Friend of NO Notes Carl Wilson appeared this weekend on To The Best of Our Knowledge to talk about his book Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste.
This is Mr. Wilson’s entry in the famous 33 1/3 series of books about single albums. I’ve read this book — which is getting lots of attention lately — and I thought it was tremendous. Chances are good you don’t care for Celine Dion, and let’s just say this book is not so a fan’s notes; it’s nothing less than an attempt to come to grips with what musical taste is all about. It’s extremely smartly done.
If nothing else, check out the radio interview, here.
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
