Today’s the big day! – Ginsberg Recordings is proud to present the very first part of its four-part release of the new, digitalized recording of Holy Soul Jelly Roll. We’re working widdershins (sic), releasing Volume 4 (Ashes & Blues), followed by 3 (Ah!), 2 (Caw! Caw!), and, finally, (on September 25), Volume 1 (Moloch – containing the stunning 1956 Berkeley Town Hall reading of “Howl” alongside many other important historic early poems).
“Poetry and music have always gone together” – Here’s Allen (from Paul Freeman’s 1994 interview/review of the original Holy Soul Jelly Roll – “I grew up listening to old, black blues like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. I heard Leadbelly‘s weekly radio program. I knew Josh White. I’ve always sung the blues. I also listened to a lot of Vivaldi, Beethoven and Schubert“..,”After I went to India, I began mantra chanting and brought that back to a poetry conference. After the Chicago police riot of 1968 (at the Democratic convention), I was in a state of shock and began dealing with it by setting William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience” to music. In 1969, I began listening to a lot of Happy Traum and other folk music..”
Here’s the track-listing for Ashes & Blues (sic) – “Capitol Air”, “Written in my Dreams by W.C.Williams”, “CIA Dope Calypso”, “Vomit Express”, “Please Master”, “The Little Fish Devours The Big Fish”, “Prayer Blues”, “Birdbrain”. “Gospel Noble Truths”, “Hum Bom”, “Airplane Blues”, “On Neal’s Ashes”, “September on Jessore Road”, “Father Death Blues”, “Do The Meditation Rock”, and, “After Lalon”
Next week’s release, Ah! – starting off with “Wales Visitation” – Stay tuned!
I hope Ginsberg Recordings will at some point release its material in a lossless format. Compression will inevitably sacrifice some of the gains the remastering has produced. For some, such a trade-off is perfectly acceptable. But why not cater for those who would like the highest possible audio quality?