interest me - especially Another Green World. Soild batch being released.

I actually emailed the guy offering to write one for Gentlemen and he wrote back that there wouldn't be a big enough market for that. Yet he somehow thinks there is for a piece of shit like Rid of Me.

I'm confident that Geeta Dayal will do a good job with AGW, too. She's a smart cookie.



You're kidding, right? I mean, a simple Google search shows 1.7 million hits for "pj harvey" and only 330,000 for "afghan whigs." Not to mention that PJ is beloved by critics [P&J placements: Dry (4), Rid of Me (3), To Bring You My Love (1), Is This Desire? (7), Stories From the City (2)]; I don't see Greil Marcus dwelling on the icon status of Greg Dulli.

I'm actually glad that Rid of Me is getting the treatment instead of To Bring You My Love, which seems to have been the consensus pick for best since it came out. Rid of Me has always seemed like the more interesting album to me.

PJ Harvey is beloved by critics! That's all the convincing I needed to decide her music is good.

...so much so that the average Uh Huh Her was #33 in 2004

Why, exactly? Seriously, I don't know, I haven't read it.

Quite a lot of it is waffle about the difference between how LP records and CD's have effected the way albums are structured into two clear sides and arguments that OK Computer is one of the few CD's to do this.

It's pretty much more a musicology book full of pages about time signatures and tempo of songs as opposed to the process by which they were recorded or the effects used on the record.

A waste of a great oppurtunity I thought.

The Bends or Kid A would be better served by this series anyway, I think

They should write about some rap music, some time. I hear its pretty popular with the kids.

i just read this one last week. very well written and now i can't stop listening to murmur and reckoning. starting the neutral milk one next week.

congrats scott!

sad.

pl, congratulazioni. there's a bunch of these i need to read.

I would love to see their target audience marketing reports for this series. I'm guessing Single Black Male isn't in there. Single and Lonely Internet User. Sleepy Eyed Solo Shopper. Poorly Groomed Aspiring Aesthete. Overeducated Clerical Worker. Those sound more like it.

does this series have a website or anything? i can't seem to find it through google.

We should do a 45 series and write about singles.

Anyone going to offer up where PL is?

here is a blog about the series: http://33third.blogspot.com/

continuum website about the books: http://www.continuumbooks.com/(3bzgd5ydidc...x?SeriesID=THIR

i ordered a catalog from there, let's see if i get one.

i am excited to read the nmh one and the smiths one. thanks for the recommendations

Unlike reading.


Seriously offer to write one next time, see what they say.

And we all know single black males = only audience for rap albums.

(actually, the idea that they are even the primary audience for rap albums = not suggested by my entirely unscientific anecdotal research. Hello females.)

Once he's done with that, they need to pay PL to write about "Different Class"

I'd also love to see the gender demos on music criticism audiences. I'm not saying I agree with it, yo. I'm just trying to think like a publisher. If I'm way off base, let me know.

Are these all out in the US now? I saw the Pink Moon one in the run up to xmas and Scott's at least is on Amazon.co.uk

Coming 2008

• Pretty Hate Machine, by Daphne Carr, on the album by Nine Inch Nails (1989)
• Another Green World, by Geeta Dayal, on the album by Brian Eno (1975)
• Reign in Blood by DX Ferris, on the album by Slayer (1986)

Titles Announced for 2008 and 2009

• Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by S.H. Fernando, Jr., on the album by Wu-Tang Clan (1993)
• Maggot Brain by Matt Rogers, on the album by Funkadelic (1971)
• It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Christopher R. Weingarten, on the album by Public Enemy (1988)
• Song Cycle by Richard Henderson, on the album by Van Dyke Parks (1968)
• Pinkerton by Jessica Suarez, on the album by Weezer (1996)
• Boys for Pele by Elizabeth Merrick, on the the album by Tori Amos (1996)
• Tusk by Rob Trucks, on the album by Fleetwood Mac (1979)
• Illmatic by Matthew Gasteier, on the album by Nas (1994)
• Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash by Jeffery Roesgen, on the album by The Pogues (1985)
• Pink Flag by Wilson Neate, on the album by Wire (1977)
• Radio City by Bruce Eaton, on the album by Big Star (1974)
• Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles, on the album by Pavement (1995)
• One Step Beyond... by Terry Edwards, on the album. by Madness (1979)
• Facing Future by Dan Kois, on the album by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (1993)
• Gentlemen by Bob Gendron, on the album by The Afghan Whigs (1993)
• The Gilded Palace of Sin by Bob Proehl, on the album by The Flying Burrito Brothers (1969)
• XO by Matthew LeMay, on the album by Elliott Smith (1998)
• Aquemini by Nick Weidenfeld and Michael Schmelling, on the album by Outkast (1998)
• Zaireeka by Mark Richardson, on the album by The Flaming Lips (1997)

Titles Previously Announced/Unknown Status

• Shoot Out the Lights, by Hayden Childs, on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_Out_the_Lights" title="Shoot Out the Lights">the album by Richard and Linda Thompson (1982)
• The Dreaming, by Ann Powers, on the album by Kate Bush (1982)
• Lucinda Williams, by Anders Smith Lindall, on the album by Lucinda Williams (1988)
• Marquee Moon, by Peter Blauner, on the album by Television (1977)

I predict Five Thingers soon fall out of love with this series.

they need to do one for definitely maybe.

" yeh i was sorted on the charlie so i held a note and went yeh that was fucking top"

Darnielle's Sabbath book is brilliant.

Currently waiting for the Slayer one to arrive...

Of interest
http://www.33third.blogspot.com/

celine dion????....really?????




true