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Rating: It was 1995 when Crispian Mills and Alonza Bevan, founders of "The Kays" (with two EPs to their credit), decided it was time to get serious. Mills' journey to India had profoundly changed his approach to music already with the Kays, but the psychedelia he drew from so heavily had not yet attracted any media interest.
Then the name change to Kula Shaker and the release of "K" represent one of the most thunderous entrances of a group into the British rock-pop scene that I can remember, perhaps surpassed only by "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns N' Roses, but in a completely different environment. Raise your hand if you haven't danced at least once to the rhythm of "Tattva" or "Govinda"...
The mix was perfect: the oriental influences of Indian mysticism, the scent of incense permeating every track, the targeted nods to the "untouchable" music of the sixties (little additions in the style of George Harrison, ceremonial to Gerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead), a constant semi-distorted funky guitar line and the possibility of being considered sophisticated music even if based on melodies as simple as they are contagious quickly won over the very picky English audience first and then the rest of the world.
Then the cover of Hush by the Purple and then... nothing until 1999, the year of this album's release.
A very difficult gestation and the usual problem of the second album. I could mention a thousand and one bands that got lost when facing the challenge of the second album. I won't because otherwise someone might be offended, and I already get enough emails with threats of persecution from fans I’ve made angry.
But the reality is that this group also miserably failed the "test of truth."
The album actually starts well: "Great Hosannah," so close to Blind Melon and "Mystical Machine Gun Man" are respectable tracks that literally make you "Kulo Shakerare" (forgive me the terrible neologism...), but that's almost all there is. A few Indian suggestions, some well-produced sounds are not enough to disguise persistent structural shortcomings, even if there is a decent arrangement. In fact, sometimes the arrangement is too present, too pronounced, to the point of achieving the opposite effect: rather than camouflaging the lack of inventiveness, it reflects it more.
"S.O.S." recalls King Crimson and the Purple, but Mill, with all due respect, is neither Fripp nor Blackmore. "Radhe Radhe" is not even properly a song if not a little world music Indian chorus, the subsequent and very brief "I'm Still Here" seems like a draft to Lennon's '70s lyrics, but if you can't be Fripp, imagine trying to be Lennon!
A decent moment with "Shower Your Love" where the echo of the Beatles' "Revolver" strongly resonates, followed by "108 Battles (of the Mind)" which enjoys good freshness and vitality and then nothing more, another 5 tracks plus the inevitable ghost song of total uselessness.
The impression that arises is that, as usual, when spontaneity is lacking in one's work, one always ends up seeking solutions by trying to think "like Lennon" or "what would Harrison or Garcia do." But if you struggle to soften the very knowledgeable and spoiled English audience with your independence and creativity, it certainly won't be by improperly appropriating others' moves that you'll manage to hold back the boos.
In fact, this work will go almost unnoticed, also due to the mistake of waiting so long after the previous release, and Kula will, before disbanding, find themselves with the annoying "cult band" label, which is an elegant way of saying the album "sucked!"
I wanted to listen to it again after a couple of years to see if I had formed the wrong idea, but I assure you, I wasn't far from the truth: the album in question is little more than nothing and does not justify further listens. Now I'll take it off: darn, where is that Bowie record I had put right there...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Great Hosannah (06:07)
If we stand here together
And we see the world as one
We may think there's no future
But it's the same for everyone
It's like the world has lost its head
And it's like all the prophets said
But will we arise to a new world
If we stand here together
We can laugh at what we've done
All our time has been wasted
And there's nowhere left to run
There may be trouble up ahead
Will we be sleeping in our beds
Or will we arise to a new world
Look for signs and portents
I'm looking for a reason to believe
Will we arise in our time
At the dawn of another meaning
Will we awake at the break of a great hosannah
Well if there's nothing left to do
Just hold your breath and hope it's true
That we'll arise
02 Mystical Machine Gun (05:41)
Alien identities don't hide your pretty face from me,
You awoke to the riddle of your life but no-one was there for you,
Open to where you first began as a nicotine junkie, singing for a kodacam,
Are you glad to see how far you've come?
You're a wizard in a blizzard,
A mystical machine gun!
Watch the skies,
For the mystical machine gunfire.
Alien identities don't hide that special place from me,
You walked through a fire with a ten headed lion and turned on your destiny,
Open up, forget your life,
Breathe in, breathe out, retain a sense of suicide,
Are you glad to see how far you've come?
You're a wizard in a blizzard,
A mystical machine gun!
Watch the skies,
For the mystical machine gunfire.
Well you've got to be stronger now than them,
Now you've got to be strong
You'll be singing the song of life 'til then,
You'll just have to be strong.
03 S.O.S. (02:54)
Blood transfusion, revolution,
Satellites on Mars,
Man became the spawn of Satan,
Driving round in cars.
I read the news but the news didn't fascinate,
I stayed at home, watched the media ejaculate.
This is the age of decay and hipocrisy,
Sometimes I feel like the world isn't ready for me.
Every time I turn a microscopic worm is telling me he's it,
Dressed in robes of cosmic ego, crawling around in shit.
I read the news but the news didn't fascinate,
I stayed at home, watched the media ejaculate.
This is the age of decay and hipocrisy,
Sometimes I feel like the world isn't ready for me.
04 Radhe Radhe (02:49)
Radhe, radhe, radhe,
Jay, jay, jay sri radhe
(Repeat ad infinitum)
06 Shower Your Love (03:39)
Shower your love on me
Don't make it so hard to cry
Shower your love on me
You don't need a reason why
'Cos I'm not even half the way there
But I'm just too stupid to care
So help me now
Before I'm trough
The scenes in my open mind
Confusion and flashing lights
Shower your love on me
Cos nothing here feels right
Cos I'm not even half the way there
But I'm just too stupid to care
So help me now
I've done all I can do
Shower your love on me
I can't wait, I'm losing faith
Like we may just explode
Comfort me with a melody
Show me that I'm gonna know the answer
Show me that I'm gonna know
08 Sound of Drums (04:27)
I hear the sound of drums on a melody, I hear the sound of drums,
Well singing the names above in the city, yeah, revolution for fun
I feel the time has come like a remedy, I feel the time has come,
We're shaking the spear of love in the city, yeah, I hear the sound of drums
Yeah, yeah, can you feel the love for me, yeah yeah
I feel the time has come, I hear the sound of drums
I hear the sound of drums on a melody, calling me to return,
Well light up and catch the sun, 'cause its gonna be revolution for fun
Yeah, yeah, can you feel the love for me, yeah, yeah
I feel the time has come, I hear the sound of drums, drums
Well I feel the time has come with a melody, I see the golden one,
Well I'm not the only one with the remedy, I'm not the only one
I feel the time has come, I hear the sound of drums, drums
09 Timeworm (04:02)
Oh brother please
We are born to this world again
How can we see
When we're travelling in time
Love is the key
And the key is the name my friend
When will we see that we're
Travelling in time
Know that your soul
Is on fire
Like a million suns
Burn like a star
And be travelling in time
10 Last Farewell (02:46)
If We Stand Here Together
We May Say Our Last Farewell
To The Lives Of Illusion
And the Time We Spent in Hell
Will We Arise In Our Time
At The Dawn Of Another Meaning
And A Great Hossanah
The Great Hossanah
The Great Hossanah
The Great Hossanah
11 Golden Avatar (04:29)
Well I called you the keeper of my heart
'Cos I felt that you'd been there waiting
From the start, From the start yeah
Well you said "Do you remember who you are?
Did you know you fell from heaven like a star?"
Would we like to be that way again?
Born beside a holy river
Darkened moon eclipsed the future
Your name is gold forever
Your name is gold forever
Well they call you the golden avatar
But nobody really knows you as you are
And we'd like to see you shine
Yeah we'd like to see you shine
I can see by the light that you shine on me
If I could surrender tomorrow
But the flames of fire inviting me
Are sending me further and further away
Further and further and further
And further away
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