The "Priest" They Called Him (1992) is an album collaboration between William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain. Cobain provides dissonant guitar backing based on "Silent Night" and "To Anacreon in Heaven" to Burroughs' deadpan reading. Originally released as a limited edition 10-inch EP picture disc on Tim/Kerr Records in 1993, it was subsequently re-released on CD and 10-inch vinyl.
This short piece read was first published in Exterminator! The titular "Priest" is the protagonist, an otherwise nameless heroin addict trying to score on Christmas Eve. After selling a leather suitcase filled with a pair of severed legs (and subsequently visiting the ubiquitous crooked doctor), the Priest returns to a boarding house with a fix. While preparing, the Priest is interrupted by muffled moans from the next room. He knocks and finds a crippled Mexican boy in the throes of agonizing withdrawal. After giving the boy his drugs as an act of charity, the Priest returns to his room, reclines on his bed and dies, in what Burroughs calls "the immaculate fix." Another reading of this piece was also used in The Junky's Christmas, a short animated film in 1990.
Wiliam Burroughs recorded at Red House Studios in Lawrence, Kansas, on September 25, 1992. It was engineered by Brad Murphy. Cobain's guitar part was recorded in November 1992. Barrett Jones pushed the record button straight to DAT at Laundry Room Studios in Seattle, Washington. The mixdown was engineered by E. J. Rose with James Grauerholz at Red House Studios; Grauerholtz also produced. Thor Lindsay served as executive producer.
A processed version which combines three separate overlapping reading along with a rhythm track. Original recordings courtesy of James Grauerholz from performances at The Edge, Toronto; Tuts, Chicago; and Keystone Korner, San Francisco. Another reading of the same piece from New York is contained on the newly released double ablum featuring William Burroughs, John Giorno, and Laurie Anderson, entitled You're The Guy I Want To Share My Money With. "Abandoned Artifacts" is a selection from Chapter One of Burrough's upcoming western novel, "The Place of Dead Roads".
This selection was recorded by William S. Burroughs in the early 60's in London or Tangiers. It is a passage partially contained in "The Nova Express". The background music is probably bleeding backwards from an instrument.
This recording was a press run of 2,000, available only in TALK TALK, Vol. 3, No. 6, September/October 1981.
The 38 page magazine includes live reviews of Peter Tosh, Abuse, Sunsplash, Venture and The Fall; interviews with Psychedelic Furs, Billy ldol, Iggy Pop and William Burroughs; reggae, tape and record reviews; and reports on the music scenes of Lawrence and Germany. The cover of the magazine (front and back) is by William S Burroughs.
Recorded at Ramona Recording Studios, Lawrence, KS.
Recorded By James Grauerholz, Karl Hoffmann
Charles Amirkhanian and Victor Bedoian introduce a live reading before an audience of over 1,000 at the Pauley Ballroom of UC Berkeley given by America's most noted writers, William S. Burroughs and John Giorno. Giorno (b. 1936) reads his newest work "Subduing Demons in America" and his "Suicide Sutra". Burroughs reads from "Nova Express" , "The Wild Boys" and other works.
