Life is a Killer
The Dial-A-Poem Poets
(1982)
I remember picking this up at a garage sale – it was unremarkable except for this one lone album – 25 cents.
The album was not what I expected. I thought it would be poets reading their work.
The first track is very funky, musically and lyrically. Then William S. Burroughs comes on and does what I expected, reading his poem, The Mummy Piece, as only he could.
This is a who’s who of poetry here. Besides the two already mentioned, there’s Rose Lesniak, Jim Carroll, Amiri Baraka, Ned Sublette, Jayne Cortez and the Four Horsemen (four Canadian poets: b.p. Nichol, Steve McCaffery, Paul Dutton and Rafael-Barreto-Rivera).
As one would expect – This is a disjointed album.Some funky music, some straight ahead reading. Some chanting with a drum machine. The liner notes are no help as they are not in order.
I’m glad I have this album as it is interesting. It is not something I would put on casually. I would definitely have to be in a poetry mood.
tonalsurge 
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