I bought the REM Murmur one as a gift. Skimmed it. From memory it was rather disappointing and didnt make me want to read it properly. It was more about the album, making of, people involved etc than the author's relationship.
Probably depends on which one in the series you are thinking of getting.
Has anyone read any of the 33 1/3 series?
http://333sound.com/33-13-series/
If so, are they books about the albums themselves, or books about the authors' relationships with the albums?