GERALD HEARD Explorations Vol. 2 '60 WP RARE 3LP LSD mind expanding M-LPs READ-

$

200

 
GERALD HEARD

Explorations Volume 2
Survival, Growth & Re-Birth

  World Pacific 1413 RARE '60 3LP box set MONO. From shroomery website:
Gerald Heard was a well respected English philosopher and author who was one of the first to see the benifits of psychedelic drugs. He and Aldous Huxley were friends, and were representitives of the school of thought on LSD, which was that only the "best and brightest" should have access to it. Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey a part of the other school, which said that anyone who can responsibly use LSD should do so if they choose.
Despite the fact that this spoken-word record was one of the very first about the psychedelic experience, Gerald Heard does not mention drugs at all...
"Gerald was a genius and far more artistically uninhibited in his creative imaginative than was Huxley, etc. He believed that the psychedelics potentially could be employed as sacramental "medicaments" to could be used in traversing all the major life-cycle transitions. He envisioned them as catalystic agents in a life-long theraphy of growth through the major life-stages, not only as a tool for liberation from the fear of death, etc. Gerald and Aldous were close collaborators in exploring the human and transpersonal potentials of the psychedelics, and of course, Aldous knew of Gerald's recording of 'Rebirth', so it is likely that Aldous's decision to take LSD as a sacrament in his last hours of dying of cancer (while his wife, Laura, intoned parts of the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was directly inspired from Gerald's extensive research into proper psychophysical rituals to enhance such life-cycle transitions."

The 'Re-Birth' LP:

"Gerald's brilliantly creative imagination envisioned a wonderfully theatrical high-tech ritual (complex lighting, sound effects, music, choral performance, etc.) to form a soul-stirring liturgy for those making an "intentional" conscious, aware transition to the next dimension of Reality."
Regarding the connection to the similar Leary/Alpert/Metzner project, Cody points out that Gerald Heard did in fact review their 1964 "Psychedelic Experience" book, which is based on the very same ideas as his 1961 album. The review can be found in the Psychedelic Review, issue #5, pp 110-118. Heard uses "Re-Birth" in the heading for this review, probably a deliberate pointer to his own, earlier work.
"Re-birth' was later published and distributed as a cassette recording around 1976. The World-Pacific record producer and jazz aficionados who produced about 6 of Gerald's various 33 rpm recordings at WP are part of this story. There is an important LSD connection here since one of the record producers was initiated into LSD through Gerald Heard, who personally "invigilated" (watched over) this producer during his first session."
An excellent introduction to Gerald Heard, written by John Cody, can be found in Gnosis magazine, Winter 1993 issue.
Comments: The closing "Re-birth" part of this spoken word 3-LP box set is a bit of a revelation as the legendary Mr Heard (read "Storming heaven" for clues) invokes the Tibetan Book of the Dead and goes into a full trip/death/rebirth guide mode, preceding the Leary/Alpert/Metzner project by a full 3 years. Psychedelic history must be rewritten! The occasional music consists of crudely recorded church organ chords upon which classically trained vocalists spell out advise to the "nobly born" limbo traveller. Heard doesn't explicitly mention psychedelic drugs on the LP, but the unexpected psychout in the third part only makes sense if the listener would drop acid between LP #2 & 3. Those who weren't in on this secret must have thought it one weird LP back then. "Re-birth" was the last recording he ever made, written during 3 months in Hawaii.
The first two discs - Survival & Growth - are more lecture-oriented and fairly entertaining, with Heard's voice sounding like an uptight professor, but the contents and purpose of his lectures are pretty far out. Like any acidhead he enjoys wordplay and long etymological parables that show how wrongheaded modern society is. Some of it is obviously influenced by the Bomb and the cold war. There is also a preoccupation with the process of ageing and the fate of senior citizens. Great testament to a brilliant man - they don't make 'em like that anymore.

Jacket Grade:  VG+ Little wear to box cover art. Corners of top box shell splits.
  
Record Grade: M- No visible play wear. All 3 LPs look to be unplayed.


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