The Lion for Real

Beat Generation avatar Allen Ginsberg made numerous attempts to place his poetry in musical settings during his career, and The Lion For Real (1990) was perhaps his best-realized project along these lines. Producer Hal Willner assembled a worthy crew of jazz and rock players for these sessions, including guitarists Marc Ribot, Arto Lindsay and Bill Frisell, saxophonist Ralph Carney and bassist Rob Wasserman. They construct a dazzling array of backdrops for Ginsberg’s recitations, ranging from angular jazz freak-outs (“The Shrouded Stranger”) to clattering klezmer bursts (“Complaint Of The Skeleton To Time”) and meditative guitar washes (“Guru”). Reading with a smile in his voice, Ginsberg takes on a variety of personas: the dadaist comedian (“The Lion For Real”), the hectoring crackpot (“Ode To Failure”), the enlightened Asian sage (“X-Mas Gift,” “The End”). From the nostalgic tenderness of “Aunt Rose” to the sexual shenanigans of “C’mon Jack,” he treads fearlessly through the far realms of flesh and spirit. The Lion For Real presents Ginsberg as zany, horny and impossibly wise all at once. Those who know his work mostly by reputation should delve into this revelatory verse-fest pronto.