(Thirty-Three and a Third) is a series of books, each about a single music album.[1] The series title refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, RPM.[2]
Originally published by Continuum,[3] the series was founded by editor David Barker in 2003.[1] At the time, Continuum published a series of short books on literature called Continuum Contemporaries. One-time series editor Ally-Jane Grossan mentioned that Barker was "an obsessive music fan who thought, 'This is a really cool idea, why don't we apply this to albums'.[3] PopMatters wrote that the range consists of "obscure classics to more usual suspects by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones".[1]
In 2010, Continuum was bought out by Bloomsbury Publishing, which continues to publish the series.[3] Following a leave, Barker was replaced by Grossan in January 2013.[2] Leah Babb-Rosenfeld has been the editor of the series since 2016.[4]
Several independent books have been spun off of the series. The first, Carl Wilson's 2007 entry on Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love, was expanded for a 2014 Bloomsbury reissue with material not specifically pertaining to the Dion album and retitled Let's Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste. Joe Bonomo, at the invitation of Barker, expanded his proposal on Jerry Lee Lewis's Live at the Star Club, Hamburg album into a full-length book about Lewis, the album, and his career titled Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, published by Continuum in 2009. A rejected proposal from writer Brett Milano for an entry on Game Theory's 1987 album Lolita Nation was instead expanded by Milano into a biography on the band's leader Scott Miller; that project, titled Don't All Thank Me at Once: The Lost Genius of Scott Miller, was released by 125 Books in 2015.[5]
In August 2017, Bloomsbury announced the launch of Global,[6] an extension of the series to popular music from around the world. The first two sub-series launched were Brazil, edited by Jason Stanyek, and Japan, edited by Noriko Manabe.[7] The first book for Brazil was Caetano Veloso's A Foreign Sound by Barbara Browning.[8] The first books for Japan were Supercell ft. Hatsune Miku by Keisuke Yamada and Yoko Kanno's Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack by Rose Bridges.[9]
, 184 books have been published in the main series.
Album | Artist | Year (album) | Year (book) | Author of book | ISBN # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dusty in Memphis | 1969 | 2003 | ||||
2 | Forever Changes | 1967 | 2003 | ||||
3 | Harvest | 1972 | 2003 | ||||
4 | 1968 | 2003 | |||||
5 | Meat Is Murder | 1985 | 2003 | ||||
6 | 1967 | 2003 | |||||
7 | 1992 | 2004 | |||||
8 | Electric Ladyland | 1968 | 2004 | ||||
9 | Unknown Pleasures | 1979 | 2004 | ||||
10 | Sign o' the Times | 1987 | 2004 | ||||
11 | 1967 | 2004 | |||||
12 | Let It Be | 1970 | 2004 | ||||
13 | Live at the Apollo | 1963 | 2004 | ||||
14 | Aqualung | 1971 | 2004 | ||||
15 | OK Computer | 1997 | 2004 | ||||
16 | Let It Be | 1984 | 2004 | ||||
17 | Led Zeppelin IV | 1971 | 2005 | ||||
18 | Exile on Main St. | 1972 | 2005 | ||||
19 | Pet Sounds | 1966 | 2005 | ||||
20 | Ramones | 1976 | 2005 | ||||
21 | Armed Forces | 1979 | 2005 | ||||
22 | Murmur | 1983 | 2005 | ||||
23 | Grace | 1994 | 2005 | ||||
24 | Endtroducing..... | 1996 | 2005 | ||||
25 | Kick Out the Jams | 1969 | 2005 | ||||
26 | Low | 1977 | 2005 | ||||
27 | Born in the U.S.A. | 1984 | 2005 | ||||
28 | Music from Big Pink | 1968 | 2005 | ||||
29 | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 1998 | 2005 | ||||
30 | Paul's Boutique | 1989 | 2006 | ||||
31 | Doolittle | 1989 | 2006 | ||||
32 | There's a Riot Goin' On | 1971 | 2006 | ||||
33 | 1989 | 2006 | |||||
34 | In Utero | 1993 | 2006 | ||||
35 | Highway 61 Revisited | 1965 | 2006 | ||||
36 | Loveless | 1991 | 2006 | ||||
37 | 1967 | 2006 | |||||
38 | Bee Thousand | 1994 | 2006 | ||||
39 | Daydream Nation | 1988 | 2006 | ||||
40 | Court and Spark | 1974 | 2006 | ||||
41 | Use Your Illusion I and II | 1991 | 2006 | ||||
69 | 69 Love Songs | 1999 | 2006 | ||||
42 | Songs in the Key of Life | 1976 | 2007 | ||||
43 | 1968 | 2007 | |||||
44 | Trout Mask Replica | 1969 | 2007 | ||||
45 | Double Nickels on the Dime | 1984 | 2007 | ||||
46 | Aja | 1977 | 2007 | ||||
47 | People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm | 1990 | 2007 | ||||
48 | Rid of Me | 1993 | 2007 | ||||
49 | Achtung Baby | 1991 | 2007 | ||||
50 | If You're Feeling Sinister | 1996 | 2007 | ||||
51 | Pink Moon | 1972 | 2007 | ||||
52 | Let's Talk About Love | 1997 | 2007 | ||||
53 | Swordfishtrombones | 1983 | 2007 | ||||
54 | 20 Jazz Funk Greats | 1979 | 2008 | ||||
55 | Horses | 1975 | 2008 | ||||
56 | Master of Reality | 1971 | 2008 | ||||
57 | Reign in Blood | 1986 | 2008 | ||||
58 | Shoot Out the Lights | 1982 | 2008 | ||||
59 | Gentlemen | 1993 | 2008 | ||||
60 | Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash | 1985 | 2008 | ||||
61 | 1969 | 2008 | |||||
62 | Pink Flag | 1977 | 2009 | ||||
63 | XO | 1998 | 2009 | ||||
64 | Illmatic | 1994 | 2009 | ||||
65 | Radio City | 1974 | 2009 | ||||
66 | One Step Beyond... | 1979 | 2009 | ||||
67 | Another Green World | 1975 | 2009 | ||||
68 | Zaireeka | 1997 | 2009 | ||||
70 | Facing Future | 1993 | 2009 | ||||
71 | It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back | 1988 | 2010 | ||||
72 | Wowee Zowee | 1995 | 2010 | ||||
73 | Highway to Hell | 1979 | 2010 | ||||
74 | Song Cycle | 1968 | 2010 | ||||
75 | Spiderland | 1991 | 2010 | ||||
76 | Kid A | 2000 | 2010 | ||||
77 | Tusk | 1979 | 2011 | ||||
78 | Pretty Hate Machine | 1989 | 2011 | ||||
79 | Chocolate and Cheese | Ween | 1994 | 2011 | |||
80 | American Recordings | 1994 | 2011 | ||||
81 | Some Girls | 1978 | 2011 | ||||
82 | You're Living All Over Me | 1987 | 2011 | ||||
83 | Marquee Moon | 1977 | 2011 | ||||
84 | Amazing Grace | 1972 | 2011 | ||||
85 | Dummy | 1994 | 2011 | ||||
86 | Fear of Music | 1979 | 2012 | ||||
87 | Histoire de Melody Nelson | 1971 | 2013 | ||||
88 | Flood | 1990 | 2013 | ||||
89 | I Get Wet | 2001 | 2014 | ||||
90 | Selected Ambient Works Volume II | 1994 | 2014 | ||||
91 | Entertainment! | 1979 | 2014 | ||||
92 | Blank Generation | 1977 | 2014 | ||||
93 | Donuts | 2006 | 2014 | ||||
94 | Smile | N/A | 2014 | ||||
95 | Definitely Maybe | 1994 | 2014 | ||||
96 | Exile in Guyville | 1993 | 2014 | ||||
97 | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 2010 | 2014 | ||||
98 | 2004 | 2014 | |||||
99 | 2002 | 2014 | |||||
100 | Dangerous | 1991 | 2014 | ||||
101 | Tago Mago | 1971 | 2014 | ||||
102 | Ode to Billie Joe | 1967 | 2014 | ||||
103 | Live Through This | 1994 | 2014 | ||||
104 | Freedom of Choice | 1980 | 2015 | ||||
105 | Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables | 1980 | 2015 | ||||
106 | Koji Kondo's Super Mario Bros. Soundtrack | 1985 | 2015 | ||||
107 | Beat Happening | 1985 | 2015 | ||||
108 | Metallica | 1991 | 2015 | ||||
109 | A Live One | 1995 | 2015 | ||||
110 | Bitches Brew | 1970 | 2015 | ||||
111 | Parallel Lines | 1978 | 2016 | ||||
112 | Workingman's Dead | 1970 | 2016 | ||||
113 | Hangin' Tough | 1988 | 2016 | ||||
114 | 1990 | 2016 | |||||
115 | Dig Me Out | 1997 | 2016 | ||||
116 | Sound of Silver | 2007 | 2016 | ||||
117 | Live | 1972 | 2016 | ||||
118 | Psychocandy | 1985 | 2016 | ||||
119 | 1976 | 2017 | |||||
120 | Soundtrack from Twin Peaks | 1990 | 2017 | ||||
121 | Colossal Youth | 1980 | 2017 | ||||
122 | Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde | 1992 | 2017 | ||||
123 | 2010 | 2017 | |||||
124 | Workbook | 1989 | 2017 | ||||
125 | Uptown Saturday Night | 1997 | 2017 | ||||
126 | 1979 | 2017 | |||||
127 | Homogenic | 1997 | 2017 | ||||
128 | Okie from Muskogee | 1969 | 2018 | ||||
129 | In on the Kill Taker | 1993 | 2018 | ||||
130 | 24 Hour Revenge Therapy | 1994 | 2018 | ||||
131 | Transformer | 1972 | 2018 | ||||
132 | Peepshow | 1988 | 2018 | ||||
133 | Southern Rock Opera | 2001 | 2018 | ||||
134 | Jesus Freak | 1995 | 2018 |
| |||
135 | Boys for Pele | 1996 | 2018 | ||||
136 | One Grain of Sand | 1963 | 2019 | ||||
137 | 1994 | 2019 | |||||
138 | Golden Hits of the Shangri-Las | 1966 | 2019 | ||||
139 | Southern Accents | 1985 | 2019 | ||||
140 | Blue Lines | 1991 | 2019 | ||||
141 | Switched-On Bach | 1968 | 2019 | ||||
142 | 1976 | 2019 | |||||
143 | Diamond Dogs | 1974 | 2020 | ||||
144 | Voodoo | 2000 | 2020 | ||||
145 | Judy at Carnegie Hall | 1961 | 2020 | ||||
146 | Blue Moves | 1976 | 2020 | ||||
147 | I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen | Various artists | 1991 | 2020 | |||
148 | 1997 | 2020 | |||||
149 | Suicide | 1977 | 2020 | ||||
150 | From Elvis in Memphis | 1969 | 2020 | ||||
151 | Murder Ballads | 1996 | 2020 | ||||
152 | Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth | 1973 | 2020 | ||||
153 | Tapestry | 1971 | 2021 | ||||
154 | Vs. | 1993 | 2021 | ||||
155 | Avalon | 1982 | 2021 | ||||
156 | Rio | 1982 | 2021 | ||||
157 | Once Upon a Time | 1977 | 2021 | ||||
158 | Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 | 1985 | 2021 | ||||
159 | 2010 | 2021 | |||||
160 | John Prine[10] | 1971 | 2021 | ||||
161 | Lyric & Coloratura Arias[11] | 1954 | 2021 | ||||
162 | Boxer[12] | 2007 | 2022 | ||||
163 | Computer World[13] | 1981 | 2022 | ||||
164 | Moon Pix[14] | 1998 | 2022 | ||||
165 | Faith[15] | 1987 | 2022 | ||||
166 | To Pimp a Butterfly [16] | 2015 | 2022 | ||||
167 | Blackout | 2007 | 2022 | ||||
168 | That's the Way of the World | 1975 | 2022 | ||||
169 | Come to My Garden | 1970 | 2022 | ||||
170 | Fontanelle | 1992 | 2022 | ||||
171 | Madvillainy | 2004 | 2023 | ||||
172 | Come Away with ESG | 1983 | 2023 | ||||
173 | BBC Radiophonic Workshop – A Retrospective | 2008 | 2023 | ||||
174 | Time's Up | 1990 | 2023 | ||||
175 | Beauty and the Beat | 1981 | 2023 | ||||
176 | Erotica | 1992 | 2023 | ||||
177 | Body Count | 1992 | 2023 | ||||
178 | Ingénue | 1992 | 2023 | ||||
179 | Here's Little Richard | 1957 | 2023 | ||||
180 | Invasion of Privacy | 2018 | 2024 | ||||
181 | This is Hardcore | 1998 | 2024 | ||||
182 | Sandinista! | 1980 | 2024 | ||||
183 | 101 | 1989 | 2024 | ||||
184 | 3 + 3 | 1973 | 2024 |
Work | Artist | Year (album) | Year (book) | Author of book | ISBN # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Supercell | 2009 | 2017 | ||||
2 | Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack | 1998 | 2017 | ||||
3 | Game | 2008 | 2018 | ||||
4 | AKB48 | N/A | 2019 | ||||
5 | Fantasma | 1997 | 2019 | ||||
6 | Joe Hisaishi's Soundtrack for My Neighbor Totoro | 1988 | 2020 | ||||
7 | Happy Hour | 1998 | 2021 | ||||
8 | Koza Dabasa | 1994 | 2021 | ||||
9 | () | 1976 | 2022 |
Work | Artist | Year (album) | Year (book) | Author of book | ISBN # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A Foreign Sound | 2004 | 2017 | ||||
2 | Getz/Gilberto | 1964 | 2018 | ||||
3 | Tim Maia Racional Vols. 1 & 2 | 1974 | 2018 | ||||
4 | Sorriso Negro | 1981 | 2019 | ||||
5 | Refazenda | 1975 | 2020 | ||||
6 | 1972 | 2020 | |||||
7 | Sobrevivendo no Inferno | 1997 | 2021 | ||||
8 | Saudades | 1979 | 2021 | ||||
9 | Chico Buarque | 1978 | 2022 |
Work | Artist | Year (album) | Year (book) | Author of book | ISBN # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A Blaze in the Northern Sky | 1992 | 2020 | ||||
2 | Balkanology | 1991 | 2021 | ||||
3 | Wolokolamsker Chaussee | 1989 | 2021 | ||||
4 | Don't Break the Oath | 1984 | 2022 | ||||
5 | Niemen Enigmatic | 1970 | 2022 | ||||
6 | DJs Do Guetto | Various artists | 2006 | 2022 | |||
7 | Happy Birthday! | 2007 | 2022 | ||||
8 | I'll Be Your Plaything | 2010 | 2022 |
| |||
9 | Sin Documentos | 1993 | 2022 |
| |||
10 | Astaganaga | 1978 | 2022 | ||||
11 | Bella Ciao | Il Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano | 1976 | 2023 | |||
12 | Récital 1961 | 1961 | 2023 | ||||
13 | Persepolis | 1971 | 2023 | ||||
14 | Tantsi | 1989 | 2023 | ||||
15 | Amália at the Olympia | 1957 | 2023 | ||||
16 | Projekt Jon | 1997 | 2024 | ||||
17 | Aquarium | 1997 | 2024 |
Album | Artist | Year (album) | Year (book) | Author of book | ISBN # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Whispering Jack | 1986 | 2022 | ||||
2 | Starfish | 1988 | 2022 | ||||
3 | Unit | 1997 | 2022 |
| |||
4 | Kylie | 1988 | 2023 |
| |||
5 | Space Waltz | 1975 | 2023 | ||||
6 | Human Frailty | 1986 | 2023 | ||||
7 | Drive | 1997 | 2023 | ||||
8 | Songs from the Front Lawn | 1989 | 2023 | ||||
9 | Clyma est mort | 1992 | 2023 | ||||
10 | The Calling | 2003 | 2023 | ||||
11 | Honey Steel's Gold | 1991 | 2023 | ||||
12 | Toward the Blues | 1971 | 2023 | ||||
13 | Kitten Licks | 1996 | 2024 |
|
Title | Year | Editor of book | ISBN # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 33 1/3 Greatest Hits, Volume 1[17] | 2006 | |||
2 | 33 1/3 Greatest Hits, Volume 2[18] | 2007 | |||
3 | The 33 1/3 B-Sides[19] | 2019 |
|
Genre | Year | Author of book | ISBN # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2022 | ||||
2 | 2022 | ||||
3 | 2023 | ||||
4 | 2023 | ||||
5 | 2023 | ||||
6 | 2023 | ||||
7 | 2024 | ||||
8 | 2024 |
With release date[20]
Without release date
The Red and White Song Contest by Shelley Brunt[28]