Short books about albums. Published by Bloomsbury
Interviews with authors and key figures in the music industry.
Welcome to our latest author Q&A, where we chat to the writers behind new and upcoming 33 1/3 books! Today Lior Phillips talks to us about her addition to the Genre series: South African Popular Music. She tells us more about what it was like writing this book and recommends the best songs ‘to help soundtrack your quest through South African pop music history’.
Welcome to our latest author Q&A, where we chat to the writers behind new and upcoming 33 1/3 books! Today Kimberly Mack talks to us about her addition to the series: Living Colour’s Time’s Up. She tells us more about why she chose this album, her experience writing across multiple genres and the impact Living Colour had on Black rockers. How would you describe your book in one sentence? Time’s Up explores the production and reception of this important album, while considering the personal stories and legacy of this ground-breaking…
Welcome to our latest author Q&A, where we chat to the writers behind new and upcoming 33 1/3 books! Today Selena Chambers talks to us about her addition to the series: Babes in Toyland’s Fontanelle. She tells us more about the fun and challenging parts of writing her first 33 1/3, what content didn’t make it into the finished book, and why Fontanelle is such a captivating album. How would you describe your book in one sentence? A critical celebration of Babes in Toyland’s overlooked contributions to the feminist aesthetics…
Live Through This is an album about girlhood and motherhood; desire and disgust; self-destruction and survival. There have been few rock albums before or since so intimately concerned with female experience. It is an album that changed lives – so why is Courtney Love’s achievement as a songwriter and musician still not taken seriously, two decades on? In this two-part episode, we explore Hole’s origin and influences, their glam 90s LA image, and the 3rd wave feminist backlash against Courtney Love as she challenged every preconceived notion of “good” womanhood.
This month, the Bloomsbury Academic podcast takes a look at episodes that amplify Black voices and celebrate Black art and history. Listen in as Ayanna Dozier, Ana Lucia Araujo, Faith Pennick, and Ayanna Thompson discuss everything from slavery and collective memory to the history of representation in the music and theater industries to modern forms of expression and empowerment. These are four conversations you won’t want to miss, including two interviews with our 33 1/3 authors.
It’s here! The latest episode of the Bloomsbury Academic Podcast features Faith Pennick (@FaithPennick), author of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, discussing the legacy of the acclaimed 2000 album that skirts all definitive labels. With not one song under four minutes in length, Voodoo takes its time. It is a leisurely paced work of art backed by a steady beat that does not waver, while lyrics like “And I hoped by chance I’d see you once again / I’d love to kiss your lips, baby, once again” (“One Mo’Gin”) and “I need someone to hold me / Bring me back to life before I’m dead” (“The Root”)…
Last week marked the end of a particularly eventful Pride month, but that doesn’t mean the conversations, or celebrations, have to end. Today we are highlighting one of our favorite queer-rebellious-feminist-punk bands of all time: The Raincoats. That’s right, you can now listen to our newest episode of the Bloomsbury Academic Podcast, where we talk to 33 1/3 author Jenn Pelly about this spontaneous and captivating all-female group and the unapologetic music they created.
Check out the latest episode on the 33 1/3 podcast: Michael Washburn (@WhaleLines), author of Tom Petty’s Southern Accents, discusses Tom Petty’s attempt at a single-concept album on the American South. The 1985 album led to a fall from grace and a subsequent reinvention. Washburn’s book, and the case of Tom Petty, is an appealing study in celebrity, identity, and misrepresentation. With the exception of the album’s opener “Rebels,” nothing about the album strikes as particularly southern. For reference, “Rebels” hits the listener over the head with a trite description of what it is to be a Rebel…
Our first podcast episode on one of our 33 1/3 titles is now available! Are you a Beatles fan? Do you know what this week is? No? May 8th, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ Let It Be album—the recording sessions for which might be the most creative and chaotic of their career. And we’re having the ultimate celebration with author and journalist Steve Matteo as he gives us a behind-the-scenes look at its formation. Steve is a well-known music writer whose work has appeared in a variety of publications including The New York Times and Rolling Stone. And after his many interviews with people close to the band, he’s here to give a full account of this dramatic music-making period, from…
In our continued quest to profile authors of forthcoming 33 1/3 titles here on the blog–so you can get to know them, their writing, and what kind of twisted soul chooses to think about just one album for months at a time–we bring you celebrated Scottish author Alan Warner, author of our forthcoming 33 1/3 on Can’s Tago Mago. Alan Warner is the author of six novels: the acclaimed Morvern Callar (1995), winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; These Demented Lands (1997), winner of the Encore Award; The Sopranos (1998),…