MetaChat - I am addicted

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09 November 2007

I am addicted to these books.→[More:]

So far I've read four of them:

Low (David Bowie)- the first one I read, and still my favorite, for the way it combined a critique of the album with a history of Bowie in that era, with his many influences and projects.

Loveless (My Bloody Valentine)- the band were interviewed for this book, and it unravels a lot of the myths and the hype about the album, while still giving insights into it. (I read this book on the plane to and from Bunnystock!)

ABBA Gold- The author uses this collection to talk about Abba's history and their influence on pop, esp. how their image sort of changed in the early 90s.

Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth)- another book where the band were interviewed (separately), this was my least favorite of the four because this author is a Lester Bangs wannabe, who spends too much time coming up with over-the-top descriptions of how the album sounds, and not enough time talking about how it was made, IMO.

I love to read biographies and histories of music and musicians, so these obsessive little books (10 bucks each!) spent focused one a single album are totally up my alley. Some of them I know to steer away from: apparently the one for the Magnetic Fields' Sixty-Nine Love Songs is written by a band member and is said to be pretty self-indulgent, and one of them (I can't remember which) is a novella "inspired by" its album... ugh.

But the ones that give history and analysis are loads of fun. I think the next ones I want to read will be the ones about the Pixies' Doolittle, The Velvet Underground & Nico, and Dusty Springfield's Dusty In Memphis.

post by: BoringPostcards at: 09:48 | 17 comments

It's definitely a good series--my library has a few, and I've interlibrary-loaned a couple more. Has anyone read the fiction ones? Because, frankly, a novella based-on/inspired-by Rid of Me, or Music From Big Pink? I'm curious enough to read 'em, at least.

posted by box 09 November | 10:12

a novella based-on/inspired-by Rid of Me

Well, if it's that album, I might give it a chance. But yeah, I'd rather borrow that one than by it.

Which ones have you read?

posted by BoringPostcards 09 November | 10:15

i know a guy who proposed a 33 1/3 book about negativland's escape from noise album. it got rejected. ah well. that would have been an interesting read.

posted by syntax 09 November | 10:42

Oh man, that would have been GREAT, syntax! What a shame.

posted by BoringPostcards 09 November | 10:43

Ones I've read that I liked:
Dusty in Memphis
Exile on Main Street
Doolittle

Ones that I thought were, y'know, okay:
Endtroducing
Paul's Boutique

Ones I've read that I found at least a little disapointing:
There's A Riot Goin' On

Ones that, while I haven't read 'em, I'm especially interested:
Live at the Apollo
Songs in the Key of Life
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

posted by box 09 November | 10:51

I hadn't heard of these. I will have to check them out.

posted by mischief 09 November | 11:35

What mischief said. Thanks for the tip, BP.

posted by elizard 09 November | 11:43

BP, I love you! I had no idea these even existed. They'll make really good Christmas presents.

posted by jrossi4r 09 November | 11:45

Add me to the list of people who hadn't heard of them. Definitely they are go for Christmas gifts.

posted by gaspode 09 November | 12:18

I've only read two: Colin Meloy's Let It Be and the one about OK Computer. They were both pretty awful. Meloy's book was a boring memoir kind of thing with none of the wackiness/pizzazz of his songwriting; the OK Computer one basically just listed the time signatures of all the songs on the album and called it a day.

I am glad to hear that the other volumes from the series do not suck.

posted by aparrish 09 November | 12:38

How's the Neutral Milk Hotel one? I've been curious about that. But for the most part I'd rather listen to a favorite album not read about it.

posted by matildaben 09 November | 12:47

I hadn't thought of them as gifts- that's an excellent idea!

matildaben: I don't think I want to read that one, because that album is so subjective... I think it'd take away some of the mystery to read too much about it.

posted by BoringPostcards 09 November | 12:56

I like the idea of reading a book that changes the way you look at the album, though (cheesy-but-timely example: when one learns that Dolly Parton wrote 'I Will Always Love You' about the late Porter Wagoner, the guy whose drinking destroyed their relationship (also the guy who gave her her big break), suddenly the song becomes a lot more interesting).

I just put holds on the library's copies of The Velvet Underground and Nico and Trout Mask Replica, both albums that I think are pretty good, although I don't like 'em all that much. If that makes any sense. I wonder whether reading about someone else's perspective (presumably, someone who really loves those albums) will change the way I look at the records.

posted by box 09 November | 13:02

It does make sense, box- I feel that way about Trout Mask Replica, too (but not the VU&N album- that's a lifelong favorite). Reading about a musician or an album can definitely deepen my appreciation of it: I always liked Loveless, for example, but I like it more now that I understand what went into making it, and what exactly I'm hearing when I hear those crashing waves of guitar.

The same happened with Phil Spector's music when I read Tearing Down the Wall of Sound over the summer. Also, I never knew that about "I Will Always Love You."

posted by BoringPostcards 09 November | 13:15

"I think are pretty good, although I don't like 'em all that much."

That pretty much describes my take on Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and the Beatles.

posted by mischief 09 November | 13:18

I second the Ok Computer one being completely awful.
And I know the guy who wrote the Steely Dan one.

posted by chococat 09 November | 13:20

1. The NMH one is really a historical look at E6 and the album/band rather than a try at explicating it with interviews of the people involved. It's a really good book in the series.

2. J. Niimi's book on Murmur is pretty great and, in one chapter, he brings in Walker Percy's ideas on language (as well as Wire's Chairs Missing album) to discuss Stipe's lyrics. He's also a really, really nice guy (and this reminds me that I need to go leave a comment about Percy) who once set us up with an e-mail from Hans Fenger because of a song we'd written, which is actually a long story, but one of the coolest things to ever happen to me (and there's been a few).

3. I liked the one on There's a Riot Going On.

4. My fave one is still the first one I read, which is on the Kinks' Village Green.

5. I've been meaning to get the one on Sign O' the Times and Loveless, but each time I pick it up at Powell's, I just put it back down and grab something else. I've read and seen enough about Captain Beefheart and VU that I'm pretty sure the Trout Mask and VU and Nico books would be about as worthless to me as it would be to box apparently.

posted by sleepy_pete 09 November | 14:42

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