Browse by Artist: BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S.

Artist:	BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S.
Title:	The Final Academy Documents
Label:	CHERRY RED (UK)
Format:	DVD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	CRDVD 013

"William Burroughs was undoubtedly one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Amongst those who cite him as an influence are Clive Barker, Patti Smith, R.E.M., U2, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Cabaret Voltaire and the late Kurt Cobain, many of whom he collaborated with. His extensive literary legacy is constantly reprinted as each new generation study the man who influenced modern contemporary literature more than any other writer. His readings are legendary. The Final Academy Documents DVD contains a rare glimpse of the man himself appearing in public with some stunning readings from his work at Manchester's famous Hacienda club. Its very limited release on video in the 1980s makes this DVD even more collectable. Also featured on this DVD are some wonderful examples of Burroughs' work as an experimental film artist. 'Ghosts At Number 9' and 'Towers Open Fire' are two classic examples of Burroughs' film work with the likes of Anthony Balch and Brion Gysin." NTSC version, region free.

Artist:	BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S.
Title:	Thee Films 1950s-1960s
Label:	CHERRY RED (UK)
Format:	DVD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	CRDVD 146

"When writer William S. Burroughs and artist Brion Gysin met Anthony Balch at the Beat Hotel in Paris at the start of the '60s they knew they had the ideal person to assist them in translating the ideas they had explored in experimental art forms to film. Balch began his movie-making career collaborating with Burroughs on two shorts 'Towers Open Fire' and 'The Cut Ups.' The former is a relatively straightforward attempt to capture the essence of Burroughs writing on film, utilizing key themes and situations featured in his books. The latter is an attempt to cinematically represent the art form. To achieve this, each scene was filmed and edited in its entirety before the cut up method was applied -- physically cutting the movie into foot long lengths and splicing them together randomly. Following the death of Anthony Balch in 1980, the films remained untouched and virtually forgotten at his home until the intervention of Psychic TV's Genesis P.Orridge, who salvaged and archived them. This unique collection comprises all the films made during that lengthy period of collaboration between Burroughs, Gysin and Balch. In addition to the finished works, the video includes a 50-minute film called 'Ghosts at No. 9' which uses cut-ups of film and superimpositions, material from the extensive archive of Psychic TV and to which Orridge added the distinctive soundtrack -- making Thee Films a unique and desirable addition to the collection of all Burroughs fans." NTSC format, region free. Running time: 120 minutes; 5.1 Audio/5.1 Surround Sound.

Artist:	BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S.
Title:	Words Of Advice: William S. Burroughs On The Road
Label:	MICROCINEMA
Format:	DVD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	MC 958DVD

"In 1983, the counter culture icon and author of the cult classic Naked Lunch (1959), William S. Burroughs (1914-1997), traveled throughout Scandinavia making a series of personal appearances. Twenty years later, filmmakers Lars Movin and Steen Moller Rasmussen found never-before-seen footage of his Copenhagen visit and set out on the road to record new material, telling the story of the acclaimed author's later work -- especially what is known as The Last Trilogy -- and his unique performance skills. The result is Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs On The Road, a compelling portrait of one our most enigmatic public figures. Featuring: James Grauerholz, John Giorno, Hal Willner, Jennie Skerl, Ann Douglas, Regina Weinreich, and others. Music by: Bill Laswell/Material, Patti Smith, Islamic Diggers, and others. Extras include a nearly complete documentation of Burroughs reading in Copenhagen, Oct. 29th 1983; a statement by Ann Douglas, Professor at Columbia University, New York; and two short tribute films, One Shot I + II." Region 0, NTSC All Region format; 74 minutes; color.

Artist:	BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S.
Title:	Break Through In Grey Room
Label:	SUB ROSA (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SR 008CD

Along with the first ever vinyl release, now repressed and fully available on CD as well. "Officially re-released -- one of our absolute classics, back in print at last. Extraordinary cut-up voices recorded during the mid-60's in hotel rooms in New York, Paris, London...It's impossible not to recognize the writer's voice -- the sonority of this voice -- a sonority also present in the silence of every text he wrote. An explosion of styles -- a blasting of borders -- the silence after a gunshot -- the overtaking of the fetishized word -- from the exploded painting to the cut tape. This record starts with a piece of more than 13 minutes, recorded around 1965 with Ian Sommerville somewhere in New York and London -- K-9 was in combat with the alien mind-screens, including various monologues, radio short waves and music...Tapes, cut and cut and cut up to the limit of sense -- emerged new structures of communication... and senses. Words gain power when loosing the boundaries of semantics. Including too Joujouka music recorded by WS Borroughs in the hills of Morocco with Ornette Coleman, circa 1973."

Artist:	BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S.
Title:	Break Through In Grey Room
Label:	SUB ROSA (BELGIUM)
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	SR 008LP

One of the most classic and in-demand titles in the Sub Rosa catalog -- mid-'60s cut-up tape machine recordings made by William S. Burroughs in hotels -- originally released on CD in 1987, reissued in 2001, now released on vinyl. Great gatefold packaging, limited to a total of 800 copies! During the 1960s, Burroughs was in Europe and England. The Vietnam War, the cultural revolution, hippies and the acid gospel, the U.S. in tumult -- all these were dispatches to him. Living between Paris and London, his only excursions to America were in 1965, when he lived a year in New York at the Chelsea Hotel and 210 Centre Street, and revisited St. Louis and Palm Beach; and in 1968, when he covered the Democratic Convention in Chicago for Esquire in the company of Genet, Southern and Seaver. Burroughs had quit the States in 1953 exactly because he foresaw these police-state conditions. But now the wild boys were in the streets, in London and Paris too, and Burroughs was inspired to hope that the world could really change. In the creative world/switchboard of Paris' Beat Hotel, in London, in a house in the Arab Quarter of Tangier, he experimented with tape recordings -- under the tutelage of Brion Gysin -- hoping to cut the pre-recorded time line of present time, and, as he put it, "let the future leak out." It's impossible not to recognize the writer's sonorous voice -- a sonority also present within the silence of every text he wrote. An explosion of styles -- a blasting of borders -- the silence after a gunshot -- the overtaking of the fetishized word -- from the exploded painting, to the cut tape. Break Through In Grey Room includes various monologues, radio shortwaves, music, and countless cut-up tape from which emerges new structures of communication. Words gain power when losing the boundaries of semantics. Also included is some Joujouka music recorded by Burroughs while he was with Ornette Coleman in the hills of Morocco, circa 1973. Many of these tapes are as much Ian Sommerville's work as Burroughs, or even more so. Ian's technical background is a tribute to the early development of sound-and-light shows in London. Ian was a sorcerer's apprentice in creating recordings. This is an important sound document in the history of Burroughs as an innovator, as well as an archive of the genesis of literature in opposition during a time-period whose urgency is more relevant than ever.

Previous Page Index of Artists Next Page