• Track Listing

Bear Family Records® tribute to Jack Kerouac on the occasion of his 100th birthday in March 2022. Jack Kerouac, who along with Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs formed the core cell of the Beat Generation.

The beatniks, as representatives of pop literature, listened to a wide range of specific styles of music; we have compiled 52 songs and historical audio documents from 1946 to 1963, from the core of the beatnik era.

Be Bop Jazz as the favorite music of the Beat Generation is featured with Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and others, as well as 'Word Jazz', the combination of jazz and beatnik poetry, such as by Oscar Brown, Jr., Don Morrow and of course Jack Kerouac himself with Steve Allen!

Contemporary pop music and rock 'n' roll around the beatnik subject are also represented, including satirical novelty numbers.

Featuring Big Jay McNeely, Babs Gonzales and others, rhythm 'n' blues is essential as a bridge between beatnik jazz and rock 'n' roll!

Historical sound documents, such as a Jack Kerouac reading, an interview, or the Allen Ginsberg recitation, round out the sound picture!

Two readings from the movie 'High School Confidential', which appeared on an MGM single in 1958, are here on CD for the first time!

And sounds from the 1959 film 'The Beat Generation'!

The colorful 36-page booklet contains rare photos and memorabilia as well as the history of the Beat Generation and it's music, written by a connoisseur of the Beatnik scene, Roland Heinrich Rumtreiber!

On March 12, 2022, Jack Kerouac would have celebrated his 100th birthday, reason enough to remember him and his companions with a unique compilation! Kerouac is, together with Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs the nucleus of the Beat Generation, the Beatniks, who from the late 1940s, across the Fifties, until the mid-Sixties acted mainly in California. Their type of pop literature was revolutionary at the time, like Rock'N'Roll in music.

Meat Loaf certainly requires no introduction, he burst onto the world music stage in 1977 with his landmark release Bat Out Of Hell, which transformed him from a stage actor into a rock 'n' roll icon. The album has sold more than 43 million copies worldwide and is the third biggest selling record of all time - 23 Platinum status - and it still sells in excess of 200, 000 copies a year.

Following Bat Out Of Hell came such masterpieces as 1981's Dead Ringer, 1984's Bad Attitude, and the Bat Out Of Hell sequels, 1993's Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell and 2006's Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, not to mention 2010's Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

The October 2011 eleven concert sell out tour of Australia and New Zealand was an enormous success and this CD/DVD deluxe edition celebrates the global phenomenon that is Meat Loaf. Ever wonder what it takes to get Meat Loaf on the road This ultimate backstage pass and access all area documentary is packed with interviews from those closest to Meat Loaf and of course from the man himself. Enjoy an exclusive look at the preparation, logistics and effort that goes into a tour of this scale and hear from Meat Loaf as he divulges what drove him on and kept him hungry to entertain audiences around the world. Inside is an 8-page full color souvenir booklet featuring photographs and anecdotes from Meat Loaf including his brush with an American president, his early career and the truth behind his name.

CD is 70 minutes of Meat Loaf live in 2011

DVD has 80 minutes of live concert video and a 40 minute Bonus Documentary Interview with the legendary Meat Loaf.