2.06.2006
On the record
The 33 1/3 series of books from Continuum is like having a one-sided conversation with a friend about their favorite record. For 120 pages or so, a variety of writers have been given the chance to make the case for their picks. The choices range from bestsellers like Born in the U.S.A. to cult favorites like Forever Changes and Pet Sounds to the forthcoming obscurity Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats. The writers have come from many walks, from musicians to historians to critics, while the approaches have varied from fiction to straight historical recounting to Q&A.Series editor David Barker, who blogs here himself, consented to answer a few questions for TIRBD, perhaps as consolation for rejecting my own book proposal, or more likely, to help get word out about this great series. Our interview inaugurates what I'd like to see become a weekly feature here, with a Monday Q&A. Stay tuned.
How has the execution of the series and the titles you've published so far meshed with the initial intent?
It's meshed pretty well. The original plan was to get a range of writers from different backgrounds to write about albums from a variety of perspectives, and we've certainly achieved that. I'm glad the series is still (relatively) unpredictable, over two years after it started.
The emphasis so far has been on cult favorites and critically acclaimed but not necessarily big selling discs (Born in the USA excepted, of course). Is that a goal, a function of the proposals submitted, or simply a function of the fact that these discs are inherently more interesting than most chart-toppers?
It's a little bit of each. Part of the original idea behind the series was to give some coverage to albums and artists that hadn't been written about as extensively as they perhaps deserved. We also have to keep asking ourselves, what do people want to read and write about? On my original list of possible albums I had both Thriller and Bat Out of Hell, but nobody's gone for those yet - perhaps with good reason.
To that end, the forthcoming book about Celine Dion (Let's Talk About Love) seems to be an interesting divergence...
I thought long and hard about the Celine Dion book. In some ways, it doesn't fit with the series, it's not a "critically acclaimed" record. And it has never - to my knowledge - appeared on a list of the Greatest Albums of All Time. But in the sense that the series involves getting interesting writers to write interesting books about interesting albums, it fits perfectly. And Carl Wilson's proposal was simply one of the best I've ever read.
There likely are great books to be written about obscure albums that are so obscure that few would buy the book. How much have such commercial questions dictated what you publish, and are there any examples of great proposals that fell prey to that problem?
There likely are great books to be written about obscure albums that are so obscure that few would buy the book. How much have such commercial questions dictated what you publish, and are there any examples of great proposals that fell prey to that problem?
I'm afraid that does dictate what we can publish. Continuum is in this business to make a profit, and a big part of my job is to help that happen. So while we've received great proposals for books about albums by This Mortal Coil, Shoes, and Blue Cheer (to name but a few), we just don't believe they'd sell enough copies to be viable.
Are there any albums you're surprised no one has proposed writing about?
We've had almost no interest in Madonna, which surprises me. And nothing yet on the Arctic Monkeys album...
