Beckett's live tape: London show released

Leading US poet joined by UK guitarist in a show from last summer issued on cassette by Dutch label with strong Beat interests

A RECORDING of a London gig from last summer featuring US poet and lyricist Larry Beckett and his British singer-guitarist collaborator Stuart Anthony has been released by the Dutch imprint Counter Cultural Chronicles.

Beckett, today an Oregon-based wordsmith who initially made his name when he worked with late LA legend Tim Buckley, has focused in more recent decades on his poetry, a project that reached an apogee with his extraordinary epic American Cycle, published in 2021 and the subject of ringing acclaim within the wider verse community.

Yet the poet’s musical roots have never been abandoned and his work with Anthony – and also that performer’s previous group the Long Lost Band – has maintained his connection to the worlds of rock, blues and folk, the linking of the literary and the song, and that ongoing association has resulted in a number of studio recordings.

Pictured above: The limited edition cassette

But An Afternoon of Poetry & Music, captured at famed capital venue the Cavendish Arms back in June, is the first time Beckett and Anthony have released a live collaboration, an eclectic mixture of poetry, spoken word and music drawing on American Cycle but also the recent studio set Mirabeau Bridge, a concept record inspired by legendary Parisian writer Guillaume Apollinaire.

As Beckett evocatively recalls in his ‘England & France’ journal, as the duo spent time in London and then Paris:

6/24
Over the Vauxhall Bridge and the muddy river
to Stockwell, 128 Hartington Road, to the lights,
the stage & podium of the Cavendish Arms. . .
In Hymn to Zeus, I felt possessed, transported
back in Artemis & Temenos, in passion in
American Cycle, and performing in Mirabeau
Bridge . . The words were living.

Anthony also puts the Cavendish performance in context: ‘My first gig for three years, and seven years since Larry and I last shared a stage. We were really happy to play that small intimate show in the city. Larry has always wanted to play a London stage. I recall knowing that from way back in 2008, when I was co-headliner with BBC Radio’s Bob Harris at a Tim Buckley tribute concert at the Cockpit in Marylebone.

‘Bob read one of Larry’s poems out and Larry was so pleased that his work was performed there. We chose the Cavendish Arms performance space, as it has a cool, bohemian air about it and they were so welcoming and helpful.’

Pictured above: Susannah Beckett’s poster design

The recorded results engineered by Michael McKeon and produced and mixed by Paul Walmsley distil the special spirit of the afternoon and the cassette package incorporates a mini version of the poster for the show designed by Larry Beckett’s daughter Susannah.

René van der Voort, who runs Counter Cultural Chronicles, is delighted that his label has been able to release an exclusive limited run edition of the cassette – and he even pays a small tribute to this very website which initially drew his attention to Beckett and Anthony’s plans to play their live pub set.

He comments: ‘Well, first of all, credits to you! I first heard of the duo through your blog. Of course I knew Larry Beckett, bought all the Tim Buckley records when they came out, but I now subsequently discover that he has written loads of interesting poetry. And Stuart, such a great singer.’

And Beckett, a long-time follower and admirer of the Beat circle, himself chimes in: ‘Many thanks to Rock and the Beat Generation, I get to appear on the same label that has put out work by Kerouac, Ginsberg and Corso.’

See also: Beat Soundtrack #22: Stuart Anthony’, August 24th, 2022; ‘Countercultural cornucopia’, August 17th, 2022; and ‘Beat Soundtrack #20: Larry Beckett’, June 19th, 2022

Notes: For more information about the Counter Cultural Chronicles catalogue, visit: https://www.soundohm.com/label/counter-culture-chronicle. There is also a Bandcamp link to the cassette: