Allen Ginsberg - First Blues - 2x LP Vinyl

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Info

SKU:c0035835 ,UPC:

Info

SKU:
c0035835
UPC:
5050580843240

Specifications

Artist, Album, Batch, Format,

Specifications

Artist:
Allen Ginsberg
Album:
First Blues
Format:
12" Vinyl
UPC:
5050580843240

Description

"Rags, Ballads & Harmonium Songs. Chanteys, Come-All-Ye's, Aborigine Song Sticks. Gospel, Improvisations, Renaissance Lyrics, Blake Hymns, Bluegrass, Hillbilly Riffs, Country & Western, 50's R&B, Dirty Dozens & New Wave" - Allen Ginsberg's recorded opus gets its first ever full vinyl reissue. Containing studio-recorded performances that he wrote, performed and taped in sessions taking place over a decade between 1971 and 1981 - featuring Bob Dylan, Arthur Russell, Anne Waldman, David Mansfield, Perry Robinson, David Amram and many other friends and contemporaries. A selection of what were arguably "demos" for this record were originally recorded by the legendary Harry Smith at his apartment in the Chelsea Hotel in the early 70s, later appearing on Folkways as First Blues: Rags, Ballads & Harmonium Songs.

It's hard to deny Ginsberg's impact; his poetry alone was enough to shift the course of US counter culture, and you can visualise his contributions to downtown punk and folk. But his music career isn't quite as intimately understood, which makes 'First Blues' a pretty vital artefact for anyone looking to investigate further. Ginsberg wrote and recorded the material between 1971 and 1983, taking the opportunity to leaf through his lengthy phonebook and call up anyone he admired or had collaborated with in the past. So Dylan - who Ginsberg had collaborated with before - shows up on the first few tracks, helping to balance out his friend's wobbly-voiced, country-fried recitations with tangled acoustic twangs.

The money shots comes with the majority of the remaining tracks, produced and featuring cello by Arthur Russell, given free rein to rumble through folk, blues, jazz and gospel over Ginsberg’s sexcapades, Buddhist revelations and conspiracy theories with bare-faced joy. 'CIA Dope Calypso' is a bonkers highlight, a chirpy Harry Belafonte reinterpretation that lambasts the Central Intelligence Agency for its under-the-radar drug peddling, while 'Sickness Blues' uses Russell's bendy cello tones as a crash mat for Ginsberg's pained lamentations.
A1Going To San Diego
A2Vomit Express
A3Jimmy Berman (Gay Lib Rag)
A4NY Youth Call Annunciation
A5CIA Dope Calypso
B1Put Down Yr Cigarette Rag
B2Sickness Blues
B3Broken Bone Blues
B4Stay Away From White House
B5Hardon Blues
B6Guru Blues
C1Everybody Sing
C2Gospel Nobel Truths
C3Bus Ride Ballad To Suva
C4Prayer Blues - 1972
C5Love Forgiven
C6Father Death Blues
D1Dope Fiend Blues
D2Tyger
D3You Are My Dildo
D4Old Pond
D5No Reason
D6My Pretty Rose Tree
D7Capitol Air