The posthumous auteur of this should really need no introduction. Author, seer, underground anti-hero, counter-culturist, satirist, sexual deviant, junkie, film-star, wife killer; well he has been referred to as many different things to many different people, most of them true. One thing is sure, William S Burroughs certainly lived a very interesting life and had an insatiable appetite for it. The fact that he consumed practically every available abusive substance including massive amounts of heroin and lived to the ripe old age of 83 totally went against the ideas of everyone preaching that drugs will kill you. It was a heart attack that finally got him, not an overdose and it was as though he went out on his own terms pretty much in the same fashion as he lived his life.
As far as the man on the street is concerned if you asked them to mention one of his achievements apart from those mentioned above it would no doubt be his famous cut-up novel The Naked Lunch (1959) that they would remember. It’s an intriguing and to many unreadable series of dramatic and near hallucinatory chapters based on the encounters and life of William Lee a bug exterminator and junkie on his travels and exploits across the world and Burroughs creative Interzone. It confused and appalled those attempting to get through its episodic narrative structures but there is no denying it is a modern classic up there with the works of Huxley, Ballard, Hunter S Thompson and other iconoclasts and dreamers of the time. It was always considered completely un-filmable until Canadian visionary David Cronenberg transposed it as he had with Ballard’s Crash to the screen and in my opinion he did a remarkable job and if you are new to this it’s certainly worth a watch to help you make sense of the novel itself.
Now you can also listen to much of it, as shortly before his death Burroughs recorded some of the more heinous sections of the book which his manager James Grauerholz gathered musicians such as Bill Frisell, pianist/keyboard player Wayne Horvitz and violist Eyvind Kang to breathe extra life into his world. Unfortunately this was abandoned until recently when oddball Canadian musician and garage punk revivalist King Khan got together with some of his freakish friends such as M Lamar (creator of the Negrogothic manifesto and the identical twin brother of transgender actress Laverne Cox) and Australian psych/punk act The Frowning Clouds and finally brought the project to fruition.
Now you can adjust your mind to a stereoscopic presentation and listen to Burroughs unmistakable drawling voice tell you all about William Lee’s (s)exploits and descent into utter depravity along with subtle and nominal acoustic accompaniment. Musically although never intrusive to the main narrative there is a lot to soak up as a multitude of players utilise all sorts of instruments such as violin, erhu, shani, trumpet, organ, cello as well as the more expected guitar, bass and drum. It’s not long before you are transported to places as rich and fragrant as Tangiers listening to tales about extrodinary characters from a very errant mind. It’s not up to me to go any further into these tales as is for the listener to either relive them from the novel or find jaws dropping as they experience them for the first time. To put things very simply this is not to be listened to in polite company. Burroughs voice gets into every space in your head and it is impossible to do anything else (such as attempt reading) when he is in sermon here. It’s also not in the slightest safe for work or playing to anyone not willing to be turned on, tuned in and dropped out; you have been warned. Warp your head at the following link and exterminate all rational thought!
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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