William S. Burroughs - Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales

Long live Dr. Benway

When I first seen the cover of this cd I thought it was going to be some Timothy Leary type of project. Upon listening to I was releived to see that Burroughs hasn't changed his style he just added a background score.
Personally I thought the music for the most part enhanced the readings and that in a way it reminded me how far removed he is from this type of music and yet he still managed to make it work. Words of advice for young people alone is worth the price of admission.
It seems odd to me that he even managed to live this long with such a lifestyle. I think if he had been given more exposure as a spoken word artist he could have greatly expanded his audience and more people would see the humor in his books.
Overall I recommend this cd there were two slow spots but they only last a few minutes overall it is very entertaining. June 27, 2008

Disposable Heroes are exacly that... let Burroughs SPEAK!!

The Disposable Heroes have ruined these readings. This CD would have been great if not for the ridiculously cheesy white boy elevator "jazz" muzak and the "so urban it hurts" cliched drum machine samples and Jamaican guy pretensiously farting a few of W.S.B.'s words in his "oh so cool" poetry-slam nonsense. Don't bother with this if you are a lifelong Burroughs reader. You will be very disappointed. This is nothing more than a schoolboy's effort to introduce Burroughs to an audience of contemporary urban hipsters with short attention spans. Get "Call Me Burroughs" or "Dead City Radio" instead, trust me. January 8, 2004

a dirty flawed crusty GEM

William S. Burroughs is a confessed junkie, and one of the wild boys. His beat poet-prose just was born to go over some great sampling. It is hard to take burroughs to seriously so this is just cryptic verbal fun.

Burrows has a great reading voice and you just got to love the stuff that comes out of this man. The mild hip hop that is sampled for the readings is a pure delight Many selections are from his novels including Spare ass annie from the naked lunch. I hate to read this sort of stuff but it is great to hear in the background. It will raise some eye brows at parties.

I love advise for young people, Junkies Chistmas and Spare ass anni as well as Mildred peirce reporting.

I you are easily offended by explicited sexual language or attacks on the goverment religon and common desesnce please avoid this at all costs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! June 15, 2003

listen to my last words anywhere

serendipity. very cool mixture of Hiphopricy's jazz/funk/hiphop grooves and Burrough's always ahead-of-his-time future rants, stream-o-conciousness, and political concerns. whoever thought of this idea was an absolute genius. the production is top notch, and often collides with what Burroughs is talking about in a hilarious or bizarre manner. interesting guest stars too. Ras I Zulu. shooty yeah. out before Dr.Octagon's futuristic blend of wacked-ot lyrics and spaced beats would evolve hiphop two years later. a crucial ingredient. burroughs, disposable hereoes of hiphopricy. burroughs, kurt cobain. these collaborations are priceless. March 6, 2003

Hilarious

Sometimes when I am just reading Burroughs, I manage to forget how damn funny the guy is. I get put off by his vividly grotesque descriptions of lobotomies and flying fecal matter and neglect to notice the scathing humor behind it all.
This album really highlights Burroughs the satirist. Hearing Burroughs speaking with his loooong drrryyy draaawwwwwllll really reminds you how he's trying to push your buttons. Burroughs is one of my all time favorite authors to hear read his own stuff, and this CD is no exception in that department.
Plus, as an added bonus, the reading is set to some great music, nice acid jazz and, in the case of the 10+ minute "Junkie's Christmas," traditional x-mas carols, creating one of the most increcdible juxtapoitions in a story of all time and an hilarious piece. All in all, this collection is one of my favorites of Burroughs' readings. January 24, 2002

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