Live in London, 1982, by Brion Gysin

Live in London, 1982

by Brion Gysin

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1.	Welcome 00:54	buy track
2.	Minutes to go #1 04:38	buy track
3.	Cut-ups (1959) 03:08	buy track
4.	Teaching 25:17	buy track
5.	Illusion 03:45	buy track
6.	Minutes to go #2 02:02	buy track
7.	Ad Lib 07:16	buy track
8.	Impro 08:13	buy track
9.	Cut-ups 1960 (Bardo Hotel) 03:34	buy track
10.	Ahead, Ahead: 93 million miles away 03:27	buy track

about

Brion Gysin with Ramuntcho Matta / guitar
Tessa Politt / bass (The Slits)
Steve Noble / drums (Rip Rig and Panic)
Michael Giles / percussions (Penguin Cafe Orchestra and...)

Autumn 1982, Brixton, London, Brion Gysin renews the methods of performance by reciting texts with Ramuntcho Matta in the style of Brion. He called this session White Funk.

credits

released October 31, 2012

Most of the texts were written upon meeting Burroughs, at the time of the invention of the cut-up. The influence that Brion Gysin has had on contemporary music may never be taken fully into account, particularly when he introduced Brian Jones, of the Rolling Stones, to the shepard's music of Joujouka. Those times were still audacious: the music was created during the sound-checks ! Musically, the choice of traditional instruments expresses the desire to be free of machines (because, as Burroughs says, 'We ourselves are machines.').
This recording is evidence of the extraordinary creativity and spontaneity of the musical and artistic scene at that time. It hasn't aged a bit. Beyond the nostalgia inspired by the invocation of that bygone cultural scene, there is a call for a creativity of which it is difficult to find examples today.

Live in London 1982 is the Beat Generation revamped. Recorded four years before the death of Beat legend Brion Gysin, this live set features the poet reciting poems from the late '50s and early '60s, accompanied by a makeshift no wave backing band consisting of Slits bassist Tessa Pollitt (also playing cello), Rip Rig Panic (and later free improv) drummer Steve Noble, Penguin Cafe Orchestra percussionist Gile, and guitarist Ramuntcho Matta, also credited for writing the band's vamps and grooves. The music is resolutely avant rock: dissonant, provocative, and largely improvised. The musicians' interventions are tentative at first ("Minutes to Go, 1," "Cut-Ups (1959)"), then, following an extended unaccompanied recitation, the musical aspect of the show takes off. Paradoxically, that 25-minute solo spot for Gysin, entitled "Teaching," provides a highlight: the man clearly enjoys revisiting his old writings and, at age 66, definitely has the cultural authority of a teacher. The sound quality in the first two-thirds of the album is fine. However, things degenerate starting with "Ad Lib," which seems to be an audience recording from the back of the venue. The sound quality improves for "Impro: 1," but the tapes are badly warped, which makes the track very annoying. The last two tracks sound better and contain, in fact, the best material on the album: the band gels better and Gysin paces his recitation to the groove. Live in London 1982 is an interesting document, but it will appeal only to fans of spoken word or connoisseurs of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin's legacy.
François Couture, All Music Guide

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Brion Gysin Taplow, UK

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