Beat Club Bild und Funk Records (Germany)  A mod comp of sixties brit bands including The Mindbenders, The Walker Brothers, Manfred Mann, The Merseys, The Spencer Davis Group, etc.  Groovy bug-eyed babe rockin hip shades on the cover.

(21 votes, average: 3.90 out of 5)

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Dr. Ballard’s Pet Foods presents The Herman Apple Quintet doing the “Ballard Beat” (a variation on the swinging Dr. Ballard’s ad jingle)  Ballard Label (Canada)

(27 votes, average: 4.22 out of 5)

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Succes-Musette  Symco Records (France)  Musical stylings of one Luc Harvet son Accordeon et son Ensemble.  Kind of a beatnik vibe here.  I dig her red garter and checkered scarf and bangs!  Lucky Luc.

(21 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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“The Laughing Beatnik”  Vocal by Johnny Beeman with Dave Meyers Orchestra  (c. 1960)  Silly stoned laughter, but certainly one of my favorite record labels – Doll Records (later this single was re-released on AMY Records)

(31 votes, average: 4.39 out of 5)

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“Expresso Bongo!”   Cliff Richard from the movie of the same name (1959)  Columbia Records (UK)

(22 votes, average: 4.05 out of 5)

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Guy Wernham  “Contributions to the Delinquency of Minor Poetry”  Private pressing on red vinyl  Little is known about Guy apart from his work translating French literature. This is a one-of-a-kind, collector’s record of poetry in the beatnik style.  This and 100 other rare and unusual records from the LP Cover Lover archives are being put up for auction on eBay beginning on Monday, April 13th!

(28 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)

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Allen Ginsberg Reads Kaddish  A 20th Centutry American Ecstatic Narrative Poem   Atlantic Records Verbum Series  (1966)  Front Cover shot by Richard Avedon  Back cover is some of Ginsberg’s handwritten manuscript of “Kaddish” and features a photograph of the poet with his mother at the New York World’s Fair in 1939.  Two-page statement by Ginsberg entitled: “How Kaddish Happened” printed inside gatefold sleeve.   Ginsberg wrote the poem about his mother Naomi after her death in 1956, who struggled with mental problems throughout her life. Naomi suffered many psychotic episodes both before Allen was born and while he was growing up.  She went in and out of mental hospitals and was treated with medication, insulin shock therapy, and electroshock therapy. She died in an asylum in 1956.

The title Kaddish refers to the mourning prayer or blessing in Judaism.   This long poem was Ginsberg’s attempt to mourn his mother, Naomi, but also reflects his sense of loss at his estrangement from his born religion. The traditional Kaddish contains no references to death, whereas Ginsberg’s poem is riddled with thoughts and questionings of death.  After her death, a rabbi would not allow the traditional Kaddish to be read with Ginsberg’s Christian and Atheist friends, so he rebelled and wrote a Kaddish of his own. Ginsberg began writing the poem in the Beat Hotel in Paris in December 1957 and completed it in New York in 1959.

Below is an advert for the album.

(36 votes, average: 3.28 out of 5)

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“Acker in Paris”  Mr. Acker Bilk   Stern Musik Records (Germany)  (1965)

(47 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)

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Teeny Records  “Hey Baby”  Vilaines Filles, Mauvais Garcons

(44 votes, average: 3.55 out of 5)

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From Finland on Star Records   Vita Mossor

(40 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)

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