A blog about Bloomsbury Academic's 33 1/3 series, our other books about music, and the world of sound in general.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Elvis!

I was reading Nick Paumgarten's recent profile of Elvis Costello from The New Yorker over lunch (sorry, subscription required), and noticed an off-hand mention of some of the ten or so books written about him, including "a book-length, elliptically biographical exegesis of his album 'Armed Forces,'" which of course refers to Franklin Bruno's excellent 33 1/3 on the album.

Paumgarten also brings up the old "dancing about architecture" thing, which may be the single most frequently referenced quote in reviews of books in the 33 1/3 series. I would like to put forward a motion to declare that cliche off-limits and instead replace it with this quote from David Lee Roth: "Music critics hate me and love Elvis Costello because they all look like Elvis Costello." *

*Though probably not intended as such, considering how these two have aged over the years, this is a massive compliment to music critics everywhere, regardless of gender or visual impairment.

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