Sunday, March 01, 2009

THE MONKS - BLACK MONK TIME (1966)
















This incredible and influential piece of rock history comes to us compliments of our main man KSN. I'd always heard ABOUT this record, but never actually heard it before KSN shared the wealth. I found myself absolutely blown away by the music here. Black Monk Time certainly defies classicifation, especially considering the era and musical climate of its release. This is angry, experimental garage rock with the occasional wink-and-nudge that fans of DEAD KENNEDYS, BLACK FLAG and the MINUTEMEN will appreciate. THE MONKS' brand of rock is neither melodic or soothing. It's extremely heavy and driving, which is remarkable in itself, considering that this record predates traditional guitar distortion. If I had to make a comparison, I'd probably use The Velvet Underground & Nico, though with shrill and frantic electric organ in place of John Cale's violin. Of course, it has to be noted that Black Monk Time actually PREDECED VU&N. Honestly, I feel like I've been missing out on a key part of rock history - especially the style of rock towards which I personally tend to gravitate. Respect your elders, GOMIES.

1. Monk Time
2. Shut Up
3. Boys Are Boys & Girls Are Choice
4. Higgle-Dy-Piggle-Dy
5. I Hate You
6. Oh, How to Do Now
7. Complication
8. We Do Wie Du
9. Drunken Maria
10. Love Came Tumblin' Down
11. Blast Off!
12. That's My Girl
13. I Can't Get Over You
14. Cuckoo
15. Love Can Tame the Wild
16. He Went Down to the Sea

DOWNLOAD

10 comments:

slik said...

Amazing considering the born on date!

Anonymous said...

To think, this was released when England won the World Cup!

Rinjo Njori! said...

This is way more "controversial GOMIE" content than the SST stuff you post. Solid Freakbeat.

Matias said...

it's fucking hard to picture this record in that time... a major discovery...
thnx Bro & KSN

Anonymous said...

Really liking this so far - and wanted to say thanks for the excellent blog.

Anonymous said...

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine (www.allmusic.com)
The difference between the import of Black Monk Time and Infinite Zero's 1996 reissue is the difference of three tracks — three tracks that are missing from this version, not that American release. The live track and two demos that appeared on that reissue are gone, although the other four studio bonus tracks are present. Since Infinite Zero's issue was out of print when this was released in 2001, this may be easier to track down, and it's still satisfying (let's face it, the live cut and demos were for collectors only), but don't feel the need to replace your existing copy, and if you happen to stumble upon Infinite Zero's version, that remains the one to get.

The download version you posted -IS- missing those last three tracks.

I guess I should not complain but.... IF IT WAS ME I WOULD NOT HAVE LISTED THE MISSING THREE AS PART OF THIS ARCHIVE PACKAGE.

Nice BLOG anyway.

I know, anonymous posts are lame but so is misinformation and bad documentation that does not give credit to the original author.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this, I haven't heard it in years. Feel free to help yourself to download my bands album Mighty High...In Drug City. It's kinda like Grand Funk Railroad.

http://rapidshare.com/files/194824414/Mighty_High.zip.html

Big Jack said...

Anon -- Sorry for the "misinformation" and "bad documation". I have to ask, though, where did I "fail to credit the original author"?

I have since corrected the tracklisting, and let your keepers know that it should now be safe to move you from suicide watch.

If this is the worst thing that happens to you this week, you live a charmed life.

Thanks for the heads up, though.

Unknown said...

Monk is one of my favorite show and i love to watch monk episodes online.. Even i downloaded its all episodes of season 8.

Anonymous said...

Many Thanks!!!