Notes for 2/15/07

- This post began life elsewhere, and it originally featured a few Frank Kogan terms that I've removed in this version because I wasn't really using them correctly. Still, his PBS concept was definitely a springboard, and the stuff at the end is, in part, a response to some points he made about the original piece.

- A list is up of all the submissions received for this round of 33 1/3 book proposals. The 33 1/3 books are pocket-sized paperbacks, maybe 100 pages long, each discussing a different album. Past books have run the gamut from a purely historical account of Let It Be by to a novella about Meat is Murder by musician Joe Pernice to a social history of James Brown Live At The Apollo by critic Douglas Wolk, so they're open to a lot of different things. (For instance, Carl Wilson is currently working on one about Celine Dion, and why he doesn't like her.) While I'm tempted to go into a lengthy analysis, I probably shouldn't, since one of the proposals is mine. (Try and guess!) I will say, though, that this could easily be read as a fantastic "best albums of all time" list, if you wanted. The criteria, instead of being straight voting or staff collaboration, was essentially "what one album do you think is the best album ever, except it has to be both well-liked by a large number of people and unlikely to be picked by anyone else?" The way it turned out is certainly flawed (just in the B's, the only Beck is Guero and the only Bjorks are Homogenic and Vespertine), but also a fairly honest reflection of the canon as it currently stands, aside from the artists removed from consideration. How would criticism and music be different if this actually was the widely-acknowledged list of the greats? What if (scanning again), the artists who really loomed as important influences were the Grateful Dead, Genesis, Jefferson Airplane, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Mekons? How about if we also had to acknowledge Steve Martin and NOFX and OMD and John Denver and the Muppets?

- One of my favorite albums of last year was by the Ice Cream Socialists, and they have a new song up on their myspace page called "Mr. Crazy." It is very good and references both Phantom of the Opera and, I think, "I Am the Walrus."

- Dave at Cure For Bedbugs responds to this week's post.

Labels: ice cream socialists, notes

posted by Mike B. @ 12:01 AM