#0065: Monks - Black Monk Time [*]

I shouldn't have looked.  It's a big 60s, cavernous sound and the opening track is a thrashing, 2-beat - a polka set at breakneck pace.  It sounds clean and spacious though and it's not looking too bad until the vocals come in.  It's at this point the question presents itself to my conscious mind.

"What the fuck is this?"

It's a guy shouting about Vietnam for a bit and then they launch into a chant-style chorus purporting that it is "Monk time".

Fair enough.  Not my bag and at just over two and a half minutes, it's not a total turn off.  The term "monastic silence" doesn't come from nowhere however and I do fear that by the end of this I may be praying for exactly that.  But not wanting to dismiss it out of hand just because they wanted to make an entrance I reserved judgement.  

I did a little background reading.  They were a group of US soldiers stationed in Germany.  They only made one album.  Like I said, I shouldn't have looked.  I shouldn't have looked because now instead of "musicians trying to do something new", I've got "boys having a knock about, working out their frustrations".  

The next track, ironically is called "Shut up" and it's a kind of fucked up tango - could be a foxtrot too, thinking about it but still fucked up.  It's got a slow, ascending, chromatic hook line played on an organ, which is quite reminiscent of the Doors.  Although we've yet to encounter any of their stuff on the list yet.  It's different from the first track which works in its favour but it's still kinda loud and unskilled.  

See?  I'm tainted.

It's still playing now while I form these thoughts and I have to say I'm blocking it out so I can concentrate.  If this was on, even quietly while I was trying to work or have a conversation, it would raise my blood pressure and make me very tense and uncomfortable.

Apparently a cult following has built up around this group, who have been touring since 1999 without recording any new material.  

There are tunes.  I just don't like them.  There are arrangements.  I just don't like them.  There are solos and harmonies.  I just - don't - like them.  Now, if I could just leave it there, things would be so much easier but I have to listen to the rest of the album.

The variety of rhythm isn't quite diverse enough to offer a break from the overused floor tom.  The bass follows the chord so predictably as to be unnoticeable.  The neanderthal sexism in some of the lyrics is particularly pitiful and the stereotype of the rape-and-pillage GI mindset is woefully supported in that respect.

The keyboard player can go quite fast on the one scale he knows but loses his way quickly and his phrasing is choppy and awkward - all the signs of someone playing with too much enthusiasm and not enough confidence.  

Drunken Maria is a very short song that could've done with being shorter.  I think it's a baritone sax that makes the arrangement interesting and the tune is peculiar and entertaining.  But once the words kick in, it just sounds like all the other songs.  Cut that second minute, or even replace it with a variation and they might've been onto something.

Love Can Tame The Wild offers a long overdue display of competency and I actually like it.  There is texture here and character.  The harmonies are well placed and balanced and the piano is quirky and interesting if still a little clumsy.

One star or two?  As far as likelihood that I'll return to this, it's one.  Yet, in spite of how much I disliked the sound, you can still see how much love has gone into this recording.  But giving points for effort sets a dangerous precedent.  When the arm returns to the cradle, this is just another 40 minutes I had to waste to get to one song.