Jack Kerouac Rarest Record Recalled Dot Poetry Beat Generation (No Cover)

$ 300

$ 300 Sold For

Jun 1, 2017 Sold Date

May 12, 2017 Start Date

$ 500 Start price

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Description

Jack Kerouac LP DOT DLP 3154 "Poetry For The Beat Generation". Issued in the USA in 1959. This is the original release on Dot that was withdrawn quickly at release, with only approximately 130 copies believed to have been shipped to reviewers which makes sense as this album is extremely rare. This album was pulled from the market by Randy Wood (President of Dot Records) because of the "strong" material.
Offered here is the vinyl record only in excellent condition. No cover. Mono pressing. Excellent gloss and shine. Clean labels. Deep Groove pressing Machine matrix matrix numbers
No cover included. The cover photo here is just for reference.
The record was cut in a single session and a single take for each piece. Allen's graceful piano opens the recording and Kerouac comes in, reading "October in the Railroad Earth" for seven minutes, off of a roll of paper in front of him. Kerouac's reading are in a class by themselves, and separate from Allen -- the two performances co-exist and weave together without ever really joining, and the result is a peculiar form of jazz; Kerouac did his thing, Allen did his, and the result was a spellbinding performance, and it was musical, despite Kerouac's seeming monotone reading, which never slowed or otherwise interacted with Allen's piano -- his voice dances to its own beat, with Allen embellishing and working around him; in the process, you get visions of various facets of Kerouac's work and personality, in extended pieces such as "October in the Railroad Earth" and short, piercing brilliant exclamations such as "Deadbelly" and "Charlie Parker."

The resulting album, cut in March of 1958, was one of the crowning achievements in recording of the 1950s. But it so appalled Randy Wood, the president of Dot Records, with its meandering narrative and daring language and subject matter, that the release was canceled, with Wood denouncing the recording in the trade papers as tasteless and questionable. Somewhere over 100 promotional copies of the Dot album (catalog number 3154) had gotten out to disc jockeys and reviewers, however, thus making it one of the rarest LPs in the label's entire history. Thiele finally left the company over the dispute and he reclaimed the master tape -- it was on the Hanover label, formed with Allen (who was virtually a pop-culture institution at the time), that Poetry for the Beat Generation finally reached the public in June of 1959. It's still worth a listen now every bit as much as it was in 1959, and perhaps even more so.

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