Customer Reviews

Hostage

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This cd is well-packaged. It has good great inlays, liner notes, and sound quality. It isn't one of the many cheap bootlegs available. Being to young and from the wrong coast to've seen Bukowski in person, this has got to be the next best thing. Buk's sense of humor is overwhelming apparent here from the opening greeting to the confused exit an hour later. Some of the highlights include "Competition" & "Eating The Father". The poetry is occasionally beautiful and more often hilarious. The audience deserves to share the bill here. They turn the second half of the reading into a riotous, drunken free for all. You're basically getting to drink with Bukowski. As he gets into his cups, his speech becomes impaired and the delivery suffers. But this is the whole of Hostage's charm. If you want neatness and order, then go buy the books. If you are a fan, then you will not be disappointed by this gem. Recorded in 1980, Bukowski seems to be in his public-speaking prime. Earlier recordings show a man who is ill at ease with the attention. He seems to've slid comfortably into the exxagerated persona he created for himself by the time this reading was done. Fair Warning: The reading itself deteriorates tremendously by the second half of this performance, but that's not why the audience is there in the first place. They, like you, were there to see their favorite barfly entertain and self-destruct. They were there to challenge, not to learn. Far superior to King Of Poets, you can't go wrong with Hostage.

This is Sir Charles--no, not Barkley who I also greatly admire--Bukowski doing a reading in Redondo Beach, California. He intersperses monologue with poetry with great skill. Buk takes over the crowd and has his way with them. He drinks and argues and reads poetry. I never knew what Buks voice sounded like before hearing this recording. Now whenever I read his books I hear his voice in the narrative. It is almost as good as when I became acquainted with William Burroughs voice. This was recorded in 1980 after Buk was already a celebrity but it is still amazing to listen to him read. If more poets had a bit of gut like Buk, poetry might not be such a marginalized art form today. This is a great spoken word cd and a fine addition to any cd library. It goes down nicely with a glass of rye and a beer chaser(or two).

Buk's classic April 1980 poetry reading in San Pedro, CA., captured on compact disc, is a street-read at it's rowdiest! BUK HELD HOSTAGE by his audience, with seemingly no end in sight!! For as Chuck get's hammered so does his audience, and with each poem he belts out the tension in the air grows to a near-breaking point. After the intermission all hell breaks loose for good though, with the audience and Bukowski exchanging insults, threats and satirical commentary. Fourtanetly Buk's wit, intoxicated mannerisms and sharp comebacks to the venom flung at him by the crowd, keep him afloat in this audio-documented sea of semi-mayhem. Recommended for all Chuck Bukowski enthusiasts or anyone interested in CB for that matter. "Hostage" is right on the money!

Hostage is a hilarious recording of a Bukowski poetry reading that is a treasure to those of us too young to have heard him in person, especially during his heyday. Bukowski gives this reading at the optimum level of intoxication - audibly drunk but still quite lucid. If you have read and enjoyed his books, then this recording is a treat.

The version from audible.com comes in 8 tracks, clearly preferable to a CD with one hour long track.

After reading the books and listening to other readings throughout his career, I found "Hostage" delivers the legend. Whether this recording is Buk as a caricature of himself or Buk as he really is, it delivers what you expect - Hank talking street tough, droning through his writing with his peculiar patterns of speech, and slurping brews to the delight of the audience. It all comes through in this recording and you will never just "read" Buk again...you'll hear him and know him. More than 20 years after this reading, Bukowski holds the listener hostage once again.

If you are a Bukowski fan then you won't be disappointed by this CD. It is real and raw Bukowski, without any intermediary narrators trying to explain or introduce his material. We get a glimpse of Bukowski's humanity by listening to the give and take that he has with the crowd.

Far from being merely an insult festival as some of his readings came to be known, this one shows that even Bukowski the loner and cynic can establish a good rapport with the right crowd.

The recording is not state-of-the-art but that heightens the natural and easy effect. This CD is for those who choose to go directly to the source. And what better source than the voice of Bukowski himself. Enjoy.

i've had this reading for several years now,and i still love it.i enjoy listening to it on the long drive to new york every month.
the first time i listened i thought,"is this really what hank sounds like?" his voice is a bit like a dirty old man's at times but ,thats what he was.the poetry runs the spectrum from beautiful to perverse as always.if you have more than 2 of his books,pick this up.you'll like it.

Buk was a really funny man!
This is hard for many people to understand as many of his books and poems seem to be saturated in sorrow and pathos (not bathos as so many claim) but he was truly funny...

There are many more jokes and plays during this reading, and it is a treasure...

I've read his novels, some poetry. I've seen him in a excellent Belgium documentary, heard him speak over there, saw his moves, his adolescent-scarred face. In his books I'm touched by the way he describes the intestines of the American society. You're an artist if you can write about it in an intense and convincing way. You're even a better artist if it's literature. You're a goddamn not-to-be-meant-but-oh-so-great artist if you're capable of reading your own stuff in a funny, deeply moving, thirsty, inviting-to-insult way, showing the beauty of skidrow, the hypocrisy of living between Capitol Hill and Hollywood, and you know, Bill Clinton too has the same dark, indecent desires like every lost unemployed-left-by-his-wife-drinking-bum, they're much alike, the Oval Office could be a dark bar, with a little fighting, some showing-off, fondling around, with lots of coincidences determining the future of some individuals or a generation. Whatever. I'm sure that Jack Nicholson did copy the sound of Charles Bukowski's voice. He made a poor imitation. Listen to this record. For me it's an illustration of the bottom-line of America. Charles Bukowski did write for the only good reason: not to get insane. What a reason! It doesn't only show in his books. It can be heard on this record.

Until listening to "Hostage," I had never heard Bukowski's voice. However, having read almost all of his writings and numerous interviews and reviews of him, I expected a considerably different sound -- probably a lot gruffer and rougher. The clean pipes and clear enunciation he displays on this CD belie the 40 or so years of alcohol and tobacco in which Mr. B reputedly marinated his vocal cords. A minor quibble with the rcording itself. The Rnino CD has only one numbered track. On my rather simple CD player it is pretty tedious moving back and forth through the hour or so of material to pick up bits here and there without numbered tracks. Arbitrarily assigning tracks throughout the disk would have helped