Harvard graduate, drug addict, homosexual, killer, Beat prophet, banned author, and sometime expat: Is it any wonder William S. Burroughs achieved the status of counterculture hero in his lifetime? Burroughs's best work was touched with an apocalyptic future shock and surreal sociopolitical commentary that challenged institutional hypocrisy while embracing the corrupt ramifications of human need. Now, his vast influence has been commemorated on two very different audio recordings.
The Best of William Burroughs, a four-CD set, showcases the author's readings from 1971 to 1987. With cryptic commentary, very adult vernacular, and biting, scandalous humor, this collection illustrates the artist's creative process and his life as a hipster iconoclast. Featuring excerpts from Junkie and Naked Lunch, Burroughs's droll delivery transforms his lowlife narratives into a violent elucidation on pervasive greed and sexual aberration. Still, there's an intrepid holiness to his prose that redeems his wayward sensibility. Using the cut-up method he refined with Brion Gysin, his psychotronic word salad compels the audience to confront the evil within.
While The Best of is a spoken-word manifesto, The Road to the Western Lands displays a wholly divergent manifestation of Burroughs's artistry. Amid the music of Bill Laswell and his dub-funk-jazz ensemble Material, Burroughs's metaphilosophical discourse on death and the hereafter is filled with sinister wit and heretical wisdom. Diabolically recontextualized by Laswell and four other DJ-producers, Burroughs's words become an affecting contemplation on his own unfortunate passing. While Burroughs borrows from ancient Egyptian mythology, Laswell and studio wizards Spring Heel Jack, DJ Olive, Talvin Singh, and DJ Soul Slinger all take turns remixing the spielmaster. Updating Burroughs with polymusical fusion and modern electronic accoutrement, this progressive work combines the best of spoken-word and trip-hop sensibilities.
If these two projects seem incongruous, remember that the man who sat with Kerouac and Ginsberg also collaborated with modern pop icons like Kurt Cobain and Michael Stipe. Bill Burroughs may be gone, but he refuses to be forgotten.
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