A Peter Hale & Jesse Goodman Production in Association with the Allen Ginsberg Estate presents Allen Ginsberg's The Fall of America Vol II.
Musically Interpreting poems from Ginsberg's The Fall of America: Poems of these States 1965-1971.
Mastering: Nathan Moody at Obsidian Sound.
Lacquering: Paul Gold
Unless otherwise noted, Archival poetry read by Allen Ginsberg, compiled by Barry Miles, 1971, Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Ginsberg Collection.
Poetry courtesy HarperCollins Publishers / City Lights Publishers.
All words by Allen Ginsberg. Allen's musical works are published by May King Poetry Music, administered by Music of Virtual in North America & by BMG Rights Management for the Rest of the World.
"Ginsberg, in his new vision for poetry, believed that the events of his life, expressed honestly, reflected the visions of multitudes, and as The Fall of America and the entries on this release prove beyond any measure of doubt, he was accurate. He was the voice of millions."
-Michael Schumacher
"Allen could often seamlessly mix the secular with the divine, the past to the future and enact transformation and liberation through poetry. It's an honor to mouth these words with the shaping of music composed here" -Anne Waldman
"Well, here we are now dearest Allen, rallying and resisting, revolting and revealing, your "prophecy" in constant manifestation, fighting fascism as soldiers of peace, informed by your singing out from the 'mind jail" -Thurston Moore
"Allen's spirit of true freedom clearly resonates in his words & in the soul that he was" -Ai Weiwei
"I felt and visualized the history, weight, and hope of being in America in his voice" -Miho Hatori
"Wow! It's just like when we used to perform together! It's like the pieces were made for each other" -Philip Glass
Fall of America Poems published by City Lights Books in San Francisco, covers the years 1965-1971 when Allen is crisscrossing the country, exploring a system of composition by narrating into the portable reel to reel Uher that Bob Dylan had gifted him.
In 1965, Ginsberg began planning an ambitious project, a book of thematically connected poems, a collection that "discovered" America in poetry similar to the way Kerouac's On the Road had explored the country in prose.
The Vietnam War would be a constant presence overhanging Ginsberg's travel writings like a darkening shadow affecting daily life in the country. It would be a study of contrasts: natural beauty slammed up against an ugliness that rose out of the tensions of violence. The public's polarized dialogue over Vietnam and, earlier in the decade, the civil rights movement, convinced Ginsberg that America was teetering on the precipice of a fall.
- Michael Schumacher, from introduction to The Fall of America Journals 1965-1971.