The Monks - The Early Years 1964 - 1965 [Remastered and Expanded]
2009 Light In The Attic. CD cat.#: LITA 041.
One of the strangest stories in rock history, the Monks were formed in the early '60s by American G.I.s stationed in Germany. After their discharge, the group stayed on in Germany as the Torquays, a fairly standard beat band. After changing their name to the Monks in the mid-'60s, they also changed their music, attitude, and appearance radically. Gone were standard oldie covers, replaced by furious, minimalist original material that anticipated the blunt, harsh commentary of the punk era. Their insistent rhythms recalled martial beats and polkas as much as garage rock, and the weirdness quotient was heightened by electric banjo, berserk organ runs, and occasional bursts of feedback guitar. To prove that they meant business, the Monks shaved the top of their heads and performed their songs -- crude diatribes about the Vietnam war, dehumanized society, and love/hate affairs with girls -- in actual monks' clothing.
This was pretty strong stuff for 1966 Germany, and their shocking repertoire and attire were received with more confusion than hostility or warm praise. Well known in Germany as a live act, their sole album and several singles didn't take off in a big way and were never released in the U.S., it was rumored, because the lyrical content was deemed too shocking. They disbanded in confusion around 1967, but their album -- one of the most oddball constructions in all of rock -- gained a cult following among collectors, and has ironically made them much more popular and influential on an international level than they were during their lifetime. Bassist Eddie Shaw's 1994 autobiography, Black Monk Time, is a fascinating narrative of the Monks' stranger-than-fiction story. (Richie Unterberger)
The Monks started life as five American GIs stationed in Germany, playing beat music together during downtime. After their discharge Gary Burger, Larry Clark, Dave Day, Eddie Shaw and Roger Johnston formed The Torquays, a band that only morphed into The Monks after a bit of conceptualising, stipulating that the group should become the "anti-Beatles", wearing robes and nooses around their necks (stealing the theatrical thunder from SunnO))) by forty years or so). Their imposing, dangerous image was only reinforced by their dark, propulsive sound, plating the seeds that would shape krautrock, proto-punk and psychedelic garage rock for years to come. This collection captures the build-up recordings to The Monks' epochal Black Monk Time, presenting the band at their very rawest, when they were still very much an unfinished product. This edition comes with the two bonus tracks 'There She Walks' and a very different sounding take on 'Boys Are Boys', both tracks played when they were The Five Torquays.
Today, "garage," "psych," and "punk" are three overused words to say the least. They're dropped from every direction to brand, market, and sell, but looking back to the mid-1960s, there was only one group of musical mavericks that clearly defined them. The Monks were five beat playing American GIs stationed in Germany who, after their discharge, decided to stay and continue their musical mission. Meeting up with a team of local managers, they transformed themselves and their sound into a holy racket like the world had never known. This five-person order literally birthed the above genres through a fuzz-drenched evolution of sound, bursting with social commentary and future primitive rhythms. Krautrock? It started here. Do we hear non-believers? We are NOT making this up. If you aren't already converted, it won't take long...
Light In The Attic is ecstatic to present the Monks recorded legacy through two lavishly packaged and lovingly researched reissues: The Early Years 1964-1965 as well as their landmark studio album Black Monk Time. Numerous period photographs (many unseen) and an extensive two-part essay by Canadian music journalist Kevin Howes (Jamaica - Toronto series) accompany both releases and tell the Monks story like it has never been told. Bonus material dating back to pre-Monks Torquays and up to post Black Monk Time 7"s are also included. From "Shut Up" to "Boys Are Boys"", "Complication" to "Cuckoo," worlds will collide before your very eyes. Press play, drop the needle, zone in, and see for yourself. And while there's no need to shave your head, you'll certainly flip your wig. Come on everybody, it's Monk Time! [Light In The Attic, Record Company]
Tracklist:
01. Monk Time 02:24
02. Love Came Tumblin' Down 03:03
03. Boys Are Boys 01:52
04. Space Age 02:40
05. We Do Wie Du 02:42
06. I Hate You 03:57
07. Pretty Suzanne 03:48
08. Higgle-Dy - Piggle-Dy 04:13
09. Hushie Pushie 02:57
10. Oh, How To Do Now 02:56
11. Boys Are Boys [The Five Torquays] 03:05
12. There She Walks [The Five Torquays] 02:36
Playing time: 36:19
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