Monk - Rare undiscovered UK 60s / 70s psych prog acetate - Full Album!
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- Apparently you can't always get what you want. But that ain't so bad.
This is an absurdly obscure psych / prog acetate which I found most unexpectedly in 2005 in a charity shop in Camberwell, London. It was hidden away in the cover of a highly generic poptastic sleeve for The Mike Morton Congregation's not particularly sought after 'Non Stop Hits - Volume 4'. The only reason I looked at it was because the contents felt a bit chunkier than usual - and I'm pleased I did. I'm not sure Mike's LPs are great sellers in charityland, so in all likelihood, if I hadn't found it, this music would likely be lying underground in about 5000 jagged shards beneath a tip somewhere on the outskirts of the capital.
It was priced at £1 but I think (to my eternal shame) I managed to acquire the record for 50p, as I pointed out to the cashier it was scratched. If you listen to it all the way through, you'll hear that it was an incredible bargain, as I probably got £1000 rather than 50p worth of scratches for my small change. Plus more skips than your average primary school playground on lunchbreak.
The record bears an IBC studios label, which is not insignificant. IBC (International Broadcasting Company) studios were used by a succession of A-list sixties musos, including such luminaries as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Kinks, mod gods The Action and a lesser group known as The Beatles. As such - and given there are some interesting production flourishes on the record - it'd be very interesting to learn about the talent involved, and why the record doesn't appear to have been released.
Content-wise, the LP is pleasingly eclectic. It ranges from flirtations with pastoral folkism - 'House In The Country' through trippy sound collage - 'Fantasy 2' - to ballsy rock - 'Lover' - and the pulsing reverberations of 'And So To Bed' '. 'Don't Talk To Me' is transcendent heavy cosmic prog. Datewise, I'm guessing this was recorded 1968-73? Given the name of the artist, and track titles like 'The Beast' and 'Jesu', I suspect that this might be a concept album too, and that the group could be of a religious inclination - but there's nothing else to evidence this.
I'd be delighted to learn more about the music and the group - who from the evidence herein were a talented bunch and invested a lot of effort in this.
Apologies for the more than occasional pops / skips / jumps - and the irritating grinding background noise throughout side 2. Sadly the record has suffered some audible abuse! But the band plays on ...
So, through a audio haze of sizzling bacon, here's what is likely to be the premiere release of this curio.
Tracklist:
A1 Fantasy 1: The Journey - 00:00
A2 Sit Back, Relax
A3 House In The Country
A4 Lazy Day
A5 A Light In The Window
A6 Fantasy 2: The Beast
B1 Jesu - 23:13
B2 Lover
B3 And So To Bed
B4 Intermezzo
B5 Don't Talk About Me
B6 Through An Electric Glass Darkly
Hi fans. Some exciting developments. It's (REISSUE) MONK TIME!
The acetate has been remastered and issued by a fledgling new label, as their debut release.
Titled 'Through An Electric Glass Darkly', it's a vinyl only edition of 227 copies, made in the UK with a nifty inner sleeve. The sound is immeasurably superior to the clip uploaded here, and all of the surface noise / jumps have been fixed. Hearing it without the oppressive distortion makes a massive difference, and we can now fully appreciate the intriguingly trippy artifact that it is!
I am therefore pleased to officially declare this album as ... open to your enjoyment.
Since transcribed lyrics are supplied, it's also suitable for use during psychedelic karaoke sessions, sit-ins, turn-ons and other enlightened functions.
Thanks for all your generous comments and likes since I initially posted this video. These have encouraged the label to proceed with the restoration, and I'm really pleased that Monk is now going to be accessible to a discerning global audience (yes, I mean YOU), rather than a delicate bit of plastic gathering dust in my 5 x 5 Expedit.
The additional copies mean that is unlikely the record will ever be 'lost' again, guaranteeing Hans Pokora and Record Collector are sure to belatedly notice, and add it to the canonical scrolls of rockprogpsych etc etc. Immortality assured!
If you would like your own copy of Monk on vinyl, it's available from Discogs at:
www.discogs.com/release/26887976-Monk-Through-An-Electric-Glass-Darkly
Keep on digging the psychedelic unknowns!
Great news this has been reissued! Certainly going to buy it. Out of curiosity: Was your acetate the one which was seriously cleaned up for this reissue?
@@JohnBlutarski yes.
This is amazing news! Thank you so much for keeping this album alive and the band in peoples memory! I remember when I first stumbled onto this upload a few years back, whilst on a very interesting experience with a "friend" called Lucy, and I ended up feeling such a way I've never felt before. Sat outside my little flat at about half 3am staring into the sky, the last cigarette left, watching the few trees in my neighbors back garden swaying in the early morning summer wind. The album ends up almost bringing me to tears whenever I hear it as a result of the experience, and to be able to own a physical copy to cherish and enjoy just fills me with such deep joy. Thank you again my friend!
Thanks for the inspiring words. I hope you pick up a copy of the reissue and preserve those golden musical memories in amber! It would be great if the originators of the Monk LP emerge from the shadows and eventually receive their dues for bringing us these instants of mystique and merriment from their crackly time capsule.
Brilliant acetate! Amazing group with beautiful compositions and fine vocal !!!
They are master musician! With some patience, will came the day that we know their names!
masterpiece
Very Interesting Phycadelic and Or Progressive Rock!
Excellent find
Great thanks ❤
Amazing
No hype: If you like early prog -this is worth while, and the scratches have been removed without detriment
NICE
Perhaps Glyn Johns could shed some light?
could you post a download link?
You don't need a download link to access it... Just use one of the free websites that lets you convert UA-cam audio to a downloadable MP3. Should only take a few minutes.
@@undercoverwoo i know, i just want it without the extra youtube compression
Thought they meant Theolonious Monk, the legendary jazz pianist. What a disappointment.
Cause Thelonius Monk is considered rare psych/prog- that mustve been the confusion?
I've heard rumours that 'the other' Monk's apocryphal psychjazzprog opus is inscribed on a deteriorating master tape, secreted away in a vast 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' styled Blue Note archive situated at a junction of ley lines somewhere in the Mojave desert. The label is written in Coptic script which is why nobody has identified it yet. Get digging! (Although earnestly I'd be quite excited to hear more trippy psych jazz weirdness a la Freddie Hubbard etc....!)