Beat poet Allen Ginsberg‘s The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971 gets the musical interpretation treatment in honor of it’s 50th anniversary, and his words remain as powerful, poignant and funny as ever. Some of the tracks feature different artists speaking Ginsberg’s words, and a few even craft them into more traditional song structures, but for us the tracks where it’s audio of the man himself reading his works over new musical compositions is where it’s at. Ginsberg wasn’t just a game changing poet (Howl, anyone?), he was also a great orator, one whose natural rhythm is in the DNA of the words he wrote. The album is a benefit for HeadCount.org and features Yo La Tengo, Shintaro Sakamoto, Angelique Kidjo, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Handsome Family, Devendra Banhart, Andrew Bird and many more. The digital version of the album drops this Friday with a CD and vinyl release slated for June. You can pre-order your preferred version here.
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