Rod McKuen - Life Is

Rod McKuen - Life Is

released on LP

Ah, Rod McKuen. That sensitive sentimental poet mired in love and heartbreak. Just about everyone had a Rod McKuen album back in the day. His albums sold billions of copies which means that copies of his albums are often seen in thrift stores almost as much as Herb Alpert and those Firestone Christmas albums. Interestingly his material does not get any airplay on any oldies radio station or any radio station as a matter of fact. So, I first heard about Rod McKuen or actually seen anything about the man at some thrift store having seen a few of his albums such as The Sea, The Sky and a few others. This was when I first started seriously browsing in thrift stores in the first half of the 2000s. My parents may have been among the few people not into Rod McKuen as there wasn't anything by him in their collections (or they hid his albums very well from my nosey fingers and prying eyes). The former is highly likely as I never heard them speak his name to this day. And yes, they are into mainstream music not any of the weird stuff I like.

Anyway, this brings me to the album in this post. As already mentioned, many people know Rod McKuen as a sentimental romantic poet. However, Rod McKuen once had an edgier persona that his devoted fans may not have known about or care to know about. Life Is is a reissue of the album Beatsville which was released in 1959. Life Is was reissued in the late 1960s. The material on Life Is/Beatsville was written and recorded when Rod McKuen was a young man trying to be cool especially a beatnik. Most of the poems are a depiction of the beatnik or San Francisco bohemian lifestyle. The liner notes mention that many of these poems were first read at The Cellar, probably the coolest happenin place in San Francisco and America overall. Along with poetry about living the bohemian lifestyle there are episodes of sex and violence, two staples that usually make art worthwhile. Rod McKuen does demonstrate that he is struggling to be cool as in the poem, "No Pictures, Please". Eventually Rod McKuen ends up being rich and famous and beloved for being an uncool romantic sentimental sap; in other words being himself. He doesn't need worry about trivial things such as growing a beard, wearing turtleneck sweaters or assembling a collection of Lenny Bruce records in his pad (that means someone's home for you squares out there). The masses wanted love poems and Rod McKuen could deliver with ease.

There was another reissue of Beatsville called Rod McKuen Takes a San Francisco Hippie Trip aimed at you guessed it, the then-trendy hippie crowd. For some reason, the salacious material and language was edited out of this particular reissue.

The music accompanying McKuen's readings was arranged by McKuen himself. The liner notes credit Howard Heitmayer on guitar, Buddy Colette on flute and Paul Gray on string bass.

Come take a trip through the cool part of mid-20th century culture with all of the salicious material and language included courtesy of one of the least coolest people in existence.

Tracklisting:  (link will be back soon)

Side 1

1. Co-Existence Bagel Shop Blues {1:01}

2. Bearded Ladies {3:16}

3. Haiku Poems {1:53}

4. No Pictures, Please {2:19}

5. Back to Sausalito {1:24}

6. Three Songs for "S" {2:43}

7. RSVP {1:20}

8. Joue {0:19}

9. Reflections on a Plane Trip Home {1:04}

Side 2

1. Life Is {0:44}

2. The Elegant Prison Downstairs {2:14}

3. The Bird Boy {2:05}

4. Grant Avenue Square Dance {0:19}

5. A Gallery of Assorted Beats {3:58}

6. Get the Hell Out of My World {3:18}

7. Like {0:39}

8. What is a Fabian? {3:41}