Customer Reviews

Coney Island of the Mind

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although I'm an avid Amazon shopper, I don't write reviews. Mostly because I think a lot is covered in other reviews, or I'm pleased with the product. In this case, I think I have to intervene. I purchased this CD on the strength of the reviews, although I was skeptical when I heard who had composed the music. I should have gone with my first instinct.

F.'s reading isn't the best I've heard, but it's tolerable. Colley's accompaniment is horrible. A kind of fake-jazz, Kurt Cobain w/ W. Burroughs wanna-be noise that makes listening to the CD darned near impossible.

If you're interested in listening to the beats read their poetry, try to get something recorded when they were active. I have the Jack Kerouac box set from Verve and it's amazing, as are older recordings of Ginsberg. You might also want to check out Langston Hughs with the Mingus Band.

The music is supposed to complement the 'beat' of the poetry, either in the interstices or in the back ground. This music most certainly doesn't do that. Buyer beware.

Ferlinghetti is an amazing poet. By and far my favorite. I have never been a fan of spoken word cd's. However, this cd is incredible. It puts a voice on the poems i have read and the musical accompaniment by Morphine's Colley is amazing. He gives life to his writings like only he could. His voice sounds exactly as I imagined it would, intriguing and playful. If you are a fan of Ferlinghetti then you must have this cd.

If you dig the spirit of the Beat generation, this is CD to buy. Extremely hip and soothing. Ferlinghetti delivers a very good reading of his landmark poetry collection by the same title. The background jazz noir is nothing remarkable but well done. I was hoping for some early Tom Waits-esque stuff but didn't find it here. There are more than 30 tracks on this CD and each one has a distinct feeling. It's almost like different rides on Coney Island. Really good stuff. Mind you, I believe this CD is the ONLY Lawrence Ferlinghetti material available. A little anecdote: I've been running around for half a day looking for this disc. None of the record stores I've been to have it in stock. Most store clerks I've encountered got the lyrics to every single Backstreet Boys songs memorized but have never heard of Ferlinghetti. When I mentioned the name they all had a puzzled look on their pimply faces. One guy with shits pierced all over his face recommended me the latest MTV pop dance collection instead. Man...

Ferlinghetti continues the great tradition of American spoken poetry. The use of jazz as an accompaniment is fairly recent idea though Vachel Lindsay had a go decades past with his Daniel Jazz poem using 'Dixie' and 'Alexander's Ragtime Band'. The use of jazz on this recording seems a bit hit and miss to me. It certainly seems to have been recorded as background rather than an equal to Ferlinghetti's reading. I'm quite happy with this as I basically bought the CD to hear his reading of 'A Coney Island of the Mind' and I'm certainly not disappointed. His voice is now wonderfully mature and he easily slips into different accents and word pronunciations.

Apart from the complete Coney Island the other five tracks offer an interesting mixture of poems from the book (ISBN 0811200418) 'Autobiography' is for some reason not complete (it ends about half way through) 'I am Waiting', 'Dog', 'Christ Climbed Down' and stanza twenty-five only from 'Pictures of the Gone World'.

Ferlinghetti reads the excellent 'Autobiography' and two of his other poems, 'The Statue of St. Francis' and 'Junkman's Obbligato' on a Fantasy CD 'Poetry Readings in the Cellar' (FCD 77172) recorded in 1957 with a jazz quintet and unlike the Coney recording they play their improvisations alternately with his reading.

Both CDs feature readings from a great American poet separated by more than fifty years yet to me his work still sounds lively and relevant.

I dearly love A Coney Island.., but the poet doesn't read it very well. And the music obviously was recorded at another time and place, and is really a pain in the neck. Read the poems alound all by yourself. It would be much better. Or let me read it to you. 50svinyl

I first heard a rendition of this album 1n 1969. I don't believe this is the original, but, that sort of, kind of well it seems like I was only temporarily I a tie salesman.
I would like to KnoW if this is really the original reading and backgound music. sooooo mr F. If you are out their let me know
W. Rhea 90 East 47th Eugene Or 97405