Details
Track Listing
DISC 1: POETRY FOR THE BEAT GENERATION:
1. October in the Railroad Earth
2. Deadbelly
3. Charlie Parker
4. Sounds of the Universe Coming in My Window, The
5. One Mother
6. Goofing at the Table
7. Bowery Blues
8. Abraham
9. Dave Brubeck
10. I Had a Slouch Hat Too One Time
11. Wheel of Quivering Meat Conception, The
12. McDougal Street Blues
13. Moon in Her Majesty, The
14. I'd Rather Be Thin Than Famous
15. Readings From "On the Road" And "Visions of. - (bonus track)
DISC 2: BLUES & HAIKUS:
1. American Haikus
2. Hard Hearted Old Farmer
3. Last Hotel & Some of Dharma, The
4. Poems From the Unpublished "Book of Blues"
5. Old Western Movies - (bonus track)
6. Conclusion of the Railroad Earth - (bonus track)
DISC 3: READINGS BY JACK KEROUAC ON THE BEAT GENERATION:
1. Beat Generation, The
2. Poems (Fragments): San Francisco / Street Scene / Money Honey / Westinghouse Elevators / Old Age / Praised Be Man / The Sad Turtle
3. Lucien Midnight: The Sounds of the Universe in My Window (Part 1)
4. Lucien Midnight: The Sounds of the Universe in My Window (Part 2)
5. Fantasy: The Early History of Bop
6. Excerpts From "The Subterraneans"
7. Visions of Neal: Neal & The Three Stooges (Part 1)
8. Visions of Neal: Neal & The Three Stooges (Part 2)
9. Is There a Beat Generation? - (bonus track)
| Details | | Contributing artists: | Al Cohn, Steve Allen, Zoot Sims | | Distributor: | WEA (Distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
This is packaged in a cloth bound box, complete with a 40 page booklet of testimonials, rare photos and an extensive bibliography. It combines 3 LPs of poetry and jazz (originally on the Hanover and Verve labels), POETRY FOR THE BEAT GENERATION (1959), BLUES AND HAIKUS (1959), and READINGS BY JACK KEROUAC ON THE BEAT GENERATION (1960), with an unreleased 15 minute Hunter College lecture from 1958 and a performance from The Steve Allen Show. Contributing to the liner notes are such Kerouac-influenced artists as Tom Waits, Jerry Garcia, Ray Manzarek and David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets).
This three-disc set is a bonanza for aficionados of the Beat school of literature that Kerouac and his cronies created. Recorded in the late '50s at the then-apex of Kerouac's popularity, the three albums contained here find him reading original poems and verse as well as previously published material (including, of course, excerpts from the genre- and generation-defining ON THE ROAD). On BLUES AND HAIKUS, he's accompanied by venerable West Coast jazzmen Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. POETRY FOR THE BEAT GENERATION finds him accompanied by unexpected kindred spirit Steve Allen (of '50s TV fame) on piano. Perhaps most effective of all, though, is READINGS BY JACK KEROUAC ON THE BEAT GENERATION, where Kerouac reads unaccompanied. Though his delivery is notoriously deadpan, the sheer musicality of his words provides a special kind of music, recalling the bebop jazz sounds that inspired Kerouac's finest writing. As a sonic document of Kerouac's world, or of the Beat scene in general, one couldn't do better than the KEROUAC COLLECTION.
Industry Reviews
..Almost every minute of this disc is a rare treat for jaded ears. Kerouac's words and the jazz accompaniment roar with the energy of six Mudhoneys...
4 Stars - Excellent - ...These recordings have a vitality that endures...should reach a new audience. The lonesome traveler deserves no less...
Rolling Stone (10/04/1990)
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