Coney Island of the Mind

1	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 1 / Dana Colley 1:37
2	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 2 / Dana Colley 1:54
3	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 3 / Dana Colley 1:27
4	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 4 / Dana Colley 1:21
5	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 5 / Dana Colley 2:17
6	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 6 / Dana Colley 1:46
7	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 7 / Dana Colley 0:37
8	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 8 / Dana Colley 2:08
9	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 9 / Dana Colley 0:36
10	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 10 / Dana Colley 1:40
11	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 11 / Dana Colley 2:05
12	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 12 / Dana Colley 0:38
13	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 13 / Dana Colley 1:21
14	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 14 / Dana Colley 0:35
15	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 15 / Dana Colley 1:17
16	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 16 / Dana Colley 0:59
17	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 17 / Dana Colley 2:18
18	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 18 / Dana Colley 1:01
19	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 19 / Dana Colley 1:25
20	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 20 / Dana Colley 0:54
21	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 21 / Dana Colley 0:36
22	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 22 / Dana Colley 0:51
23	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 23 / Dana Colley 0:36
24	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 24 / Dana Colley 1:30
25	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 25 / Dana Colley 0:32
26	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 26 / Dana Colley 0:40
27	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 27 / Dana Colley 0:40
28	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 28 / Dana Colley 0:43
29	A Coney Island of the Mind, Pt. 29 / Dana Colley 4:10
30	I Am Waiting / Dana Colley 3:23
31	Autobiography / Dana Colley 4:21
32	Dog / Dana Colley 2:50
33	Christ Climbed Down / Dana Colley 2:50
34	#11 / Dana Colley From Pictures of the Gone World 2:05

Barnes & Noble

Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti published A CONEY ISLAND OF THE MIND, his most celebrated collection, in 1955 at the height of the Beat Generation. He's still active with City Lights, his San Francisco bookstore and publishing house, and with poetry (one of his recent poems appears in The Best American Poetry 1999). This new recording presents Ferlinghetti reading the 29 sections of the title work and five other poems also from the original collection, accompanied by music composed by Dana Colley, saxophonist of the boho-rock band Morphine. From poem to poem, Ferlinghetti varies his voice, using a conspiratorial whisper or a conversational singsong or a comic, exaggerated New York accent, while Colley's music stays simultaneously evocative and unobtrusive: the sax and organ base adds a film noir atmosphere but never competes with the poetry. Literature majors will recognize poems such as "Constantly risking absurdity" and "In Goya's greatest scenes" and be intrigued by Ferlinghetti's choice of voicings; everyone will hear compositions with comic insight and unexpected twists of beauty. Steve Klinge

All Music Guide

Jim Sampas and producer extraordinaire David Greenberg (Duplex Planet) got together to right an unforgivable wrong in the beat poet discography. Before this release, there was no complete CD album of Ferlinghetti's 30-poem cycle, The Coney Island of the Mind. Musical accompaniment to the beat bard's spoken word is the surviving members of Morphine. Dana Colley is on the horns, and Billy Conway is on drums accompany the master wordsmith, with other musicians. Each piece has its own backing music, seeking affinity with its mood. Ferlinghetti similarly varies his voice for each short poem. At once he is a self-assured New "Yawker," then an austere commentator with a papery voice. It is natural to contrast Ferlinghetti's Coney Island with Ginsberg's Howl. Ferlinghetti's signature piece is also a perfect example of the beat literature. It is a union of sexual imagery and introspection into the soul of youthful America. Where Ginsberg is an evangelist, a visionary for his cause, Ferlinghetti effortlessly and without drama summons up his observations. While Ginsberg views a soulless and decadent America from a tenement rooftop, Ferlinghetti sees as far from a bus stop, from an afternoon delight in a Central Park bush. Five other pieces follow the complete cycle. Tom Schulte