W.S. Burroughs

Profile:
b. William Seward Burroughs II, 5 February 1914, St. Louis, Missouri, USA,
d. 2 August 1997.
Novelist Burroughs initially drew acclaim as a "member" of the 50s Beat movement, alongside friends and peers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. His acclaimed publications, notably The Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded, exhibited the "cut-up" technique first espoused by fellow-writer Bryon Gysin, in which passages and texts were cut and reassembled to create unconscious writing. The pair subsequently brought the same method to recording during their stay at the "Beat Hotel' in Paris. Burroughs' experimental nature and his espousal of drug use made him an attractive figure of the 60s" counter-culture. His phrase "heavy metal' became the term for a musical genre, while several acts - notably the Soft Machine and Steely Dan - took their names from his works.

His first album, Call Me Burroughs, was comprised of readings from The Naked Lunch and Nova Express. It was initially issued in France prior to appearing on the US avant garde label, ESP.
Ali's Smile, a one-side 12-inch released via Brighton's Unicorn Bookshop, was Burrough's only other 60s release,(released later on Vaudeville Voices) although his distinctive voice can be heard on the film soundtrack Chappaqua, and was sampled in 1971 for Dashiell Hedayat's Obselete.
In 1982 Throbbing Gristle's Genesis P. Orridge issued Nothing Here Now But The Recordings, a fascinating cross-section of 50s and 60s archive recordings.
Ten Years later Sub-Rosa issued a similarly structured set,
Break Through In Grey Room.


The avant garde maintained its links with Burroughs during the 80s; he surfaced on several releases by poet John Giorno, notably You're The Guy I Want To Share My Money With (1981) and Like A Girl I Want You To Keep Coming (1989) and he enjoyed a cameo appearance on Laurie Anderson's Mr. Heartbreak (1984).


Dead City Radio, Burroughs' first full-length album in over two decades, paired the writer with producer Hal Willner. John Cale, Donald Fagen and Sonic Youth were among the cast assembled on what was arguably his most accessible release.

Spare Ass Annie And Other Tales, a collaboration with the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, and Operators Manual Radio show,containing commentary on the making of the album.


Despite advancing years, Burroughs contributed to Tom Waits' The Black Rider and appeared on singles by Gus Van Sant ("The Elvis Of Letters") and Ministry ("Just One Fix").
In 1993 he recorded a version of "The 'Priest' They Called Him" with Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.

When he died in 1997 his passing was mourned with the Internet message:
"William Burroughs has finally figured out how to leave the flesh behind and assimilate with it all".





Laurie Anderson Introduces W.S. Burroughs Radio 4 March 4th 2008

Wiki

The Cold Spring Tape 1
The Cold Spring Tape 2
A very experimental tape of poetry, sounds, interviews and samples made by Brion Gysin, William Burroughs and Genesis P-Orridge. Sometimes funny, sometimes weird, sometimes scary, always interesting


The Nova Convention (1979)


Side One
1.Terry Southern: Vignette of Idealistic Life In South Texas 1:25
2.William S. Burroughs: Keynote Commentary/Roosevelt After Inauguration 5:52
3.John Giorno: Entering The Sky 13:30
4.Patti Smith: Poem For Jim Morrison/Bumblebee 11:45

Side Two
1.William S. Burroughs: Benway 3:40
2.Philip Glass: Building 3:04
3.Brion Gysin: Kick That Habit/Junk Is No Good Baby/Somebody Special/Blue Baboon 7:06
4.Frank Zappa: The Talking Asshole 5:25
5.William S. Burroughs: from The Gay Gun: "This Is Kim Carson" & "Just Like The Collapse Of Any Currnency"/The Whole Tamale 13:27

Side Three
1.William S. Burroughs: What The Nova Convention Is About 2:35
2.Ed Sanders: Hymn To Aphrodite From Sappho 8:50
3.John Cage: Writing For The Second Time Through Finnegans Wake 14:15
4.Anne Waldman: Plutonium Ode/Skin Meat Bones 6:35

Side Four
1.Laurie Anderson & Julia Heyward: Song From America On The Move 12:50
2.Allen Ginsburg & Peter Orlovsky: Punk Rock/Old Pond/Feeding Them Raspberries To Grow/Nurses Song 13:00
3.William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine & Robert Anton Wilson: Conversations 7:10

Recorded at The Nova Convention
NYC, December 1-2, 1978

The Nova Convention took place on November 30, December 1, and December 2, 1978, with the principal performances being held on the last two days at the Entermedia Theater, on Second Avenue and Twelfth Street, which had in the fifties been the fabled Phoenix Theater. Attending were an odd mixture of academics, publishers, writers, artists, punk rockers, counterculture groupies, and an influx of bridge-and-tunnel kids drawn by Keith Richards, who made the event a sellout. . .

Saturday night the Entermedia was packed, largely with young people waiting to see Keith Richards. There was a small hitch, however, which was that Keith Richards had cancelled. He was having problems as the result of a heroin bust in Toronto, and his office convinced him that appearing on the same program with Burroughs was bad publicity.

But the show had to go on, and the composer Philip Glass, playing one of his repetitive pieces on the synthesizer, was thrown to the wolves. The disappointed kids who wanted Keith Richards shouted and booed. Then Brion Gysin went on amid cries of "Where's Keith?" and found himself hoping that the riot would not start until he had done his brief turn.

In a last-minute effort, James Grauerholz had recruited Frank Zappa to pinch-hit for Keith. He volunteered to read the "talking asshole" routine from Naked Lunch. But as Zappa was preparing to go on, Patti Smith had a fit of pique about following him. James did his best to make peace, saying "Frank has come in at the last minute, and he's got to go on, and he's doing it for William, not to show you up." Patti Smith retreated to the privacy of her dressing room, and Zappa got a big hand, because that's what they wanted, a rock star.

Still, no one had explained Keith Richards' absence, and it was Patti Smith who gamely bit the bullet. She came out in a fur coat and a pair of genuine iguana-skin cowboy boots. When she announced that she was going to tell a story, a heckler shouted, "Tell it to the iguana." For Patti Smith, every performance was like a bullfight, the ultimate confrontation, as well as an act of lovemaking with the audience, which she sometimes achieved by masturbating on stage under a fur coat with a slit pocket. In 1976 she was doing something of the sort in Tampa when she fell off the stage and broke her neck. Soon she was back at CBGB's -- Out of Traction, Back in Action. On this occasion, she did the heroic thing, telling her audience, "I know you guys came in to see Keith. . .well, Keith ain't here. . .he's in a plane right now between L.A. and Toronto. . .he asked me to tell you all that if anybody wants their money back they can come and get it right now. . . ," and she pulled some bills out of her pocket, but there were no takers. Although ill with bronchitis and running a fever, she hadn't stood them up. She couldn't sing, but she noodled around on the clarinet.

In the meantime, Burroughs was backstage waiting to read, and smoking joints with Terry Southern and Victor Bockris in his dressing room. Marcia Resnick, a photographer of the punk scene, dropped in and sat on Terry's lap. "She'd be much safer sitting in my lap," Burroughs said, and Bockris stood on a shelf across the small room to take a picture of the Great Misogynist with a cute punk chick in his lap. At that moment James walked in, and in his best Nurse Ratchett manner asked, "What is going on here?" Bockris fell and spilled his wine all over Burroughs. By that time, the audience had quieted down, and John Giorno read without too many interruptions, and Burroughs went out and read to a warm welcome.
Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs by Ted Morgan.




Thanksgiving Prayer 1991



"Thanksgiving Prayer" is a poem first included in the chapbook Tornado Alley. Director Gus Van Sant then put together this montage whose power derives almost solely from William S Burroughs' reading and, perhaps, the strange sad-old-man expression of his staring eyes at the end.


Material

Seven Souls (1989)
Breaks, Avantgarde, Ambient

1 Ineffect 7:34
2 Seven Souls 5:42
3 Soul Killer 4:32
4 The Western Lands 6:54
5 Deliver 5:48
Written-By - Foday Musa Suso
6 Equation 5:06
Written-By - Rammellzee
7 The End Of Words 5:06


The Road To The Western Lands
Dub, Drum n Bass, Spoken Word, Ambient

1 Bill Laswell - The Seven Souls 5:47
Guitar - Nicky Skopelitis
Remix, Producer, Arranged By, Bass, Keyboards, Turntables - Bill Laswell
Vocals - Alicia Renee
2 Talvin Singh - The Western Lands 6:36
Remix - Talvin Singh
3 DJ Soul Slinger - The Western Lands 5:09
Remix - DJ Soul Slinger
4 Spring Heel Jack - The Road To The Western Lands 6:17
Written-By, Producer - Ashley Wales , John Coxon
5 Audio Janitor, The - Joan's Haunted Hints At The Gate To The Western Lands 6:37
Remix, Engineer - DJ Olive
6 Bill Laswell - The Seven Souls (The Secret Name) 10:37
Guitar - Nicky Skopelitis
Producer, Arranged By, Bass, Keyboards, Turntables - Bill Laswell
Vocals - Alicia Renee
7 Material - The Western Lands (A Dangerous Road Mix) 8:31

The Road to the Western Lands is a collection of radical mix translations from Material's Seven Souls. This work revolves around the words and voice of the late William S. Burroughs who died August 2nd, 1997. One of our greatest writers whose entire life's work maintained an aggressive, but humorous attack on the values of mainstream society as anarchy's double agent, an implacable enemy of conformity and all agencies of control.

Presented here are seven sound constructions derived and mutated from the original sources. Created by methods similar to those used by Burroughs himself with artist Brion Gysin to produce alternate results with writing...(the cut-ups).

This is a tribute to the mind, the life, and the words of William S. Burroughs, the singularity of his vision and his certainty in the power of language. His words are weapons against those who are bent by stupidity or design on blowing up the planet.



10% File Under Burroughs 1996 (Sub Rosa)

Genre: Electronic, Folk, World, & Country, Rock
Style: Abstract, Trip Hop, Art Rock, Experimental

1-01
Islamic Diggers
William Burroughs Don't Play Guitar (4:57)
1-02
Divination
Divination One (3:44)
1-03
Bomb The Bass
5ml Barrel (Version) (5:01)
1-04
Scanner
Gazelle In The Desert (Mellow Mix) (5:01)
1-05
Material
Ineffect (7:33)
1-06
Your Nemesis
His Name Is William Burroughs (5:19)
1-07
Scanner
Gazelle In The Desert (7:03)
1-08
Islamic Diggers
Hashishin (3:47)
1-09
Brion Gysin
Cut Up (1:46)
1-10
Islamic Diggers
Radio Alamut (0:34)

Beat
2-01
Joujouka* And Hamri
Here To Go Blessing (0:50)
2-02
Herbert Huncke & Chuck Prophet
I Travelled Mostly On The Road (4:23)
2-03
Marianne Faithfull & Master Musicians Of Joujouka, The
My Only Friend (2:06)
2-04
William S. Burroughs
For Here To Go (5:21)
2-05
John Cale
Dying On The Vine (3:41)
2-06
William S. Burroughs , Felicity Mason , Ira Cohen , Hamri , Hakim Bey & Terry Wilson
Remembering Brion (2:26)
2-07
Terry Wilson
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2:18)
2-08
Paul Bowles
Visiting Gysin's Studio (2:49)
2-09
Gnoua Brotherhood Of Marrakesh
Liallah Ou Gnouai (15:47)
2-10
Joe Ambrose
Hassan In The City (2:47)
2-11
Stanley Booth & Chuck Prophet
The Little Goat God (4:08)
2-12
Master Musicians Of Joujouka, The
L'Aitaa (The Call) (5:45)
2-13
Brion Gysin
From Here To Go (3:38)


Electronic Revolution (1998)


Taken from the original insert (typos included):

"Six month before his departure Brion Gysin gave me 23 reel to reel tapes saying that these were important tapes and that he would not want vultures to make them desappear.
Last summer when William S. Burroughs left this world I decided to listen to the tape, and the first that I took : William was on it...
It is very hard to identify the origin of the recording. Maybe in the Beat Hotel, maybe in London in the early 70's...
The text is very similar to the Electronic Revolution, which is, to me, a fundamental philosophical text. You can feel his echoes in Deleuze/Guattari books. Samon Takahashi helped me a lot with the cleaning of the tapes and together we made the indexes in a way that putting your CD player to random you can make your own "cut ups".
When William went away I have felt that another "father" have left. Maybe it is time now to become our own fathers.

Ramuntcho Matta, October 97." Wiki


Around 500 copies were pressed of which only 100 were supposedly distributed






Real English Tea Made Here (2007)


Genre: Non-Music
Style: Field Recording, Spoken Word, Poetry

Part 1

1.01 It's An Experiment (0:44)
1.02 Cut-Ins With Dutch Schultz (17:32)
1.03 23 Skidoo (6:14)
1.04 Are You Tracking Me ? (44:30)

Part 2

2.01 Old Farmers' Almanac (39:48)
2.02 Puertos De Los Santos (33:10)

Part 3

3.01 The Piper Pulled Down The Sky (16:06)
3.02 Wonderful Copenhagen (16:47)
3.03 Towers Open Fire (14:54)
3.04 We Are The Night Family (7:29)

A 3CD anthology of cut-up tape pieces by William Burroughs. A remarkable collection of recordings made at various locations in Tangiers and New York between 1964-1965. Containing rare and unpublished material, over three hours duration, the collection provides a valuable insight into Burrough's methodology and constitutes an important document of his expansion from cut-ups on paper to vocal permutations and sonic experimentations. Booklet contains informative essay by Barry Miles, author of “The Beat Hotel”, and a number of period black and white photographs.



Uncommon Quotes cass. (1988)


Recorded live at the Caravan of Dreams September 11, 1986.

This performance is dedicated to Brion Gysin (1916-1986).

Includes 8-page accordion fold booklet.




Burroughs reads Junkie 2000


Genre: Non-Music
Style: Audiobook, Spoken Word, Poetry

Running Time Approx. 3 Hours Abridged On 3 CDs (64kb/s)



Burroughs reads Naked Lunch (1995)


Read By - William S. Burroughs
Notes: Total playing time: Approx. 3 hours.
An abridgement of Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs.
Abridgement approved by the author.

Part 1

Part 2



Howard Shore / Ornette Coleman / The London Philharmonic Orchestra

Naked Lunch OST

1 Naked Lunch 2:29
2a Hauser And O'Brien 2:40
2b Bugpowder
3 Mugwumps 2:55
4 Centipede 2:05
5 The Black Meat 1:25
6a Simpatico 1:35
6b Misterioso
Composed By - Thelonious Monk
Piano - David Hartley
7 Fadela's Coven 3:33
8 Interzone Suite 5:14
9 William Tell 1:44
10 Mujahaddin 1:57
11 Intersong 3:49
12 Dr. Benway 3:14
13 Clark Nova Dies 2:05
14 Ballad / Joan 2:40
15a Cloquet's Parrots 1:46
15b Midnight Sunrise
16 Nothing Is True; Everything Is Permitted 1:56
17 Welcome To Annexia 3:36
18 Writeman 3:53

This album is the original soundtrack to the motion picture "Naked Lunch" by David Cronenberg.
The CD comes in a jewelcase including a 6-page booklet.



Naropa Institute Lectures Aug 11th 1980

A lecture by William S. Burroughs on public discourse, with an introduction by Allen Ginsberg. Topics included are nuclear weapons, disarmament, the Equal Rights Amendment, aliens, dreams, function of the artist, mind-altering drugs, reincarnation, space travel, television, and economics.

This is a rather entertaining question and answer session with Mr Burroughs. There is such a wide array of topics covered, theres bound to be something of interest to everyone.
His expansive intellect, and background make him one of the most interesting people I've ever heard.

There is an annoying little man in the audience who asserts himself several times in a very confrontative way, and it's amusing to hear how Mr Burroughs handles him. The heckler finally shows his colors when he accuses Mr Burroughs of getting the word 'endocrine' and 'endorphine' mixed up. It's pretty funny.