Reads on the Road

Jack Kerouac | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 14, 1999)
• Original Release Date: September 14, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B00001IVLG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,571 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #45 in Music > Indie Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy & Spoken Word
  • #49 in Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Poetry

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hearing him sing his "On the Road' song still brings tears., October 30, 1999

By 

Antoine Maloney ([e-mail]) (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reads on the Road (Audio CD)

My first hearing of his whispering / singing his "On The Road" took my breath away. Done before Dylan, Tim Buckley, and Leonard Cohen produced similar material...what a loss to have only this; the playing of Victor Juris and especially John Medeski on this song is perfectly ethereal.

The swing/scat songs are a treat too with him goofing on the lyrics and the dedications. All proof of why he must have been a great guy to hang around with when he wasn't in his cups.

David Amram's accompaniment on other pieces immediately transported me to the kind of late night reading / playing that he's described doing with Jack.

Listen to Kerouac play with his voice, with his words, and with all the names and pseudonyms of his friends. A great addition to his published work.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can't go wrong with 28 minutes of On the Road., October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Reads on the Road (Audio CD)

True, the title is misleading, but Track 2 IS 28 minutes of Jack reading from On the Road and this makes it worth the $$$. The folk-bluesy song "On the Road," from a story collected in Good Blond, sung by Kerouac on one track and Waits/Primus on the final track, is really the only song integral to more fully developing an appreciation for Keruoac's literary themes. Yet, for the serious Kerouac fanatic, the other jazzy-goof songs are novel at worst. The Steve Allen (and the rest of the Box Set for that matter) recordings will forever be the benchmark for Kerouac's readings, but that does not diminish the importance of the On the Road readings on this CD. On the Amram collaborations: I've always been a disciple of Kerouac's prose, but his poetry has never done much for me. Outside of Amram's tiresome, recurring "Pull my Daisy" backing melody, the music compliments the poetry much better than the techno-junk that accompanies "McDougal St." on the Kicks CD. I give it 4 stars (instead of 5) only because these tracks aren't the Steve Allen recordings. I'd give it 3 stars and pay $20 if it were Kerouac reading a shopping list.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This "Jack" Misses The High Notes, July 16, 2003

By 

Scott Leslie "tinman2000" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reads on the Road (Audio CD)

All I have to say about this one is "What the hell were they thinking?" Having picked up "The Jack Kerouac Collection" box recently, I was surprised to come across this CD of more material and was hoping I'd find more of Jack's classic jazzy beatness. And I did...sort of.

The readings here (like Jack's selections from "On The Road") are as crisp as I'd expected and would fit in nicely with "Readings From The Beat Generation". And I love the obscure jazz tunes they dug up by Jack. They work much better than some of the "singing" he tries on for size in his "Blues & Haikus". Here, he's no Sinatra but what Jack lacks in actual pipes, he makes up for in plain old enthusiasm.

But why, oh why did the producers think it was such a hot idea to throw some of David Amram's jarring jazz pieces over Jack's readings on "Orizaba 210 Blues" or "Washington D.C. Blues"? They don't even match the readings or belong there in the first place. What makes it worse is the two tracks go on forever. I could handle a brief experiment...but half an hour of this 90s noodling is just enough already. And hey, I love Waits, but what's he doing here? They should've saved him for the Jack tribute album that came out a few years back.

I wish somehow they'd clean this one up and add it to "The Jack Kerouac Collection" to make it complete - but I know that isn't gonna happen. If you want some advice, save your money for the brilliant boxed set and give this one the pass.