Black Monk Time
by Monks (US)

The 5th ???

jibberish party punk

From 2nd-Impressions 12/15/2020 21:06 | #262747

69/100

Best tracks: Shut Up, Love Came Tumblin' Down
Worst tracks: I Hate You, Oh How to Do Now, We Do Wie Du

This album was referred to me by a friend who knew that I would be fascinated by the story of the band. My hypothesis is that this album was actually recorded in 1976 and shipped back in time to the 60s. Trust me when I say nothing else sounds like this in 1966. And I mean that in both a good and bad way.

From teague 05/06/2020 23:28 | #251011

Other than helping pioneer a genre, this album doesn't do too much. The performances are very underwhelming, the singing is pretty awful. Also, this album has no business having banjo on it, it sounds dinky. I am not impressed. I have to give them credit for helping influence punk rock, but The Stooges and The Velvet Underground made much better and interesting music. Another thing, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators came out the same year. I feel like they helped pioneer more with the solitary single You're Gonna Miss Me than any of Black Monk Time.

From mdbaxter 10/29/2019 15:37 | #244247 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I was blown away by this album. With or without context it's a great album but given the fact that this came out in 1966, it's incredible. I don't know how much of an impact it had on music because of its limited commercial success but it is raw and gritty before anything else was. The electric sound of the album sounds like something you'd hear on White Light/White Heat but the vocals are more akin to a Beach Boys type band. The lyrical content is like a mix between the two. The songs all sound pretty similar to each other but I don't think that's a knock on it because there was literally nothing else that sounded like any of these songs when they came out. I wish this album would get more attention because I really think it's an important benchmark in popular music. "Shut Up" is my favorite song on the album but I like every single one. The bonus track, "Pretty Suzanne", is also very worth listening to.

From mozzmozz 05/13/2018 19:51 | #214765

How come I haven't heard of this album until now ... 52 years after its release?
It's Punk, before Punk existed. It's Garage Rock ... before Garage Rock existed. It's Krautrock ... before Krautrock existed.
And a tinge of psychedelia .. an early adopter.
10th best album of 1966. Should be higher I think.

From planetneutral 01/07/2018 20:15 | #204887

Wasn't feeling this at first, but its eclectic variety grew on me

Very weird cultural artifact. The closest the 60s came to punk was a created by an eccentric German nudging a group of American GIs who really just wanted to be the Beatles.

Groundbreaking