Life Is

The sun is down. A low moon rides not yet high. Down the street they come garbed in black and corduroy, yellow or blue. Past the rescue mission they go, past the burlesque house and the juke joint, on beyond the Chinese grocery store to the hangout. Down the street three women in ratty furs are practicing an age old trade while tourists take pictures against a sign reading, “Co-existence Bagel Shop.”

Two men in beards age 23 and 24, are discussing a bad painting one has under his arm. A girl in a red sweater over holey black leotards wriggles down the street followed by a lone dog, smelling at the pavement. More lights now and even music—juke box tunes and bongo sounds flow over espresso and vin rose smells. More people—a tall, thin man dressed in leather from head to foot, parks a cheap motor scooter and heads for the Coffee Gallery.

Rod McKuen, who received such outstanding critical response for his previous album, “Time of Desire” (HIFIRECORD R407)—again gives us the unusual. This time the setting is the expresso houses, the beaches and the pads of the beat generation. You don’t have to be in a two point beer haze or hypnotized by the jazz beat to enjoy this album but it is decidedly for the seeker of the off beat.

One thing is sure, as you’ll discover with a very brief sampling of this album, Rod isn’t one to mince words. Many of the selections here were first read by Rod in The Cellar in San Francisco, where West Coast Poetry and Jazz had its beginning, and were cause for eyebrow raising even there.

As far as I’m concerned, and judging from the response to his books and poetry, I am not alone in my contention, Rod McKuen is a poet of the first order. Whether he talks of bearded ladies and the seamy side of life, brings a smile with his description of a party in BEATSVILLE or touches the heart with love poems such as “Three Songs For S,” he is a poet who speaks eloquently to the mind as well as to the heart.

“Reflections on a Plane Trip Home,” the almost frightening “Haiku Poems” and the love-cycle “Three Songs For S” is poetry as fine as any I have encountered anywhere. Rod’s talents don’t stop at poetry. He has had success as a TV and screen actor under contract to Universal Studios, a singer and recording artist for Decca Records and a songwriter in everything from film scores to rock and roll hits to his credit—all accomplished in his early twenties. He is also the author of several successful books, including “And Autumn Came” and “Elephants In the Rice Paddy.” His contributions to this album, as in “Time of Desire,” include not only the narration and writing but the musical score—consisting of more than two dozen themes.

Among the musicians heard on the album are Howard Heitmeyer on guitar, Buddy Colette on flute and Paul Gray on string bass.

All Music by Rod McKuen

Track Listing

Side 1

1. Co-Existence Bagel Shop Blues
2. Bearded Ladies
3. Haiku Poems
4. No Pictures, Please
5. Back to Sausalito
6. Three Songs for ‘S’
7. RSVP
8. Joue
9. Reflections on a Plane Trip Home

Side 2

1. Life Is
2. The Elegant Prison Downstairs
3. The Bird Boy
4. Grant Avenue Square Dance
5. A Gallery of Assorted Beats
6. Get the Hell Out of My World
7. Like
8. What Is a Fabian?

Album Information

• Artist: Rod McKuen
• Catalog Number: EVEREST 3267 / S-3949
• Catalog Numbers: EVEREST 3267; S-3949
• Label: Everest Records
• Source: EVEREST-3267
• Format: Stereo
• Label Address: Everest Records, 10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 410, Los Angeles, California 90024
• Art Direction: Edwin Francis
• Illustration: Edwin Francis
• Production: An Everest Records Production
• Previous Album Reference: Time of Desire (HIFIRECORD R407)
• Price Sticker: #23 $2-