Reads on the Road
Jack Kerouac
Tom Waits, Primus, David Amram
Producer: Jim Sampas, Lee Ranaldo
Rykodisc (USA), 1999
1 CD
Catalogue #: RCD10474
EAN: 0014431047428
UPC: 014431047428
You save: 25%
Some tracks feature musical accompaniment composed by David Amram recorded in 1998 and one track is sung by Tom Waits.
Personnel includes: Jack Kerouac (spoken vocals); Tom Waits (vocals, guitar, percussion); Larry LaLonde (guitar, percussion); Vic Juris (guitar); Midhat Serbagi (viola); David Amram (Lakota courting flute, whistle, ocarina, shenai, French horn, congas, dumbek, frame drum, percussion); Ronald Roseman (oboe, English horn); Jane Taylor (bassoon); Jerry Dodgion (alto saxophone); Ralph Carney (saxophone); John Medeski (Hammond organ); Les Claypool (upright bass, percussion); Victor Venegas (bass); Johnny Almendra (drums, bongos); Candido (congas); Brain (percussion).
Engineers include: Jerry Newman, Biff Dawes, Danny Lawrence.
Includes liner notes by Douglas Brinkley.
Boasting recordings thought for many years to be lost, the historic READS ON THE ROAD should be an easy favorite for any admirer of this beloved Beat poet. What a tasty variety of material there is here--Kerouac singing jazz standards (!), Kerouac singing an original song, and Kerouac reading poems to the sound of David Amram's moving beat scores.
"Ain't We Got Fun" is a hoot, with the poet-turned-crooner scatting to the warm vibes and guitar of a combo of unknown musicians. His home-taped two-minute "On the Road" is a tear-jerking treasure, a little travelin' tale posthumously set to plaintive organ and guitar a la John Medeski and Victor Juris. And who better to reinterpret the aforementioned piece than the inimitable, whisky-throated Tom Waits, along with the wild ones of Primus whooping it up on steel guitar, upright bass, and percussion. The crown jewel, however, is the nearly 30-minute crackle-pop acetate taping of our Lowell, Massachusetts hero reading unaccompanied from his seminal text. It's a rare, wonderful treat to hear Kerouac vocalize his rollicking images of jazzmen and Neal Cassady joyrides.
Tracklist
Tom Waits
Tom Waits started out in the early 1970s as a piano-based barroom balladeer with a penchant for beat poetry and West Coast jazz. By the late '80s he had mutated into a brilliantly adventurous artist whose style suggested an amalgam of Howlin' Wolf, Kurt Weill, and Captain Beefheart. Ever the theatrical figure, Waits also found success as an actor in several films. He's also worked on numerous theatrical/musical projects with avant-garde theater king Robert Wilson. Though generally regarded as a cult artist, he's widely respected, and everyone from Rod Stewart to the Eagles to the Ramones has covered his songs.
Primus
Though they're cited as one of the key influences on the rap-metal crowd due their combination of biting guitar and funky bass lines, Primus are a much quirkier, more avant garde band than their list of disciples might suggest. Making their debut at the start of the '90s, they blazed a new trail with a mix of alternative rock, amped-up funk, a touch of metal, and a healthy dose of Zappa-inspired wierdness. Spearheaded by the crazed bass playing of leader Les Claypool, the unique Primus sound crosses over into the disparate worlds of heavy rock, jam bands, and alt rock, but the band remains a musical island unto itself.
