Howl!!!

For some reason, Audible won’t let me return this. The recording is technically poor. Ginsberg’s delivery is slurring and indistinct. Worst of all are the HOWLS of mirth from those listening, I guess from “fellow-travellers”, who might not normally go near a poem, but are here to support a sage-guru and are possibly a little embarrassed about it all, when not in awe of the Master. And of course, from his manner, I guess that Ginsberg IS playing bard and seer (unless he is cynically “playing” his audience).
Salvaging at least something from the ruins, as an admirer of Ginsberg’s Whitman-esque expansiveness and honesty, I have picked up something of the atmosphere of the period which could be both visionary and sometimes shoddy. Now I understand why, as a student in 1970, I never quite trusted the “knowingness” of some of my trendy, “way-out” contemporaries.
So I am still looking for a good reading by Ginsberg, and it has to be him who does the reading... .

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1 person found this helpful

don't download this, the audio is awful

i love ginsberg, but this sounds like audio taken from a potato stationed in the room next door to the readings
you can listen to better quality (ie, listenable) recordings of these for free on youtube
don't download this

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