what do you look for in a good spoken word album?
 

So, I have pages and pages of things I want to say and I talked to this guy at this label and we've decided scissor shock is going to release a spoken word album.

The thing is though... I have no idea how to do this... what do you look for in a good spoken word album? I mean, obviously, I shouldn't stutter, the recording should be clear, but what about background noise? Should I get rid of all static? Should I leave some clutter? What's the ideal length? I was thinknig a half an hour. Also, and this is perhaps the strangest question, how do I "market" this? Should I even release it as a scissor shock release?

Just gimme some ideas on what you'd like to hear if you were to hear it and I'll do the rest...

Get a decent writer reading their own stuff. I can listen to Burroughs all day doing his own spoken word stuff.

Oh, I dunno if I'm a decent writer, but I'm reading it all... should I do weird voices or read it completely monotone...

Do it in yer natual voice - I think that always sounds best.

thanks.

Obviously keep music in the background but remember to make your voice the main point.

With the music, it also needs to go with the story, reflect the mood of the writing with the music. For example, the new Patti Smith and Kevin Shields album does this good, when Patti gets more intense with her poem, Kevin Shields guitar gets more louder and abrasive. So yeah, make the music reflect the writing (even though William Burroughs doesn't do this, when did lounge jazz go with stories of heroin addiction? haha).

And you should release it as Scissor Shock, considering how you say that every album is different. :)

I like the track by Steven j Bernstein , on Sub Pop 200 , it's full of anger and rythm and other things , unlike Prison , where he seems to have a nap.

Tom Waits style, for sure. A nice little clarinet solo in the background as you recite Bukowski.

I could even feature on the album with my awesome Scottish accent hahaha

Haha I think I'm going to release it as Robe actually because it's a bit darker than what shock usually releases, plus I think kyle wants to do a spoken word thing too.

Thanks for your ideas though.

Do the exact opposite of everything NPR does.

Listen to some Ken Nordine.

If you don't know, you're not. Seriously. I don't have a problem with people writing shit lyrics (not that you necessarily do) because a decent melody will save a terrible lyric.

But... just don't. If you're at all unsure about whether you're a good writer, then the simple fact is you're a shit writer, or you're not yet an adequate one. If you don't know what good writing is, then you'll never realise that the half-arsed spoken word record you did is shit. If you ever realise what good writing is, you'll absolutely hate and regret the spoken word record you did.

Besides which, you're far, far too young to be thinking about it. Honestly. If you listen to nothing else I say, DO NOT do a spoken word album.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say something I actually meant over the internet. Usual fatuous bollocks resuming presently.

im listening to SCG's dantes disneyland inferno, and thats a pretty cool spoken word album. strange noises and theatrical declamation

A successful spoken word album has to include at least one anecdote regarding your childhood experience of being sexually abused. So long as you have that covered, you're away.

Damn! He's 100% right, but still, did anyone neg rep this one?

have you ever heard dead city radio by william burroughs?

THAT is a good spoken word album

Do whatever the fuck you want, good or bad. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

(read: Glice is a cunt)

yeah do it if you want to. if you're a bad writer and it turns out bad, so what. at least you tried something new.

listen to non's might and god & beast.

also loopool does great spoken word noise albums...he's very influenced by boyd rice, though.

ohh and the priest they called him, burroughs with kurt cobain on guitar, best thing cobaine ever was involved; that shit is spooky.

I think what keeps me interested in spoken word stuff is the background's impact on the words. I think there should absolutely be something in the background, whether it's natural ambience, planned sounds, or whatever.

But instead of having the sounds only reflect the words, try to get it so that the sounds also affect the words. It can be planned, obviously, since it will be pre-written, but have some kind of interplay between the ambience and the words. It will wake people up if they start to zone out. It can be light overdubbed voices, loud abrasive sounds that suddenly quiet--just something that might alter the mood of what you're saying and force a mood on your words. You'll need to be acting to an extent, and acting is part reaction.

Glice is silly, atsonicpark might have a natural charm to writing.

based on reading people's posts here i'd say the only person who has an obvious talent for writing is jenn benningfield

am i the only one who doesn't really care about the actual text on spoken word albums?

but then again, i hardly care about lyrics so i'm probably the only one.

There's a lot of vagueness to that post. You'd describe the coastline of the Isle of Harris as having 'Natural charm'. You'd describe shit writing as 'shit'.

+1 on that, T&B.

Sorry, I guess I meant to say, I dunno if I'm a good writer in other people's eyes. Of course I like my writing. And I really couldn't care less what people think of an album I'm going to record, because not many people will hear it anyway. I'm just not completely familiar with the spoken word genre and was curious how you judge whether an album in this field is good or not. No biggy.

Yep, Jenn is a total natural when it comes to writing. I'm a fan too.

just go for it.. how about "fuck the writing" and just record whatever the fuck comes out of your mouth... not the whole thing but for a track or two.....

play with the microphones and distances... like screaming like a bitch from miles away and whispering like a baby from near....... simple shit sounds sooo much better than layers and layers of obvious effects.... and no, im not accusing ss of doing that before im just giving an opinion......

im sure adam will think of something pretty cool...... a backward spoken album maybe??? a spoken album entirely recorded in braille!

In retrospect, I shouldn't have even said that I'm thinking of doing a spoken word album. But yeah, I sound condescending saying this, but I'm not going to release it if it isn't good in my mind anyway. I try my hardest to stress quality control with everything I do. But yeah, I was more looking for... how should a spoken word album be structured.. what should the length be.. stuff like that.

Thanks for everyone's replies though some of you have some good stuff to say.

The only spoken word stuff I've heard is Burroughs, Peter Sotos, and Jandek's spoken stuff but I really enjoy all of that...

^^^The second mention of P Sotos here in less than a week! Ye Gods.

hahaha.

I think it's been more than a week.. but yeah. His spoken word stuff is.... uh.. crazy.

"Interesting" is putting it mildly - his "collage" stuff on the Whitehouse LPs would seriously piss off quite a lot of people here, I reckon...

Maybe this is me misunderstanding things... that sounds like sound-art to me, which I don't have a problem with. Spoken word, to me, suggests stuff like Ivor Cutlor or Bob Cobbing (and even that's tenuous).

Yeah...

yeah, you are probably right glice.... not the way adam intended im sure...

hey adam, have you heard the aidan john moffat album, he of arab strap... thats a fucking damn fine spoken word album!

no but i'm getting it now thanks to you :)

atsonicpark - have you heard the "Nothing Here But The Recordings" album by Burroughs? It was released by Throbbing Gristle in 1980?/1981?, and would be right up your street, I reckon.

i'll check it out. i'm only familiar with dead city radio and call me burroughs.