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Guests | October 15, 2009

Michelle Wildgen: IMG A Few Initial and Not-Comprehensive Meditations on Group Novels



I am a sucker for a book about a group. What reminded me of this was Joanna Smith Rakoff's A Fortunate Age, her homage to Mary McCarthy's endlessly re-readable... Continue »

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2 Burnside Music- 33 1/3 Series
17 Local Warehouse Music- History and Criticism
7 Remote Warehouse Music- History and Criticism

Steely Dan: Aja (33 1/3 Series)

by Don Breithaupt

Steely Dan: Aja (33 1/3 Series) Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Aja was the album that made Steely Dan a commercial force on the order of contemporaries like Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Chicago. A double-platinum, Grammy-winning bestseller, it lingered on the Billboard charts for more than a year and spawned three hit singles. Odd, then, that its creators saw it as an "ambitious, extended" work, the apotheosis of their anti-rock, anti-band, anti-glamour aesthetic. Populated by thirty-fi ve mostly jazz session players, Aja served up prewar song forms, mixed meters and extended solos to a generation whose idea of pop daring was Paul letting Linda sing lead once in a while. And, impossibly, it sold. Including an in-depth interview with Donald Fagen, this book paints a detailed picture of the making of a masterpiece.

Review:

"It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for whom Exile on Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as significant and worthy of study as The Catcher in the Rye or Middlemarch. The series... is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebration." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Ideal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just aren't enough." Rolling Stone

Review:

"One of the coolest publishing imprints on the planet." Bookslut

Review:

"These are for the insane collectors out there who appreciate fantastic design, well-executed thinking, and things that make your house look cool. Each volume in this series takes a seminal album and breaks it down in startling minutiae. We love these. We are huge nerds." Vice

Review:

"A brilliant series... each one a word of real love." NME

Review:

"Passionate, obsessive, and smart." Nylon

Review:

"Religious tracts for the rock 'n' roll faithful." Uncut

Review:

"We... aren't naive enough to think that we're your only source for reading about music (but if we had our way... watch out). For those of you who really like to know everything there is to know about an album, you'd do well to check out Continuum's 33 1/3 series of books." Pitchfork

Synopsis:

33 1/3 is a series of short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 50 titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike.

About the Author

Don Breithaupt is a studio musician and songwriter based in Toronto. He is the co-author of Precious and Few: Pop Music in the Early '70s and Night Moves: Pop Music in the Late '70s. A Berklee College of Music alumnus and three-time Juno Award nominee, he has written extensively on music and film for the National Post.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
JohnnyC, August 3, 2007 (view all comments by JohnnyC)
Don Breithaupt's heavy analysis of this great album is strictly for musicians. His detailed look at every song is honourable but too "inside" to inspire anyone to take another look at this recording. The book starts off well with his personal relationship with the album but later gets too bogged down in musical details to really move the reader. And I'm a musician! I wanted more personal notes than technical and the addition of musical definitions and recommended recordings is good, but superfluous.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780826427830
Author:
Breithaupt, Don
Publisher:
Continuum
Subject:
Composers & Musicians - Rock
Subject:
History & Criticism - General
Subject:
Genres & Styles - Rock
Subject:
Steely Dan (Musical group)
Series:
33 1/3
Publication Date:
May 2007
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
130
Dimensions:
656x478x36 32

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