33 1/3 is a series of books about a wide variety of seminal rock and pop albums. Join three of the authors for readings and special multimedia presentations. Hayden Childs’s "Shoot Out the Lights" puts into context Richard and Linda Thompson’s album—from the personal history driving the songs, to the recording difficulties they encountered and the subsequent fall-out. He has appeared in "Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed." Kim Cooper’s "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" sheds light on the underground classic album by Neutral Milk Hotel. Cooper is the editor of "Scram," and co-editor of the anthologies "Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth" and "Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed." Scott Plagenhoef’s "If You’re Feeling Sinister" provides perspective on how Belle & Sebastian transformed from a cult secret into a polished, highly entertaining, mainstream pop group. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork.

Two early, deeply weird Alice Cooper Band albums see the light of day anew with Rhino Encore's reissues of Pretties for You and Easy Action. This is the Alice we like to talk about on the Esotouric Where the Action Was rock history tour, hanging out at the Landmark Hotel getting his eyes did by Miss Christine of the GTOs. Also new from Rhino Encore, Warren Zevon's Mr. Bad Example, from 1991.

Collector's Choice issues a couple of mid-period albums from Arthur Lee's Love, Out Here (with the remake of "Signed D.C.") and False Start (with a Lee-Hendrix collaboration).

Then there's the Lydia Lunch video compedium Hysterie – 1978-2006, just the thing to celebrate this week's Teenage Jesus & the Jerks reunion in NYC.

This assignment was the pleasant side effect of lunching with editor Will Fulford-Jones on his recent research trip to L.A. for the new edition of the city guide. Ostensibly we met to fill him in on the various Esotouric bus adventures that Richard and I lead around the city, but I ended up being asked to contribute a variety of sidebars in the forthcoming L.A. guide (Bob Baker! Charles Fletcher Lummis! graveyards of East LA! weird desserts! secret gardens!), and this neat little essay, which conveniently coincided with writing (in collaboration with David Smay) the liner notes for a big bunch of Arthur Lyman reissues.

I don't pretend to be an expert on instrumental music, but I'm quite interested in the intersections between postwar American culture and imagined versions of the exotic, and all the sex/death associations that the tropics carried, and I like how this piece turned out.

Also included among the inventive, thematic essays in 1000 Songs To Change Your Life are Douglas Wolk on broken hearts, Dave Rimmer on "Gloomy Sunday," editor Fulford-Jones on home, Robert Forster on The Only Ones (too brief!), Chuck Eddy on Nashville's fascination with Mexicana, Michaelangelo Matos on non-bubblegum food-themed pop, Kimberly Chun on drag, Philip Sherburne on urban themes in electronic music, Sylvie Simmons reacting to Janet Reno's rah-rah Americana compilation, Bob Stanley on distinctively British sensibilities, Burt Bacharach on songwriting, Colin Irwin on murder ballads, Geoff Carter on film soundtracks, and a whole lot of genre hopping, thought provoking pop crit. There's also a truly stunning photo of Kris Kristofferson playing a Stratocaster, so peel an eye for it at your better bookseller.

Track Listing

The Archies, Sugar Sugar: Greatest Hits

The Chipmunks, Sing the Beatles Hits

James Brown, Playlist Plus

Steve Earle, Copperhead Road [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Fairport Convention, Meet on the Ledge [LIVE]

The Flamin' Groovies, Flamingo

Robert Forster, The Evangelist

David Johansen, David Johansen

MC5, Anthology

The New York Dolls, Live At The Fillmore East

Plus a new book on the Lost Grooves tip

Tony Visconti: The Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy

 

 

Catherine Huberty shot the footage, and that's fellow guest star John Trubee to Carl's right. The female voice you hear, sharing a recent Wild Man Fischer sighting, is yours truly, tour host Kim Cooper.

Next tour: June 28, with guest star Ruthann Friedman! 

And the winners are:

1. There's a Riot Going On – Peter Doggett

2. Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy – Tony Visconti

3. Teenage – Jon Savage

4. Bit of a Blur – Alex James

5. 33 1/3: Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – Kim Cooper

Congrats to all the other authors (and what heady company, Bowie mainman Tony Visconti, sigh…), and thanks to Mojo's readers, always the sharpest rock fans in the drawer, for the support.