Road to the Western Lands

Amazon.com
This disc is a sonically advanced tribute to the late, iconoclastic writer William S. Burroughs. In 1989, Bill Laswell and his group Material constructed Seven Souls, a musical soundscape accompanied by Burroughs's distinctive voice and his surreal musings on mortality and isolation. Remixed here by Laswell and four contemporary DJ-producers, Burroughs's own words are imaginatively recontextualized into a moving electronic elegy to the vastly influential author. Expounding on the ancient Egyptian mythology of death, Burroughs is contorted under the reverential guidance of Laswell and aural technicians Talvin Singh, Spring Hill Jack, DJ Olive, and DJ Soul Slinger. By updating Material's original dub-funk-jazz fusion with studio advancements of the '90s, we are presented with a work that combines spoken word, invigorating instrumentals, and modern electronica. --Mitch Myers

Tracks:

The Seven Souls
The Western Lands
The Western Lands
The Road To The Western Lands
Joan's Haunted Hints At The Gate To The Western Lands-The Audio Janitor
Seven Souls (The Secret Name)
The Western Lands (A Dangerous Road Mix)

Amazon.com

This disc is a sonically advanced tribute to the late, iconoclastic writer William S. Burroughs. In 1989, Bill Laswell and his group Material constructed Seven Souls, a musical soundscape accompanied by Burroughs's distinctive voice and his surreal musings on mortality and isolation. Remixed here by Laswell and four contemporary DJ-producers, Burroughs's own words are imaginatively recontextualized into a moving electronic elegy to the vastly influential author. Expounding on the ancient Egyptian mythology of death, Burroughs is contorted under the reverential guidance of Laswell and aural technicians Talvin Singh, Spring Hill Jack, DJ Olive, and DJ Soul Slinger. By updating Material's original dub-funk-jazz fusion with studio advancements of the '90s, we are presented with a work that combines spoken word, invigorating instrumentals, and modern electronica. --Mitch Myers

Customer Reviews:

Awesome Burroughs Tribute.......2004-06-25

This amazing album blends and morphs William S. Burroughs narration into a variety of musical structures to form an impressionistic desertscape of humor, homily, and mind-bending bleakness. If you enjoyed the book "The Western Lands", this CD should be a real treat.

This and "Hallucination Engine" are arguably Material's finest works.

The Sins of the Father..........1998-05-17

Seven remixes of material from the album "Seven Souls," put out a few years back and featuring William S. Burroughs's distinctive voice reading from his novel "The Western Lands." This album stands up better to repeat listening than its predecessor, focusing less on the content of his words than on its sonic effects, only occasionally surfacing into meaning. Talvin Singh, Bill Laswell, and DJ Olive all contibuted to this small monument to the legendary writer. Dancy at times, dubby at others, these mixes will poke at your brain and spine like live wires and leave you wanting more.