The Smiths' Meat Is Murder (Thirty Three and a Third series)

Rolling Stone, November 13, 2003
Miller makes a convincing case...with deep research and song-by-song analysis.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 2003
Dead-on depiction of how it feels when music articulates your pain with an elegance you could never hope to muster.

Filter Magazine, December 2003
A page-scorcher, especially when you see Pernice’s own experiences practically oozing from the text.

The Times (London)
"It is beautifully written."

Bandoppler Magazine
"An essential purchase for any fan of good new rock-write in general. "

The Colombia Spectator
"The story never reaches a true resolution, but that’s part of the pleasure of it…"

Newsday
"However autobiographical this story might be, it’s never predictable or less than heartfelt."

Austin American-Statesman
"Continuum… knew what they were doing."

From the Publisher
"Thirty Three and a Third" is a new series of short books about critically acclaimed and much-loved albums of the last 40 years. The authors provide fresh, original perspectives – often through their access to and relationships with the key figures involved in the recording of these albums. By turns obsessive, passionate, creative, and informed, the books in this series demonstrate many different ways of writing about music: from documentary style treatments to in-depth musical and lyrical analysis and personal memoir. What binds the series together, and what brings it to life, is that all of the authors – musicians, broadcasters, scholars, and writers – are huge fans of the album they have chosen.

From the Inside Flap
"One morning as I was jogging my way past the bronze plaque commemorating the deaths of one student and one motorcyclist, my necktie flapping like a windsock, Ray floored the brake pedal of his Dodge as he closed in on me. Fifty mile an hour traffic came to a screeching, nearly murderous halt behind him. He leaned over and rolled down the passenger side window in one fluid motion. He dispensed with formalities while I marveled at the audacity of his driving and, tossing something at me, winked and said, 'Here. I’m going to kill myself.' He pegged the gas, leaving a surprisingly good patch of rubber for such a shitty car. In the gutter, sugared with sand put down during the winter’s last snow, I saw written in red felt ink on masking tape stuck to a smoky-clear cassette: 'Smiths: Meat.'" A Catholic high school near Boston in 1985. A time of suicides, gymnasium humiliations, smoking for beginners, asthma attacks, and incendiary teenage infatuations. Infatuations with a girl (Allison), with a band (The Smiths) and with an album, 'Meat is Murder', that was so raw, so vivid and so melodic that you could cling to it like a lifeboat in a storm.

About the Author
Joe Pernice is the singer-songwriter behind the Pernice Brothers. His previous band was the Scud Mountain Boys, and he has also recorded under the name Chappaquiddick Skyline. Joe has also published a book of poetry, 'Two Blind Pigeons'.


Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices