In college I studied English literature; this, of course, meant I was subject to vast amounts of literary criticism. Reading some of this material made the prospect of having my legs waxed with duct tape sound appealing. During this time I also developed my undying love for music and began to listen with more intent and analysis than was probably healthy. I always wished there was a way to bridge the two, then I graduated and those dreams took a backseat.
This past spring I discovered the 33 1/3 series at a conference and my dream became a reality. There are people out there more neurotic about music than myself; I just had the decency to not commit it to paper. These authors/critics/musicians take classic albums and synthesize them the way W.H. Auden compared literary sea creatures in The Enchafed Flood. Writers will submit ideas about albums for approval and then batches are printed each year.
The series refers to the revolutions per minute a standard vinyl LP makes on a turntable; this series is for the truly diehard album fan. No two books are written alike and each writer takes a different approach. Some give song by song analysis, others use interviews with bands, some give personal accounts of how the album changed their life, others use it as a chance to shed light on a piece of work long forgotten. Whatever the case, if one of your favorite albums is on this list, chances are you’ll enjoy the reading.
Here is a sampling of artists: Dusty Springfield, Elvis Costello, Jeff Buckley, The Kinks, R.E.M., DJ Shadow, James Brown, Radiohead, Joy Division, Abba, Prince, The Band, Stevie Wonde, Joni Mitchell, Beastie Boys, Captain Beefheart, Slayer, Elliot Smith, Tom Waits and a host of others; they are up to 74. These are not easy to find printed by Continuum Press, and range from $8.95 – $12.95.
