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LP
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BEATNIK 048LP
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"Originally released in 1993, on CD only except very few promo vinyls, Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales is a collaboration between famous -- and infamous! -- beat writer William S. Burroughs and politico-rappers Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, whose Television, Drug of the Nation picked up the baton from the Last Poets and Gil Scot Heron. With Hal Willner in the producer's chair, the album sits at the unusual intersection of literature, spoken word and music, as Burroughs is reading excerpts from seven of his books set to fabulous music by the Heroes, mostly a slow, lazy funk that sounds like it was lifted from a '70s blaxploitation soundtrack, plus fat hip-hop beats and soul-jazz overtones."
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LP
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PD 036LP
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This record is divided into two sections. The first part is the title track and takes up most of side one. Ali's Smile was first published in 1971 and was privately released as a one-sided LP, in an edition of 99 copies. It came in a plain sleeve with a hardback copy of the spoken text, and was sold exclusively through Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, UK. Bill Butler, the bookshop owner, was still paying off a viciously punitive fine and associated court costs imposed in 1968 after a guilty verdict in an obscenity trial. Burroughs, a "fellow American", was only too happy to help out by letting him have the rights to the recording. Rumors abound as to how many copies of the LP actually sold and how many were damaged after having been left on a heater, but, whatever the facts, this magnanimous gesture would still have been very handy. This is the first official reissue of this lost audio recording. A tale of revenge, heartless cruelty and amulet power, muddied with frequent recourse to Scientological references. The rest of the LP is taken up with 33 minutes of audio tape supplied by Burroughs in answer to various questions mailed to him by a freelance journalist. It also includes several readings from material he was working on at the time. The recordings date from 1963, which places them as some of, if not the, earliest in-depth recordings of his readings and thoughts. As this material dates from just before the publication of Nova Express, much of it serves as a useful companion and commentary on his Nova mythology. In the end only about ten minutes of this material ever got broadcast, and was used as part of an illustrated talk on the BBC's Third Programme. Sleeve notes on a numbered insert; edition of 1000.
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LP
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PD 031LP
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2020 restock. William Burroughs was in and out of London from the mid-50s to 1974 and for several years quite settled in a flat near Piccadilly. During this latter time he developed and refined the techniques he used for creating cut-ups on tape. Working closely with Ian Sommerville, who helped acquire, and no doubt maintain, the various tape recorders that Burroughs used and abused in these experimental works. The work here is in two sections, which in their original form lasted for over an hour and first appeared in 1998 under the name Electronic Revolution as a free CD with Issue One of the French magazine Crash. The CD was quickly withdrawn with maybe only 100 copies finding their way into circulation. This edition is edited down to 46 minutes and comprises the core of the original recording. It employs the now familiar techniques of random drop-ins and cut-ups of readings. The readings themselves are also cut-ups of words on the page. The first section of the tape uses further processing by means of a second tape recorder. Recorded in Duke Street in 1968, the tape was then passed on to Brion Gysin in Paris where it remained in his archive until 1998. This is the first readily available edition of an hypnotic and meditative recording that examines the hidden power of words. Closer to work of sound poetry than anything literary. The album includes a 12"x12" insert with an essay by Ben Harper and several previously unseen portrait photos of Burroughs, taken by Harriet Crowder in her Hammersmith flat during a drug experiment. The back cover uses another Crowder image - the very next frame after the famous shot that appeared on the cover of the English Bookshop/ESP Call Me Burroughs LP (1965). Pressed at Optimal on transparent vinyl. Edition of 500 (numbered).
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LP
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SV 094LP
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"Originally released in 1965 by The English Bookshop in Paris and later by ESP-Disk' in New York, Call Me Burroughs marks not only the recorded debut of William Burroughs, but also for many the first encounter with his inimitable voice. While Burroughs has had pervasive influence on counterculture in the past 50 years -- from the Beats to punk rock and even hip hop -- no other figure today is so widely considered the epitome of cool. Call Me Burroughs features the author reading from Naked Lunch and Nova Express, two of his best-known works that utilize the cut-up method developed by Burroughs and artist Brion Gysin. An eerie, deadpan drawl guides the listener through sci-fi innerscapes, narcotic nightmares, reports from the edge of the apocalypse. Phantasmagoric passages echo real experiences roaming the streets of Mexico, the West Village, Tangiers. Bradley the Buyer and other shadowy agents haunt our ears as Burroughs turns the page and pauses purposefully. 'Anything put out up till now is like pulling a figure out of the air -- Enemy installations shattered -- Personnel decimated -- Board Books taken -- Electric waves of resistance sweeping through mind screens of the earth -- The message of Total Resistance on short wave of the world.' This first-time vinyl reissue is recommended for fans of Hunter S. Thompson, Patti Smith and Throbbing Gristle."
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LP+CD
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EB 100LP
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Limited 2015 repress. Echo Beach presents the first vinyl edition of William S. Burroughs in Dub, originally released on CD in 2014 (EB 100CD). LP features eight tracks from the CD release, and includes the CD itself, with all 15 tracks. Since their 2006 debut album Nitro, the Swiss band Dub Spencer & Trance Hill have impressed press and audiences alike with their passion for playing, their sure instinct for sounds, their equally humorous and respectful dubification of popular hits (including Metallica's "Enter Sandman") and their immense technical skill. Riddim heard "a new soundsphere where typical fat, stoic dub beats contrast with hand-played instruments and experimental sounds." Jazzthetik praised the "fantastically tight band, formidable interior dynamic and supremely competent mixdowns." Jazzthing wrote that "their psychedelic dub sound, which is occasionally interspersed by Western guitar riffs and true rock solos, sounds wonderfully acoustic and analog." And The Wire had to admit that "it sounds cheesy and it shouldn't work, but it does." Their other work includes the Clash tribute album The Clashification of Dub (EB 081CD/LP), plus a live album and a remix compilation with selective dubs by Victor Rice from São Paulo, Brazil. This release celebrates William S. Burroughs and pays tribute to his 2014 centenary, marking a new pop-cultural highlight in their work. With the official support and assistance of the William S. Burroughs Foundation in the United States, the band has succeeded in creating a heavy, ambient masterpiece in 15 chapters. They roll through dub landscapes full of heavy reggae grooves and extraterrestrial electro sounds, carried by pumping basslines with hypnotic power that clears the pathway to the center and gently caresses the stomach. Above the dragging, instrumental reggae cut-ups that gently drift into psychedelic territory, the artfully diluted grooves, breaks, and virtuoso hints, and the majestic slowness of the two riddims, rises the voice of William S. Burroughs, groundbreaking novelist, wanderer between worlds, junky supreme, and counter-cultural icon. His distinctive voice meets craggy soundscapes, harsh guitar chords, and an acerbic Hammond organ that play off against each other in the mixing desk. Drenched in echo, the sounds on this dub treatment contravene the rules of space and time, leaving behind a wonderful feeling of confusion in which listeners can relax and respectfully accompany the soul of their traveling companion William S. Burroughs on the path to eternity -- a highly addictive sound experience.
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CD
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SP 067CD
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Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary 1922 silent film Häxan uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious; instead, it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous. In 1968, Antony Balch prepared an abbreviated 77-minute version of the film titled Witchcraft Through the Ages. Balch had previously worked with William S. Burroughs in making the films Towers Open Fire (1963) and The Cut-Ups (1967), and this version features Burroughs' dramatic narration, delivered as an incantation in droning monotone. Daniel Humair's chaotic jazz score for the '68 release was played by a quintet that included Jean-Luc Ponty on violin and Humair on percussion. The artwork features stills from the film.
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CD
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EB 100CD
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Ever since the Swiss musicians ushered in the return of the Spaghetti Western to the world of dub with their debut album Nitro (EB 057CD), they have impressed the press and audiences alike with their passion for playing, their sure instinct for sounds, their equally humorous and respectful dubification of popular hits (including Metallica's "Enter Sandman") and their immense technical skill. Riddim heard "a new soundsphere where typical fat, stoic dub beats contrast with hand-played instruments and experimental sounds." Jazzthetik praised the "fantastically tight band, formidable interior dynamic and supremely competent mixdowns." Jazzthing wrote that "their psychedelic dub sound, which is occasionally interspersed by Western guitar riffs and true rock solos, sounds wonderfully acoustic and analog." And The Wire had to admit that "it sounds cheesy and it shouldn't work, but it does." Since their debut album, the band have released five more studio albums, including the Clash tribute album The Clashification of Dub (EB 081CD/LP), plus a live album and a remix compilation with selective dubs by Victor Rice from São Paulo, Brazil. Their new album celebrates William S. Burroughs and pays tribute to his centenary, marking a new pop-cultural highlight in their work. With the official support and assistance of the William S. Burroughs Foundation in the United States, the band has succeeded in creating a heavy, ambient masterpiece in 15 chapters. They roll through dub landscapes full of heavy reggae grooves and extraterrestrial electro sounds, carried by pumping bass lines whose hypnotic power clears the pathway to the center and gently caresses the stomach. Floating above the dragging, instrumental reggae cut-ups that gently drift into psychedelic territory, the artfully diluted grooves, breaks and virtuoso hints, and the majestic slowness of the two riddims, rises the voice of William S. Burroughs, beat poet, wanderer between worlds, junky supreme and counter-culture icon. His distinctive voice meets craggy soundscapes, harsh guitar chords and an acerbic Hammond organ which play off against each other in the mixing desk. Drenched in echo, the sounds on this dub treatment contravene the rules of space and time. They leave behind a wonderful feeling of confusion where listeners can relax and respectfully accompany the soul of their travelling companion William S. Burroughs on the path to eternity -- a highly addictive sound experience.
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LP
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SR 008LP
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Sold out, no repress planned; originally released in 2008. One of the most classic and in-demand titles in the Sub Rosa catalog -- mid-'60s cut-up tape machine recordings made by William S. Burroughs in hotels -- originally released on CD in 1987, reissued in 2001, released on vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. During the 1960s, Burroughs was in Europe and England. The Vietnam War, the cultural revolution, hippies and the acid gospel, the U.S. in tumult -- all these were dispatches to him. Living between Paris and London, his only excursions to America were in 1965, when he lived a year in New York at the Chelsea Hotel and 210 Centre Street, and revisited St. Louis and Palm Beach; and in 1968, when he covered the Democratic Convention in Chicago for Esquire in the company of Genet, Southern and Seaver. Burroughs had quit the States in 1953 exactly because he foresaw these police-state conditions. But now the wild boys were in the streets, in London and Paris too, and Burroughs was inspired to hope that the world could really change. In the creative world/switchboard of Paris' Beat Hotel, in London, in a house in the Arab Quarter of Tangier, he experimented with tape recordings -- under the tutelage of Brion Gysin -- hoping to cut the pre-recorded time line of present time, and, as he put it, "let the future leak out." It's impossible not to recognize the writer's sonorous voice -- a sonority also present within the silence of every text he wrote. An explosion of styles -- a blasting of borders -- the silence after a gunshot -- the overtaking of the fetishized word -- from the exploded painting, to the cut tape. Break Through In Grey Room includes various monologues, radio shortwaves, music, and countless cut-up tape from which emerges new structures of communication. Words gain power when losing the boundaries of semantics. Also included is some Joujouka music recorded by Burroughs while he was with Ornette Coleman in the hills of Morocco, circa 1973. Many of these tapes are as much Ian Sommerville's work as Burroughs, or even more so. Ian's technical background is a tribute to the early development of sound-and-light shows in London. Ian was a sorcerer's apprentice in creating recordings. This is an important sound document in the history of Burroughs as an innovator, as well as an archive of the genesis of literature in opposition during a time-period whose urgency is more relevant than ever.
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