Description
Inspired by the original Industrial Records release of William S. Burroughs’s Nothing Here Now but the Recordings, Belgian record label Sub Rosa worked with Burroughs to release another album: Break Through In Grey Room. Originally compiled in 1986 by producer Bill Rich, the album features Burroughs’s experimental recordings from 1961 to 1976, featuring field recordings by Burroughs of the Master Musicians of Jajouka, experimental collaborations with mathematician Ian Sommerville and painter/cut-up originator and Dreamachine inventor Brion Gysin.
Break Through In Grey Room documents William S. Burroughs during his time in Europe and England, working with Ian Sommerville on recording with the ‘cut-up’ technique. Sommerville’s technical background enabled him to contribute to the early development of sound-and-light shows in London, leading to work with gear provided by Paul McCartney in an apartment owned by Ringo Starr. Experimental in nature, the record is as much an exhibition of studio and composition technique as it is a document of underground culture at that time.
For the 2023 reissue, Dais Records has collaborated with the Estate of William S. Burroughs on reissuing the album on vinyl and compact disc, fully remastered by mastering engineer Josh Bonati.
Track list:
1. K-9 Was In Combat With The Alien Mind-Screens
2. Origin And Theory Of The Tape Cut-Ups
3. Recalling All Active Agents
4. Silver Smoke Of Dreams
5. Junky Relations
6. Joujouka
7. Curse Go Back
8. Present Time Exercises
9. Joujouka
10. Working with the Popular Forces
11. Interview with Mr. Martin
12. Joujouka
13. Sound Piece
14. Joujouka
15. Burroughs Called The Law
