Various Artists - Simla Beat (India beat ,1970-71) (Shadoks/2000)
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Artist: various
Album: simla beat (1970-71)
Released: 2000
Shadoks (006)
Genre: garage,psych
very obscure,very nice and interesting compilation from early 70's India.
this is defenitly a "must have",lay back and get a trip to mystic india in the late 60's to early 70's.
sound itself is average but lets let the music speak for itself
Simla Beat 70/71 is a collection of tracks from the All-India Simla Beat Contest, which was organized in the late-1960s by the India Tobacco Company. In an attempt to reach the youth market, the India Tobacco company billed itself as "the oldest cigarette company with a young heart" and tried to attach its brand name to rock music. The contest was first held in 1968 and became an annual event thereafter. As the contest grew, a subsidiary of EMI released the LP Simla Beat 70, which collected the winning tracks from the 1970 contest, and followed the next year with Simla Beat 71. A label ill-advisedly named Ten Little Indians reissued Simla Beat 70/71 as a double-LP in 1997, and Normal Records released this as a double-CD in 1999. Normal Records did a nice job of packaging the CD reissue of Simla Beat 70/71, but for some reason they chose not to add any information about the significance of the All-India Simla Beat Contest. This release includes the artwork and liner notes from the original LPs, but no further information. This is more than a little disappointing, as the original liner notes are not very informatiive, being more or less a commercial for the company that staged the event. From the information available, however, it's clear that this was a major event in Indian rock & roll. All in all, 13 bands representing nine Indian cities are featured on these discs, and the music on Simla Beat 70/71 is surprisingly Western sounding. Anyone expecting sitars and tabla drums is in for a shock, as most of the tracks feature a guitar-bass-drums-vocals lineup, and a number of the tracks are covers of American songs. Simla Beat 70 contains two Creedence Clearwater Revival covers ("Sinister Purpose" by the Dinosaurs, who were from Bangalore, and "Born on the Bayou" by the X'Lents, who were from Ahmedabad—presumably they weren't singing about the bayou in Ahmedabad!). Simla Beat 71 included a couple of blues covers, Skip James's "I'm So Glad" is covered by the Velvette Fogg and Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor", performed by the Hipnotic Eye. More than likely the Indian bands who recorded these songs had only heard the versions recorded by popular rock artists. Cream included "I'm So Glad" on the 1966 album Fresh and "Killing Floor" was the debut single of the Electric Flag in 1968, not to mention that Jimi Hendrix had performed this song at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Other songs on Simla Beat 70/71 make specific reference to psychedelia (the X'Lents recorded a track called "Psychedelia" and the Brood of Vipers perform "Psychedelic Web"). Psychedelic titles and band names aside, these tracks by and large are straightforward garage rock. This is not a criticism, as the tracks here are inspired recordings with a refreshing guitar-bass-drums-vocals simplicity. Having said that, easily the best track in this collection is the most "eastern" sounding one, "Simla Beat Theme" by the Fentones. "Simla Beat Theme" is a hipnotic instrumental track that increases in tempo and in intensity over four transcendent minutes. It's ironic that the Fentones achieved that "eastern" sound with a guitar-bass-drums arrangement that so many British and American bands were trying to achieve by adding a sitar to their sound. All in all, Simla Beat 70/71 is a good collection. The main criticism of the music here is that the Indian bands were perhaps trying to sound too American, but Simla Beat 70/71 is a fascinating release that is definitely worth searching for.
Track List:
Disc 1
1. Confusions - "Voice from the Inner Soul" (3:01)
2. Dinosaurs - "You Can't Beat It" (2:55)
3. X'Lents - "Psychedelia" (2:54)
4. Innerlite - "Zorba's Dance" (3:22)
5.Genuine Spares - "Proper Stranger" (3:47)
6. Genuine Spares - "What's Going On" (2:46)
7. Dinosaurs - "Sinister Purpose" (3:10)
8. Great Bear - "Mist" (7:19)
9. X'Lents - "Born on the Bayou" (4:15)
10.Innerlite - "Baby Baby Please" (2:26)
Disc 2
1. Fentones - "Simla Beat Theme" (4:11)
2. Eruptions - "I Am Gonna Erupt" (3:37)
3. Fentones - "Until the Dawn" (3:04)
4. Brood of Vipers - "Psychedelic Web" (5:21)
5. Eruptions - "You Can't Judge a Book" (3:03)
6. Hipnotic Eye - "Aimless Lady" (3:19)
7. Black Beats - "The Mod Trade" (3:01)
8. Nomads - "Nothing Is the Same" (5:07)
9. Hipnotic Eye - "Killing Floor" (2:42)
10. Mini Beats - "Hey Gipsy Girl" (3:05)
11.Velvette Fogg - "I Am So Glad" (7:45)
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