The Complete Songs Of Innocence And Experience

The original 1970 MGM album on CD and Digital for the first time, plus a second disc of rarities and previously unissued songs. Lester Bangs, in Rolling Stone magazine, said the album was, "like a labor of love, a salute from a young visionary to an ancient sage." Allen Ginsberg began "tuning" William Blake's poetry in 1968 (inspired by attending the tumultuous protests at that year's Democratic Convention in Chicago), but the origin of the album dates back to a 1948 vision or "auditory illumination" as he called it, of William Blake reciting poetry to him in his Spanish Harlem apartment. Moved by this, Ginsberg began to set Blake's poetry to music. In 1969, he began recording musical versions of Blake's poetry with Peter Orlovsky, and jazz legends Bob Dorough, Don Cherry, Elvin Jones! 19 of those songs were released the following year as Songs Of Innocence And Experience.