Robert Ashley & Paul DeMarinis – In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women

What our staff has to say: “Robert Ashley’s first, and possibly weirdest record, originally released by Cramps in 1974. It consists of Robert Ashley reading text by John Barton Wolgamot while Paul DeMarinis makes all sorts of squelching, bubbling noises out of a Moog synth. Wish Lovely Music didn’t change the artwork on a lot of their CD reissues, but still highly recommend picking this one up!” – Jon

2002 release. Definitive CD reissue of this original Cramps label album from 1974, an early classic from Robert Ashley with music provided by Paul DeMarinis. This deluxe slip-cased version features a 110-page book, reproducing the original John Barton Wolgamot text along with fascinating liner notes explaining the whole project from Keith Waldrop and Robert Ashley. The CD features one long composition with Ashley reading a text by poet John Barton Wolgamot. The poem has 128 stanzas; each stanza is made up of the same phrase, into which are introduced four variables, three are names or groups of names or constructions of names, and the fourth variable is formed by the adverb of the active verb. The result is considered “one of the most unusual and difficult linguistic textures in the English language.” The underlying music is supplied by Paul DeMarinis on Moog synthesizer. Ashley on DeMarinis: “[Paul] has elaborated seven different modular combinations, each of which can be controlled by programmed impulses. These derive from the sound of the reading of the poem passed through the regeneration high frequency filter and successively translated into a series of command impulses.”