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Tuesday 15 November 2011

Bukowski, Charles - Hostage

The San Pedro, California, audience is the hostage referred to in the title of this mid-1980s recording, but clearly they love every minute of it. It's indicative of this infamous, lowlife-lovin' poet's no-nonsense, tough-talking skill that for half the recording the crowd is nearly pissing themselves with laughter. Hostage has to be one of the rowdiest poetry records ever released, which makes sense considering how drunk Bukowski plainly is. The drink never gets in the way of his delivery, the tough, beautiful lines and moronically macho ones always landing on target, on cue. Bukowski delivers odes to dead Roman poets, lands a few good jokes, and--most crucially--offers up a few Raymond Carver-esque glimpses straight into the human soul. No document showcases Bukowski's radiant humor and occasional grace as succinctly as this intoxicating disc.


1 - I Come from San Pedro
2 - Jam
3 - Cutulus
4 - Indian Cigarettes, Pussy and Lepers
5 - Trouble
6 - Competition
7 - The Secret of My Endurance
8 - On the Hustle
9 - I'll be drinking when I bury you...
10 - I Am a Reasonable Man
11 - Eating the Father
12 - Intermission Foop the Whales
13 - Burning Time and Making Money
14 - I Believe in Evil
15 - Let's go to work..
16 - The Nine Horse
17 - Respect
18 - I Don't Need a Cleopatra
19 - Hemingway
20 - Try some $hit, do some anger...
21 - Fan Letter
22 - Tweak-fucked by the surfboarders of hell...
23 - The Drunk With Little Legs
24 - The good old days...
25 - Tour
26 - Losing My Mind
27 - The Recess Bells of School
28 - I am Humphrey Bogart...
29 - Giving a Poetry Reading

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