Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series has become a sort of evolving grail for rock-lit lovers, and every call for fresh submissions is a rite of passage — for the readers who eagerly scan the new titles for in-depth appraisals of albums they love (or love to hate), and for the writers who put together proposals in the hopes of joining the 33 1/3 stable. This year, the submission period lasted from January 31 through March 3, and after weeding through the contenders, series editor Ally Jane Grossan has whittled them down to the 106-title shortlist you see below.
Grossan expects to make an announcement regarding the “10 to 20” that make the final cut “before the end of May.” In the meantime, peruse these possibilities, curse yourself for not submitting that proposal you’ve been daydreaming about for years (Breakfast in America, here I come), and buy a few of the previous installments here.
13 Songs, Fugazi
13, Blur
1977, Ash
24 Hour Revenge Therapy, Jawbreaker
A Live One, Phish
Alice, Tom Waits
American Water, Silver Jews
Arular, M.I.A.
Assault on Precinct 13, Soundtrack by John Carpenter
Astral Weeks, Van Morrison
Automatic for the People, R.E.M
Bangerz, Miley Cyrus
Bat out of Hell, Meatloaf
Beat Happening, Beat Happening
Beauty and the Beat, The Go-Go’s
Big Science, Laurie Anderson
Bitches Brew, Miles Davis
Boys for Pele, Tori Amos
Broken English, Faithfull
Calypso, Harry Belafonte
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John
Carpenters (1971), The Carpenters
Combat Rock, The Clash
Computer World, Kraftwerk
Countdown to Extinction, Megadeth
Cyberpunk, Billy Idol
De La Soul Is Dead, De La Soul
Demon Days, Gorillaz
Diary, Sunny Day Real Estate
Dig Me Out, Sleater-Kinney
Donny Hathaway Live, Donny Hathaway
Dragnet, The Fall
Dude Ranch, Blink-182
Elephant Eyelash, Why?
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, Laura Nyro
Emergency & I, The Dismemberment Plan
Expensive Shit, Fela Kuti
Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple
Extricate, The Fall
Fantasma, Cornelius
Fearless, Taylor Swift
For Your Pleasure, Roxy Music
God Shuffled His Feet, Crash Test Dummies
Good Old Boys, Randy Newman
Gossamer, Passion Pit
Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, Gogol Bordello
Hangin’ Tough, New Kids on the Block
Heart, Heart
Hi, How Are You, Daniel Johnston
Homogenic– BjÁ¶rk
Houdini, The Melvins
Hounds of Love, Kate Bush
Humanity is the Devil, Integrity
Ill Communication, Beastie Boys
Jolene, Dolly Parton
Kimono My House, Sparks
Like a Prayer, Madonna
Lolita Nation, Game Theory
Long Live the Kane, Big Daddy Kane
Love This Giant, David Byrne and St. Vincent
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins
Metal Box, Public Image Ltd
My Life In The Bush of Ghosts, Brian Eno/David Byrne
New Long March, Cui Jian
New Order, Republic
Nigga Please, Ol’ Dirty Bastard
No Depression, Uncle Tupelo
Odelay, Beck
Ooooooohhh… On The TLC Tip, TLC
Parallel Lines, Blondie
Peepshow, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Person Pitch, Panda Bear
Psychocandy, The Jesus and Mary Chain
Radio-Activity, Kraftwerk
Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
Sixteen Tambourines, Three O’ Clock
Something/Anything, Todd Rundgren
Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads
Super Mario Bros., Koji Kondo
Superfuzz Bigmuff, Mudhoney
Tallahassee, The Mountain Goats
Tapestry, Carole King
The Argument, Fugazi
The Black Album, Metallica
The Geto Boys, The Geto Boys
The Infamous, Mobb Deep
The Raincoats, The Raincoats
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie
The Score, The Fugees
The Score, The Fugees
The Seldom Seen Kid, Elbow
The Teaches of Peaches, Peaches
Them Changes, Buddy Miles
Things We Lost in the Fire, Low
This is Hardcore, Pulp
To Hell With the Devil, Stryper
Tubthumper, Chumbawumba
Violator, Depeche Mode
Warehouse, HÁ¼sker DÁ¼
Workingman’s Dead, Grateful Dead
XTRMNTR, Primal Scream
You Forgot It In People, Broken Social Scene
Zen Arcade, HÁ¼sker DÁ¼
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