The writings of Beat author and artist William Seward Burroughs have consistently attracted a wide range of musicians over the years, with everyone from Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain to Bill Laswell, Sonic Youth and The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy keenly adding their own distinctive contributions to his extraordinary body of work. Burroughs died in 1997 at the age of 83, but remains a potent presence through the numerous spoken word recordings he left behind, the latest batch being the somewhat uneven Let Me Hang You. Made up of Burroughs reading extracts from his legendary novel The Naked Lunch, the 12 pieces here focus on the more outrageous aspects of his sexually explicit, surreal masterpiece, all of which have been set to music by a diverse collection of musicians. Devised by producer Hal Willner and Burroughs's manager James Grauerholz (with the additional assistance of Canadian multi-instrumentalist King Khan), the backing music is richly varied with jazz, rock and exotica being some of the styles that swirl around WSB's subversively hilarious tales of bad baboons, psychotic surgery, talking assholes and Steely Dan dildos, all delivered in his serrated, narcotic drawl that is instantly recognisable. As palatable as these musical accompaniments are, though, they eventually become a distraction that interferes with hearing the full impact of Burroughs's speaking voice in the raw.