Ken Nordine: Unsung Hero of Audio
Bob Fingerman | New York, NY | 10/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ken Nordine, a pioneer of spoken word artistry (check out "Word Jazz", an essential offering in his canon), collaborated with writer/poet Robert Shure on "Wink" (originally titled "Twink", but changed for this CD release to avoid any misunderstandings based on the contemporary argot). The combination of Shure's whimsical words and Nordine's velvety smooth voice is aural honey. This collection of absurdist badinage is a joy to all who'd embrace Eugene Ionesco filtered through Steven Wright. Short, sweet, perfect tracks."
Pleasant enough in small doses
o-namae desu | From: the other side of forty | 11/13/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I heard a "Word Jazz" re-broadcast of Ken Nordine reading/chanting "The Walrus and the Carpenter/Here-We-Are" which I really liked (on WBEZ, Sundays at midnight), plus a few other shorts that were fun, so I figured I'd buy this recording. As another reviewer points out, the reason for getting this collection is the "conversations" between Ken (recorded dry, in the left channel) and himself (recorded with echo, in the right channel) which his own work "Colors" doesn't have. But since the prose (wrtten by Robert Shure) is mostly light humor, like a series of extended one-liners, it gets boring. You can imagine, say, Stiller & Meara or Nichols & May doing the same material -- the idea that it's a dialogue between a man and his inner-self isn't explored at all. The incidental music in the background is timed and vaguely themed to the dialogue, but doesn't really add much. (Also if you're fussy about that sort of thing, the sharp noise-floor pumping at the end of most tracks is a little distracting -- makes one wonder whether the vocal timbre is also sub-standard due to the processing.)
It's certainly less pedestrian than Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In "Joke Wall" with go-go music between quips, but the giggle/think ratio is kind of high, like that. The inverse ratio is more to my taste, for example a Billy Collins reading (The Best Cigarette or A Performance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space) -- though of course he's missing The Voice. So "Wink" is pleasant in small doses, but arguably "beat", and not really "poetry". I regret spending any more than ten clams for what is essentially light entertainment. Borrow this from the library or listen to [...] unless you're a rabid fan, or can get a bargain for just a few molluscs. (Maybe "Word Jazz" CDs will be re-issued someday; Amazon's [...] subsidiary has downloads but who wants to pay more and get less? Besides, they don't have track lists so I have no way of knowing if The Walrus & The Carpenter is even available...)"
Classic Nordine
Old T.B. | Cheyenne, Wy USA | 09/13/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There are several reasons I thoroughly enjoy this 1967 offering. First, there is Ken Nordine's voice. I have been a fan of this voice since I first heard it as a child on Levi's television commercials and then, later, discovering the "Now, Nordine" radio program. It is deep, resonant, and totally mesmerizing. Second, the words by Robert Shure are indeed whimsical, but they do not lapse into preciousness. The background music has a light , Sixties pop-like "feel" that perfectly compliments the words. Finally, there is perhaps the number one reason I got hooked on Nordine so many years ago. I love the conversations between Nordine and his other, echoed, ghost voice. As great as the words and performance is on "Colors," I don't listen to it often simply because it lacks these very conversations; "Wink" is full of them.
This album is an example of spoken word at its finest. Highly recommended."
Track Listings (34) - Disc #1