POETRY |at ZERO G| ALLEN GINSBERG - HOWL & OTHER POEMS

 ALLEN GINSBERG

HOWL

AND OTHER POEMS

(feat. Philip Glass, Lenny Kaye, Paul McCartney)

and others

Bob and Allen at Kerouac’s grave 1975

Through a precocious interest in Jack Kerouac, then Ginsberg and Burroughs (I think I have read everything but certainly all the Kerouac and also own most of the Burroughs) I heard the Ginsberg voice through my treasured copy of ‘Howl’ with an early bargain bin album and along with early Brautigan albums and an obsession with trying to find the Beats reading aloud. So there comes these superb examples from Zero G Sounds who lately have posted several and the top one was the ‘Howl’ album but then there is this ‘Ballad of The Skeletons’ too featuring Macca, Philip Glass and Lenny Kaye amongst others which is perhaps surprisingly listenable

If you are interested you could do a whole lot worse than download these. 

Allen Ginsberg ‘Howl and other poems’ 1959 - ZeroGSounds

Allen Ginsberg wrote his epic poem “Howl” in mid-‘50s San Francisco and Berkeley, and the rest is literary history. The work, first read in public in 1955 and published in 1956 before emerging victorious in a 1957 court ruling that it was not obscene, has been hailed as one of the most important poems of the 20th century, and it inspired a wave of Beat poetry.

Ginsberg ‘Ballad of The Skeletons’ feat. Philip Glass, Lenny Kaye and Paul McCartney 2019 Zerosounds

Allen Ginsberg understood as well as anyone that, in the latter half of the 20th century, rock & roll would be the medium through which poetry and social commentary would reach the young and hungry masses. He eagerly hopped a ride on the bandwagon, collaborating with Dylan, the Clash, and Cornershop; setting William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" to music; and teaching "Eleanor Rigby" to his English classes at Brooklyn College. The boxed set "Holy Soul Jellyroll" proves that Ginsberg made himself, by sheer force of will, a highly effective though hardly conventional singer/songwriter. Apparently, however, he saved the best for last. 

but there are others too and this links to one worthy of enquiry . . . . . . . . . 

Allen Ginsberg - Lion For Real - ZeroGSounds

Recorded in the late '80s, "The Lion for Real" consists primarily of brief poems set to avant-jazz. Producer Hal Willner has assembled a group that at various times features Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Arto Lindsay, and they skillfully navigate the emotional tones and wit in Ginsberg's poems. 

This doesn't contain any of Ginsberg's major works, but it's a welcome reminder of his irascible humour and mischievousness.             

Tracklist:                            

A1	Scribble
A2	Complaint Of The Skeleton To Time
A3	Xmas Gift
A4	To Aunt Rose
A5	The Lion For Real
A6	Refrain
A7	The Shrouded Stranger
A8	Gregory Corso's Story
B1	Cleveland, The Flats
B2	The End
B3	Stanzas: Written At Night In Radio City
B4	Sunset
B5	Hum Bom!
B6	Kral Majales
B7	Guru
B8	Ode To Failure

and Ginsberg reading (singing!) William Blake’s Songs of Innocence

Allen Ginsberg Reads William Blake - Zero Sounds

"Songs of Innocence and Experience" is an album by American beat poet and writer Allen Ginsberg, recorded at Apostolic Studios New York City in June & July 1969. For the recording, Ginsberg sang pieces from 18th-century English poet William Blake's illustrated poetry collection of the same name and set them to musical accompaniment, performed with a host of jazz musicians.

Tracklist:

A1a Introduction 2:10

A1b The Shepherd

A2 The Echoing Green 1:22

A3 The Lamb 1:10

A4 The Little Black Boy 3:00

A5 The Blossom 1:22

A6 The Chimney Sweeper 2:20

A7 The Little Boy Lost 1:06

A8a The Little Boy Found 1:24

A8b Laughing Song 1:24

A9 Holy Thursday 1:15

A10 Night 3:57

B1 Introduction 2:06

B2 Nurses Song 2:07

B3 The Sick Rose 1:35

B4 Ah! Sun-Flower 1:12

B5 The Garden Of Love 1:02

B6 London 1:55

B7 The Human Abstract 2:30

B8 To Tirzah 1:42

B9 The Grey Monk 4:06

really worth reading about and checking out for die hard fans