Track Listing
1. William's Welcome
2. Thanksgiving Prayer, A
3. Naked Lunch Excerpts
4. Ah Pook the Destroyer
5. After-Dinner Conversation
6. Kill the Badger
7. New Standard by Which to Measure Infamy
8. Sermon on the Mount 1, The
9. No More Stalins
10. Sermon on the Mount 2, The
11. Scandal at the Jungle Hiltons
12. Sermon on the Mount 3, The
13. Love Your Enemies
14. Dr. Benway's House
15. Apocalypse
16. Lord's Prayer, The
17. Ich Bin Von Kopf Bis Fuss Auf Liebe Eingestel
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Cheryl Hardwick, Chris Stein, Donald Fagen, John Cale, Lenny Pickett, Sonic Youth | | Producer: | Hal Willner, Nelson Lyon | | Distributor: | Fontana Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel: William S. Burroughs (spoken vocals); Frank Simms, Dennis Martin, Leslie Miller, Arlene Martel (vocals); Maxine Neumann (cello); Lenny Pickett (clarinet, woodwinds); Tom Varner (French horn); Cheryl Hardwick (piano); Bobby Previte (drums); John Cale, Donald Fagen, Chris Stein, Friedrich Hollander.
Sonic Youth: Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Rinaldo, Steve Shelly.
Principally recorded at Hairball 3, Lawrence, Kansas.
In 1988, genius producer Hal Willner (best known, perhaps ironically, for his Disney tribute album STAY AWAKE) traveled to Lawrence, Kansas and taped NAKED LUNCH author and Beat Generation legend William Burroughs performing excerpts from his work. He then enlisted the likes of Donald Fagen and Sonic Youth to create accompanying musical collages. To this end he also unearthed Aaron Copland-esque music recorded in the late '40s and '50s for various radio shows by Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra.
The more contemporary backing material is fine, and Burroughs' dry as dust readings sound particularly unsettling when backed by symphonic Americana. Be warned, however, that the album ends with the author cackling his way through a sepulchral German version of Marlene Dietrich's "Falling in Love Again;" it's as creepy a performance as you're likely to hear in a lifetime.
Editorial Reviews
4 Stars - Excellent - ..Spoken word albums by celebrated writers are, without exception, a pain in the Bohemia...except this one... akin to having a prefrontal lobotomy without anaesthetic...a spoken word album to justify the existence of all the others.
Q (03/01/1991)
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