50 book challenge: #1

33 1/3 is this series of little books on great rock albums. I've read two of them, but each is so small that I'm going to count it as a half-book. The one on OK Computer hovered, unfortunately, at the very border of literacy and illiteracy. Possibly the author thought that if Thom Yorke could get away with writing cryptic, not-always-grammatical sentences, then he could, too. Ah, but Mr. Dai Griffiths, Thom Yorke is a Rock Star and you are not. Therefore, you had best stick to making your meaning clear via the usual progression of subject-verb-object, and leave the musings on "Gucci little piggies" to the professionals. This had the definite flavor of "o god, it's 2 a.m. and I totally have to hand in my paper on OK Computer by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning! No time to edit! Just wriiiiiiiiiiiiite!" But the second book, on Highway 61 Revisited, was much superior. Interesting tidbits on the recording sessions (Like a Rolling Stone, for example, recorded on my (not yet) birthday in 1965), discussion of various interpretation of the songs, etc.--in short, a nice mix of literary analysis, musical analysis, and a history of the recording process itself. Next up, as soon as it arrives from the library, will be Murmur. Here's a blog on the series.