A handsome volume, laid out in true postmodern style with bits and pieces everywhere (often bits and pieces which seem to have little or no connection to anything else), but it's fun, rather than frustrating, to browse (probably because there's a pretty clear, conventional structure underlying all the odd juxtapositions and unlikely collage effects).
The band come across very much as musicians' musicians - much musing about the song-writing/recording process, and the joys and perils of playing live, as well the many loving photos of, and burblings about, guitars, percussion, amps and other equipment, are ample evidence of that - and also seem very thoughtful about what they do (although, wisely, they shy away from over-intellectualising the process too much).
Elsewhere, Rick Moody writes a high-falutin', excessively pretentious and really rather insightful piece about 'five songs', one from each album (scoring major Howard-points by picking "She's A Jar" from Summerteeth); random/purposeful bits of art (done by the band/related to the music and otherwise) and scientific schematics are interspersed throughout; the margins are filled by all kinds of ephemera, including a haiku written by the bass player ("They sit listening/Then a bit of conferring/Zen Palate again?"); and so forth.
