Eric Andersen - The Street Was Always There
(Appleseed Records, 2004) A new collection of tunes by Eric, Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin -– evocative and powerful, full-throttle Greenwich Village, culminating with Ochs himself speaking straight from and to the heart. Also a must-have is 2003’s Beat Avenue (Appleseed) -– a 25-minute epic talking poem by Andersen. --bh compact disk
Steven Jesse Bernstein - Prison
(SubPop, 1991) Steven Jesse Bernstein, mythologos of Seattle! How his poems continue to rise and soar! Like da levy of Cleveland, Bernstein’s poems defy poetry in insistence of the place of the heart. This is a sensational CD. --bh compact disk
Lenny Bruce - Let the Buyer Beware
(Shout! Factory, 2004) The new 6-CD box set of Lenny Bruce was produced by our old pal Hal Willner, who spent years on this beauty. It shows. The cuts range from familiar classic (“To Is a Preposition / Come Is a Verb”) to bootlegged tapes from the Ed Sanders Archive to astonishing work tapes that the obsessive Bruce recorded on four individual tracks of “budget” Shamrock Reel-to-Reel tape. Ladies and Gentlemen, Lenny Bruce is alive and well, finally –- you’d better bring your toothbrush. --bh compact disk
Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather
(Columbia Records, 2004) Leonard Cohen stays the course: avant garde poet at 70, his Dear Heather, while not yet replacing his incredible Ten New Songs on my playlist, is sly, smooth and smart, the title cut pure genius, light and sad, full of dark desire, rain. Cohen is popular, and will at some point be recognized like Bob Dylan as a poet, troubadour, keeper of the word. Get lost, get Leonard, get Heather. --bh compact disk
Ani DiFranco & Utah Phillips - The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere
(Rigby Education/Righteous Babe Records, October 1996) A cross-cultural, cross-generational criss-cross of an album. Ever hear a folkie set to a dub beat? DiFranco, a sensational poet herself, has added deep beats, not to Utah’s songs, but the rambling intros to his songs. The resultant weave shocks the old right past the new, which is, after all, just what the title of this superb album says. --bh compact disk
Fuzzy Doodah (Rich Ferguson) - World Without Dogs
(Sugar Fix 009, March 1999) High drama and oblique poetry, wicked wacked humor and punk B bloody guns’n’mirrors -- for a sweet-voiced poet, Rich Ferguson certainly gives lots of angle. I like this blessed CD best for the pop hits: in that category I place “World without Dogs” and “Up from Your Down,” either of which could be The One that breaks poetry to the masses as Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” did performance. If you want to get in on the ground floor of what comes next for poetry, this CD is the place to start. --bh compact disk
Michael Franti & Spearhead - Stay Human
(Six Degrees/Boo Boo Records, 2001) If the live recording Live at the Baobab (listed on our Indie Books & CDs page because it’s not available through PriceGrabber) ain’t enough (or if you can’t locate a copy for sale), then double up with the great Stay Human. That’s all we have to say. Listen to this man. --bh compact disk
Allen Ginsberg - Wichita Vortex Sutra
(Artemis Records, 2004) In the Battle of Stupidity Regarding the Iraqi War, Witchita Vortex Sutra is a salve. Miracle maker Hal Willner and his angel Danny Goldberg produced Allen reading this epic mome of orality in 1994. It’s a rambling nightmare of US plains transplanted to Viet Nam in February, 1966, originally composed on the tongue into a portable reel-to-reel. Willner commissioned a gang of downtown music all-stars to compose for their favorite sections of the poem. Ah! --bh compact disk
Joy Harjo & Poetic Justice - Letter from the End of the 20th Century
(Silver Wave, 1997) Joy Harjo is a great poet & it’s pure pleasure to experience her poems off the page. These recordings enrich her words with multifarious musics -- the melancholy wail of saxophone, Native American drum sounds, jazz, reggae & rock guitars -- the extra oomph of life in the performances. --ms compact disk
Mali To Memphis: An African-American Odyssey
(Putumayo, 1999) If you’re befuddling how griot speech led to Blues, this Middle Passage Inner Ear will illuminate. Every cut is a classic, but Boubacour Traore’s “Kar Kar Madison” and Jessie Mae Hemphill’s “Standing in the Doorway Crying” are sublime. This is my most-listened-to CD... a must-have... a cannot-part-with. --bh compact disk
Eric Mingus - Um... Er... Uh...
(Some Records, 2000) Eric Mingus is Charles’ son, but he makes his own poetic music here, speaking resonant musings over funky, jazzy, bluesy bass & beats -- totally cool storytelling. --ms compact disk
Youssou N’Dour - Egypt
(Nonesuch Records, 2004) West Africa’s premier griot explores the Egyptian-Jali connect in this CD, which embodies his Muslim faith. Youssou is known for mixing traditional Senegalese m’balax music with international influences from hip hop to jazz, samba to soul music. --bh compact disk
David Thomas & Two Pale Boys - Surf’s Up
(Thirsty Ear Recordings, 2001) More poetry from the indefatigable head of Pere Ubu. Check out “Night Driving,” a new chapter from On the Road, and “Surf’s Up” -- only Thomas could cover this 8-minute Brian Wilson pocket opera. --bh compact disk
The emily xyz songbook: Poems for 2 voices
(Rattapallax Press, 2004) So, ya wanna know what a perf-poem might look like if it, say, came up and bitcha? You talking: the emily xyz songbook, which is a CD with a book attached -- Ms. Emily’s first (and billed also as her “only,” as if she might forsake print, which, of course she has and does). Bravura poetry in a bravura production, with speed-veined hard’n’tight drum’n’bass electronica by Virgil Moorefield. This is the BOOK (CD) OF THE YEAR! --bh compact disk
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