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Tuli Kupferberg (1923-2010)



No Deposit, No Return (1964)

  1. Pubol 2:16

  2. Social Studies 2:22

  3. The Hidden Dissuaders 2:31

  4. Lifetime Guarantee :39

  5. The Art Scene 2:45

  6. Want Ads 1 4:08

  7. Purina :38

  8. Lanoflo 3:28

  9. The Hyperemiator 6:32

  10. The Sap Glove 2:02

  11. The Bunny Mother 1:46

  12. Auto-Da-Fe 2:03

  13. Fields Matrimonial Service 2:33

  14. Want Ads 2 4:25

  15. Howard Johnson's Army 4:22

  16. No Deposit, No Return 1:09




As the inner sleeve says, this is "an album of Popular Poetry, Pop Poetry. Real Advertisements. As they appeared in newspapers, magazines, in direct mail, a company info bulletin, as a schoolroom flyer. No word has been added. Parts of some have been repeated. Parts of some omitted. But these are the very texts. These are for real!" These sound so weird and silly, particularly the ones for sexual aids, that you suspect that they were made up. However, the CD booklet does contain actual repros of vintage ads for "The Hyperemiator" and "The Sap Glove" that are recited word for word. On paper the album's concept sounds like it might not work, but Kupferberg's readings/interpretations are often sly and funny, whether he brings out the absurdity of the texts by using a poker-faced tone, or adopts mocking or ridiculous accents to draw out the ridiculous nature of the source material. It helps that there are a lot of ingenious sound effects -- by, one would guess, Gary Elton, credited with "various" -- to complement the prose (auto crashes on "Auto-Da-Fe," for instance). This, and particularly the sexually graphic material, isn't as shocking and funny as it was in 1966, but it's still amusing.