Maurice Lemaître - "Poémes et Musiques Lettristes et Hyperphonie" Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, 2014 (Alga Marghen)

I first discovered Maurice Lemaître's work in a Paris bookstore; I think somewhere in the Marais district.  It was a booklet that came with a CD of him reciting his 'letterist' poetry.   Once I got home, I was hooked on him and the entire Letterist movement, which was the first step that eventually leads to Situationist International.  Not really speaking a word of French, I was more in tune with Lemaître's voice and pronouncement of the words.  For me, it's music or sound that brings up the era of the Boris Vian's Saint Germain des Prés then anything else.  

Letterism or sometimes spelled out as Lettrism is an off-shoot of DADA, that focused on literature, painting, and films.  Isidore Isou is the most famous member of the group, but Lenaître was very much the public face of Letterism.  He even appeared in an Orson Welles documentary on Paris nightlife.   Still, this vinyl edition of his recitations is a marvel.  One can see traces of hip-hop in "Quatre Lettries Sur Des Thèmes Rock" which is him reciting his poetry over a French rock n' roll record.  Very primitive recording, yet a total delight.  I know very little of his paintings, and these recordings are my main entrance to the world of The Letterists, but still, it's a magnificent and fun approach to a Parisian culture at its height.   I find work produced in the Paris 1950s of great interest. To me, it's the bridge between post-war European years to the Hippie movement.  It's a fascinating journey to go on, and this album is very much a suitable soundtrack for that trip.  

Mickey Spillane/Stan Purdy - "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Story" Vinyl, 10", 331/3, 1954 (The Fifth Corp.)

There is nothing artistic about Mickey Spillane's work or even his almost 'performance artist' level of being a writer.   For me, and I'm sure there were others, but I'm just not aware of them, Spillane is the first public image of what a writer should act like.  There is no reason why one should separate the writer from their work.  It was obvious to me that Spillane was not writing fiction, but an autobiography.   That is not the case whatsoever.  He was a fictional writer, and he went beyond that and made himself "Mickey Spillane" as a fictional character.  

At the height of Spillane's fame and glory, he made this 10" album where side one is a short narrative by him, and with the author reading the text.  The background is music by Stan Purdy, a composer that Spillane discovered somewhere in the music world.  As far as I know, this is Purdy's only recorded work.  In other words, he was Spillane's music composer under his wing or company.   As mentioned, I don't think his work as a writer is that artistic, but on the other hand, Spillane was an artist in the sense he made himself bigger than his literature.  The only writer I can think of who did something similar is Yukio Mishima.   I wonder if Spillane knew of Mishima, as a writer, and in the same sense as the noir author, a performance artist? 

Beyond the identity issue, this 10" album is great.  The first side is entertaining because Spillane gives his story a sense of character in his performance.  Side two is all music.  And it's very much the Jazzy Crime TV/Film soundtrack that was very common during the 1950s.  Not as cool or brilliant as Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn" but still, a cool snapshot of that time and period.  The packaging is brilliant.   The front cover painting is by G.R. Wilson, and at this time and moment, I can't find anything else by this artist.  Like Purdy, it seems he existed all for Mickey Spillane's purpose and vision.