BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: WORKING ON A DREAM

There are lots of books out there about Bruce Springsteen, but this new one is notable.  David Masciotra's Working On A Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen focuses on his... well, his very progressive politics.  He's always been an advocate for the working class. I haven't read it, I've just read about it, but it seems like a cool book (and it published by Continuum Books, who put out the 33 1/3 series.

LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE... NO REALLY!

I recently read another book from the great 33 1/3 series - I read the book about Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality a few months back. It's an album I love by one of my favorite bands. For my next 33 1/3 book, though I opted to go with something I don't listen to: Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love. The book actually has a subtitle: A Journey To The End Of Taste. It was written by Carl Wilson (not the late Beach Boy, but a hipster blogger type) and is really about why so many people hate Celine when so many others love her. She is about a polarizing as an artist can be.

I'm not a fan of her music. But she doesn't seem like a bad person. As I always say about people *hating* artists, I always say, "well, they didn't kick my dog!" In other words, most artists - and certainly not ones like Celine Dion - don't make music to annoy you, quite the opposite. I remember when she was up for an Oscar against hipster darling Elliott Smith, the hatred aimed at her was just ugly. The book uses this as the jump-off point. It's a really great book, and looks into why we like what we like. A lot of Celine fans really love her - she really means something to them. What's wrong with that? They aren't people obsessing over music magazines or blogs. But does that make their love less legitimate? If I had more time, I'd make some kind of study of the life cycle of blog favorites - the indie community seem to lose interest in bands really quickly. Celine's fans are fans for life. There are some pretty moving stories about Celine fans in the book. I can't say I'm going to go out and buy her music, but I definitely recommend the book, and I wonder if she knows about it.

33 1/3's "CHOSEN ELEVEN"

I've written a bit about the 33 1/3 series of books before -- I was totally moved by the edition on Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality -- and they've just announced the next eleven books they will be putting out. Congratulations to everyone whose idea was picked. I may try to submit something next time.

Some great albums will be featured: Portishead's Dummy, Johnny Cash's American Recordings (which Bob Dylan just ripped in his recent Rolling Stone interview, but whatever, they were awesome), Television's Marquee Moon, Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville, AC/DC's Highway To Hell, Radiohead's Kid A and The Rolling Stones' Some Girls (one of my favorites by them, it's the first album with Ron Wood as a real member of the band).

TOMORROW ON OUTQ

I'll be talking about The Fireman.  Who?  It's sort of like Paul McCartney's Traveling Wilburys. Not really: it's Paul with Youth, the bassist from Killing Joke who has produced and remixed tons of bands, including Depeche Mode and The Verve. Anyway, The Fireman's latest album, Electric Arguments (their first with vocals, the others were instrumental and more ambient) has gotten great reviews, which Paul's albums don't always get. 

Also, Willie Nelson's new album with Asleep At The Wheel, Willie & The Wheel. And Lily Allen's new album, It's Not Me, It's You. Larry Flick likes the album a lot, he made a copy for me, and I'm enjoying it too.  She's Joe Strummer's goddaughter, so she deserves a listen. 

Also the latest stuff from (RED)wire: This week I got Jakob Dylan and Elvis Costello covering The Clash's "Straight To Hell." I was also going to talk about The Beastie Boys' 20th anniversary reissue of Paul's Boutique. You can get a free download of a "director's commentary" track.  But don't bother, it's pretty boring. Instead, you should check out the 33 1/3 Paul's Boutique book, which is the whole story behind the classic album. I'll also be talking about the 33 1/3 series, and I have a few editions to bring in and discuss if time permits. 

BLACK SABBATH'S MASTER OF REALITY: THE BOOK

Have you heard of the 33 1/3 series of books? Each book is based, somehow, on a different (ostensibly) classic album. Oftentimes they are extended liner notes-type stuff, basically the making of the album. Other times they are more of a testimonial of the effect an album had on the author's life.  Still other times, they can be fiction inspired in some way by the album in question. 

The 33 1/3 book based on Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality falls into the latter category. It's about a metal fan whose parents send him to a mental institution, where they have him write a journal.  The first half of the book is the journal entries to the guy who runs the boy's ward, they are all basically pleading to let him listen to Master Of Reality. I don't want to give much away, but the second half are letters to the same guy, ten years later, from the boy (now a man) telling the guy how he was affected by the incidents described in the first half. (It also makes a good argument to check out Black Sabbath's Born Again, their single album with Ian Gillian.) 

Although I've never spent time in a mental home -- or maybe because I haven't -- I was a bit alarmed by how much I related to parts of this book, and how moved I was by it. It doesn't matter if you like Sabbath, you don't have to like them or really know much about them.  It's really about being that age, loving a certain band or form of music, and identifying so much with it, it seems like it means the world. If you've ever loved a band that much, no matter what kind of music they are, you should check this book out.