Thirty-Three and a Third is a series of short books about critically acclaimed and much-loved albums of the past 40 years. Over 50,000 copies have ...
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reviews
Apr 21, 2008
Paul
rated it: 
For a series focusing on influential and/or seminal albums, including Ramones is a given. I was a few years late getting into the Ramones (Rocket to Russia was a birthday gift in 1980, officially making me the oddest kid in my 7th grade class in Maine) but it seems like I always knew about this album. Heck, everyone did. If you were into this newfangled punk rock thing, it was essential. If you always wanted to start a band but didn’t know how to play an instrument, this was the record tha More...
Apr 30, 2008
Ben
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If you're looking for lots of not all that interesting quotes from '70s rock and roll mag and fanzine writers on this band and this record, this is the book for you.
Otherwise, skip it and check out "On The Road With the Ramones", which is much better than "An American Band" or the British Ramones book which is more like a cut and paste collection of other people's reporting and which I'm too lazy for the title of.
Also, if you love or even like this band, More...
Otherwise, skip it and check out "On The Road With the Ramones", which is much better than "An American Band" or the British Ramones book which is more like a cut and paste collection of other people's reporting and which I'm too lazy for the title of.
Also, if you love or even like this band, More...
Aug 02, 2011
Rombes doesn't have much to say about the history of the group or the individual members' lives (he doesn't even mention their real names), and--perhaps understandably, it is the Ramones, after all--he comes up a little short on analysis of the songs on their debut as well. (He doesn't even mention that the line "Second verse, same as the first" from "Judy Is a Punk" is taken from the Herman's Hermits tune "I'm Henry VIII, I Am", which itself is a radically rewor
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Oct 19, 2011
Patrick
rated it:
I devoured Nicholas Rombes' book on Ramones from the 33 1/3 series by Continuum Books. It is another standout in the series. Like, Frank Bruno's Elvis Costello Armed Forces book, it takes a look at cultural zeitgeist that was taking place as well as some of the more controversial aspects of the movement from a more academic perspective, which I found though-provoking and enlightening. (You gotta love references to Hemingway, Hammett, and Pynchon, Colin Wilson and Theodore W. Adorno, Pauline Kael
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Jan 29, 2008
Guy
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Het is altijd bijzonder om te lezen over een plaat of artiest die je nauw aan het hart ligt, dus bij het lezen van Ramones was het dubbel prijs. De eerste plaat van de Ramones die ik kocht was Ramones Mania, een compilatie (815 frank in de New Music in Genk! Een FNAC-prijs!) met een dertigtal nummers uit hun eerste tien platen (1976-1987), maar niet lang daarna vond ik Ramones (1976) én hun derde, Rocket To Russia (1977), op LP op de Genkse rommelmarkt (500 BEF voor de twee). Dat moet in de zome
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Aug 22, 2008
Rich
rated it: 
Again, I usually stay away from rock journalism but the 33 1/3 books are changing my mind. Is this the new age of awakening for me? I doubt it...
This is the second book in the series that I've read and the second excellent effort. The author gives an intriguing rendition of the era of NYC punk (and contrary to an opinion I got recently, punk DID NOT start in the 1990s - sheesh!). He deftly points out that the mythologizing of punk has led to the current impression that punk artis More...
This is the second book in the series that I've read and the second excellent effort. The author gives an intriguing rendition of the era of NYC punk (and contrary to an opinion I got recently, punk DID NOT start in the 1990s - sheesh!). He deftly points out that the mythologizing of punk has led to the current impression that punk artis More...
Jul 01, 2010
Michael
rated it:
Best for someone who is more interested in the history, meaning, positioning, nuances and theories of punk rock than in the Ramones or in the subject matter of the book's title, the first Ramones album.
Dec 09, 2007
Nathan
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I own three different versions of this album, and I couldn't wait until I had a chance to read this book. I really enjoyed the way the book looked beyond the battle of who started punk in order to get to the purpose of this album, as portrayed by the band. Quick read, and worthy of my time for sure.
Aug 14, 2008
CleverGirl
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i love the ramones and this book didn't tell me anything new about them. i hesitate to pan it completely, because maybe i suffered from knowing too much already? i don't think the writing was great.
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