One of several albums on John Giorno's Giorno Poetry Systems label from New York, most of which (like this one) feature at least one recording by William Burroughs as well as one by Giorno himself. It's a good business model: put out records with Paul McCartney songs on one side and your own songs on the other side, and watch the publishing royalties come in.
These albums tend to splice poetry with other performing arts, though in this case the music and poetry mostly co-exist side by side rather than being mixed together. The music is mostly from the New York avant rock scene, plus a few kindred spirits from England: Coil and Cabaret Voltaire. On the inside of the gatefold sleeve, there's a photo of Burroughs with Giorno and the boys from Cabaret Voltaire, and they're all smiling… Who let that one through?
One of the most striking tracks is the short unaccompanied poem by Michael Gira. It's much better than the lyrics I quoted when Gira was singing with Swans.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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