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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
At first listen, I wasn't sure what to make of this record. It seemed to be going in various direction. And after the bombast and wall of noise in tracks like Tattva, Hey Dude, Govinda, Mystical Machine Gun, etc, well, I was expecting more of the same.
After giving it a second and third listen, I "got it". I didn't need to hear more of the same - but what I heard I fell in love with.
Make no mistake - this is Mills and Bevan at their swirling, powerful, 60's/70's fueled musical soundscape creating best. But this is an older, wiser, smarter band - a band that spent 7 months on the road learning how to play together again - a band that learned what it means to kick back and jam (and like few can do, make it SOUND like you're sitting down, sipping a top-shelf drink, and _feeling_ the groove in a nice, comfortable dark bar).
Mills still can snarl and seduce - sometimes in back to back verses. But while he still throws a few political barbs in, he does it with a sense of humor and a laid-back attitude. He isn't taking it so seriously anymore - and to great effect. Some critics (like the perception-first rag NME) tossed this album off as an also-ran band, making fun of Great Dictator -- but they've missed the point. It's meant to be silly, it's meant to be tongue in cheek. And fun. It has a point, but we're not going to lose sleep over it.
The influences are all over the place. McCartney. Lennon. Dylan. Floyd. 90's Britrock. and Old Kula Shaker. But they pull it off - they don't sound like they're copying anyone's sound. And the album gets stronger as it goes on.
The only real 'miss' is the title track; but it's more of an intermission than a song.
Highlights:
Out on the Highway - a great potential single - nice beat to get your feet tapping and head bobbing.
Second Sight - produced by Sam Williams, I sort of hear a bit of The Animalhouse here; great power track.
Song Of Love / Narayana - What can I say - this is Kula Shaker - the Indian instruments blend in nicely; the Indian chorus is quite trippy. Well put together. A major highlight.
Shadowlands - This one has a Lennon-esque feel. Nice, soft, melodic track.
Fool That I Am - oh, this one is neat. Nice classic rock poppy vibe, with a real neat hard organ that sounds like Doors.
Also fantastic Die For Love (a faster track in the Shadowlands vein) and Hurricane Season (evokes a bit of Dylan and Folk)...
Overall - *****. A return to form. A tight band. The production is fantastic, the recording's clean and the production is well balanced.
Give it a listen or three - I guarantee you'll fall in love with it.
After giving it a second and third listen, I "got it". I didn't need to hear more of the same - but what I heard I fell in love with.
Make no mistake - this is Mills and Bevan at their swirling, powerful, 60's/70's fueled musical soundscape creating best. But this is an older, wiser, smarter band - a band that spent 7 months on the road learning how to play together again - a band that learned what it means to kick back and jam (and like few can do, make it SOUND like you're sitting down, sipping a top-shelf drink, and _feeling_ the groove in a nice, comfortable dark bar).
Mills still can snarl and seduce - sometimes in back to back verses. But while he still throws a few political barbs in, he does it with a sense of humor and a laid-back attitude. He isn't taking it so seriously anymore - and to great effect. Some critics (like the perception-first rag NME) tossed this album off as an also-ran band, making fun of Great Dictator -- but they've missed the point. It's meant to be silly, it's meant to be tongue in cheek. And fun. It has a point, but we're not going to lose sleep over it.
The influences are all over the place. McCartney. Lennon. Dylan. Floyd. 90's Britrock. and Old Kula Shaker. But they pull it off - they don't sound like they're copying anyone's sound. And the album gets stronger as it goes on.
The only real 'miss' is the title track; but it's more of an intermission than a song.
Highlights:
Out on the Highway - a great potential single - nice beat to get your feet tapping and head bobbing.
Second Sight - produced by Sam Williams, I sort of hear a bit of The Animalhouse here; great power track.
Song Of Love / Narayana - What can I say - this is Kula Shaker - the Indian instruments blend in nicely; the Indian chorus is quite trippy. Well put together. A major highlight.
Shadowlands - This one has a Lennon-esque feel. Nice, soft, melodic track.
Fool That I Am - oh, this one is neat. Nice classic rock poppy vibe, with a real neat hard organ that sounds like Doors.
Also fantastic Die For Love (a faster track in the Shadowlands vein) and Hurricane Season (evokes a bit of Dylan and Folk)...
Overall - *****. A return to form. A tight band. The production is fantastic, the recording's clean and the production is well balanced.
Give it a listen or three - I guarantee you'll fall in love with it.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Whenever a band reforms after years of non-existence, there is a lot of scepticism around. A lot of suspicion that the guys came back to collect some additional money while riding on the glory of the past. While this can be true sometimes, the reunion of the Kula Shaker boys is of a different kind. On the contrary, it would have been a crime for people, who have music flowing in their veins, not to come back. And the result? Another masterpiece of the sonic universe of Kula Shaker: Indian mantras, Sanskrit texts, the Hammond organs immersed in the sea of guitars. Strangefolk.
The album kicks off with the sad magnetic rock of "Out on the Highway". Sad tunes mix with mysticism in "Second Sight", which in addition features Hammond, as if taken directly from "Child in Time" of Deep Purple. The album slows down in "Die for Love", a dark and emotional piece about war. Gloomy mood put away, the topic continues in an anti-Bush "A Great Dictator (of a Free World)". The teenage riot and irony of the song is much superior to that of "How Much Do You Suck?" (of the Jeevas, a previous group of Crispian Mills, the leader of Kula Shaker) on the same topic. "I'm a dic-, a dic-, a dictator, dictator of the free world - come on!". Mysticism returns in "Strangefolk", a scary story about death, read by a robot voice in the background of Indian music, and blooms in "Song of Love (Narayana)", a simple, but hypnotizing tune. The album loses its pace for the next four songs. After a peaceful "Shadowlands", comes "Fool that I am", a love song and another song in a minor tune. "Hurricane season" contemplates about the cruelty of hurricane Katrina with yet another interlude of 70s rock. "Ol' Jack Tar" finally puts an end to sad mood. Being one of the best songs on the album, it stays on the same key 70% of the time. In "6ft down", hard rock rhythms and distorted guitars take their turn. We can take a brief rest in a psychedelic "Dr. Kitt", and then there's an announcement by a French woman: "Et maintenant, en exclusivite, pour votre plus grand plaisir, une titre bonus!" which makes you laugh. The album finishes energetically with a fun "Super CB Operator" and leaves us with a wish to replay the whole album once and once again.
I only hope that this is not the last album of Kula Shaker.
Welcome back!
The album kicks off with the sad magnetic rock of "Out on the Highway". Sad tunes mix with mysticism in "Second Sight", which in addition features Hammond, as if taken directly from "Child in Time" of Deep Purple. The album slows down in "Die for Love", a dark and emotional piece about war. Gloomy mood put away, the topic continues in an anti-Bush "A Great Dictator (of a Free World)". The teenage riot and irony of the song is much superior to that of "How Much Do You Suck?" (of the Jeevas, a previous group of Crispian Mills, the leader of Kula Shaker) on the same topic. "I'm a dic-, a dic-, a dictator, dictator of the free world - come on!". Mysticism returns in "Strangefolk", a scary story about death, read by a robot voice in the background of Indian music, and blooms in "Song of Love (Narayana)", a simple, but hypnotizing tune. The album loses its pace for the next four songs. After a peaceful "Shadowlands", comes "Fool that I am", a love song and another song in a minor tune. "Hurricane season" contemplates about the cruelty of hurricane Katrina with yet another interlude of 70s rock. "Ol' Jack Tar" finally puts an end to sad mood. Being one of the best songs on the album, it stays on the same key 70% of the time. In "6ft down", hard rock rhythms and distorted guitars take their turn. We can take a brief rest in a psychedelic "Dr. Kitt", and then there's an announcement by a French woman: "Et maintenant, en exclusivite, pour votre plus grand plaisir, une titre bonus!" which makes you laugh. The album finishes energetically with a fun "Super CB Operator" and leaves us with a wish to replay the whole album once and once again.
I only hope that this is not the last album of Kula Shaker.
Welcome back!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I got hold of advance copy of this album and its a great comeback, well worth waiting the six years since the 2001 release of Peasants Pigs and Astronauts.
It has all the trade marks of classic Kula Shaker with some progression of sound, fans are gonna love it. I was lucky enough to see them play live last week in Shepherds Bush and they were awesome, a must see, cant wait to see them in Cambridge in October.
Highlights of this album well there are many delights, they have included two tracks from the Revenge of the King EP, Great Dictator (Of The Free World) & 6ft Down Blues, my personal favourites are Song Of Love/narayana, Shadowlands, Fool That I Am, but they are all good.
The UK release is not until August, but its released in the US now, so its worth trying to buy an import early.
Great return for the Kula Shaker boys, long may they run, buy the album, go see them, you won't be dissapointed!!!
It has all the trade marks of classic Kula Shaker with some progression of sound, fans are gonna love it. I was lucky enough to see them play live last week in Shepherds Bush and they were awesome, a must see, cant wait to see them in Cambridge in October.
Highlights of this album well there are many delights, they have included two tracks from the Revenge of the King EP, Great Dictator (Of The Free World) & 6ft Down Blues, my personal favourites are Song Of Love/narayana, Shadowlands, Fool That I Am, but they are all good.
The UK release is not until August, but its released in the US now, so its worth trying to buy an import early.
Great return for the Kula Shaker boys, long may they run, buy the album, go see them, you won't be dissapointed!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Prompt
The CD arrived very quickly and was in good condition. All in all a good service. Its a good album too!
Published 22 months ago by Jason Graham
What the track order of Strangefolk should be, in my humble opinion
Following my review of Strangefolk by Kula Shaker, I have thought about choosing a new order for the songs on this album, because amazing as this sounds, I am convinced that the... Read more
Published 23 months ago by R. Arnold
Kula Shaker sound completely re-energised,
AFTER a lengthy time away from the music industry, Crispian Mills and Kula Shaker return with their first new material in six years and immediately impress with their expert blend... Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2010 by P. Frizelle
One i could listen to
Hitting my 50s and getting into updating my back catalogue so in between the olde stuff from Zep, Killing Joke, Hawkwind, Marleys and relative newbies like Satriani and Bonamassa... Read more
Published on 21 May 2009 by J. P. Oneill
More indian next time Crispain please !
Just got this and played it four times. Yes it's another great album. Crispian and the boys show how it should be done again, showing the current batch of so-called popular bands... Read more
Published on 6 May 2008 by K. L. Smith
Better Late than Never
An almost seamless continuation of where the band were heading before their disappearence after their second album. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2008 by A. Hogg
Album of 2007
This is my album of 2007. I may be a tiny weeny bit biased as i loved Kula Shaker the first time around, and have pretty much dreamt of them reforming for the best part of a... Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2008 by WaitingForTheTide
The Strangefolk Dig It!
Strangefolk is a well conceived and executed album with the potential to be more widely appreciated - I just hope the mainstream press reviews of the album and the band in general... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2007 by A. Kalsi
At first I wasn't sure.......?
I'll try to be brief and not go through it song by song because plenty here have.
On first listen I wasn't sure, my expectations were high because I love their previous work... Read more
On first listen I wasn't sure, my expectations were high because I love their previous work... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2007 by A. K. Denman
There's nowt as fab as strangefolk
A welcome return indeed! If you're a fan of their earlier stuff then you will not be disappointed with this! Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2007 by Maid of Sugar
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