33 1/3 series editor David Barker has announced the 11 books that will be the next batch published in the series, each covering one album. Thus brings to a close a six-month process during which Barker narrowed the initial list of 597 to 170 (of which, my proposal for a book about the Police's Synchronicity, was one), then to 27 and now to 11.

The books will be published in 2010 or 2011. And they are:

Portishead's Dummy, by RJ Wheaton
Johnny Cash's American Recordings, by Tony Tost
Television's Marquee Moon, by Bryan Waterman
Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville, by Gina Arnold
AC/DC's Highway to Hell, by Joe Bonomo
Ween's Chocolate and Cheese, by Hank Shteamer
Radiohead's Kid A, by Marvin Lin
Dinosaur Jr.'s You're Living All Over Me, by Nick Attfield
Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace, by Aaron Cohen
Slint's Spiderland, by Scott Tennent
The Rolling Stones' Some Girls, by Cyrus Patell

That's a solid list of books. It's hard to argue with the marketability of the Rolling Stones, AC/DC or Radiohead, though I do wonder how many copies of You're Living All Over Me they'll move. I know of at least one, however, as I'll be curious to see if Nick Attfield can get more than the grunts and long pauses out of J Mascis that he has frustrated me with in interviews.

For those paying close attention, Barker reports that the Portishead proposal was not on the last shortlist: "I changed my mind on that one, late in the day."

Congrats to Barker and all of the selected authors. A lot of great writing about music is on the way.

Labels: 33 1/3, books, music