In May 1965, Allen arrived in London and gave a free reading at Better Books in Charing Cross Road. It was an event described by poet-provocateur Jeff Nuttall as "the first healing wind on a very parched collective mind” and one that provided the impetus for the International Poetry Incarnation at Royal Albert Hall, a hugely significant catalyst for the first British Summer of Love.
Music featured prominently in Ginsberg’s work - both in his self-accompanied performances and live collaborations with artists including Dylan, Paul McCartney and Patti Smith - and in the inspiration it has had on the wide range of musicians who have set it to music.
The Sounds of Black Power
The Rise and Fall of the '80s Free Festival
Child of the Commune
Liberation Part 2: Glad to be Gay
Liberation Part 1: Coming out in the Counterculture
London's Lost Street of Song
Countercultural Libido: A History of 'Perversion'
The Incredible String Band Part 2: Inside Looking Out
The Incredible String Band - Part 1: Outside Looking In
In the ’60s: The Birth of the British Underground
How to Expand Your Consciousness Part 3: The Dreaming
Remembering the Crazy Diamond
How To Expand Your Consciousness Part 2: Tripping
Songs of War and Peace - with Boris Grebenshikov
Riding The Oblivion Express - with Brian Auger
The Soho Bibles: The Secret Porn of Post-War London
How to Expand Your Consciousness Part 1: Philosophy
The Music of the Cults
Rock, Radicals and Racism
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