Customer Reviews

Five Upstart Americans

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It was wonderful to be able to get my hands on more Monks material besides _Black_Monk_Time_. This CD is mostly demo versions of songs from that album. They are more rough and simplistic, but that was always the appeal of the Monks in the first place! It was especially interesting to hear the progression of "Boys Are Boys" from the Five Torquays version (a bonus track on this disc from before the band was called the Monks) to the Monks' demo version to the album version. More stuff to make you grin/sneer out of purely delighted mischief!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, punk rock existed before the Sex Pistols, Iggy, and the MC5. I'm not forgetting The Wailers and The Sonics, or even the divine status of Jerry McCain and the hundreds, nay, thousands of gracious imitators of Esquerita, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry via T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan and Wynonie Harris. You must think of the obscure yet wholly groundbreaking originality of a Clarence "Pine Top" Smith to truly appreciate the monumental achievement of Five Upstart Americans. If you do, you have found the meaning of life.

You thought "Black Monk Time" was it? You thought wrong! The Monks had all the demos (plus some unreleased tunes) waiting in a bank vault for thirty years. Now it's time to see them in all their stripped down glory. "Five Upstart Americans" makes "Black Monk Time" look like "Sergeant Pepper's."

My gosh, what can I say about these guys? I went from not knowing who they were about four months ago to having them become one of my favorite bands of all time! Discovering The Monks was like finding some type of Holy Grail. I first saw these guys in late February on You Tube and flipped! I immediately ordered "Black Monk Time" and had my mind blown, you mean this was released in 1966? Are you kidding me?! Now in May I've finally got "Five Upstart Americans" and I've fallen in love all over again!

The only problem I have with the album is that I JUST WISH THERE WAS MORE! At only 12 tracks it's a little skimpy but it satisfies none the less. It's way fun to hear the songs off "Black Monk Time" in slightly different versions. These demo versions are just as compelling in their own ways; they are more hypnotic, tribal, and primitive than the more polished (but more aggressive) versions that appear on "Black Monk Time." The two major gems on this CD are "Pretty Suzanne" and "Hushie Pushie." The former is absolutely beautiful, with a chording like "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher. All Gary Burger sings in the song is the title repeatedly but it features some of his most awesome vocalizing. "Hushie Pushie" is "Tiger Rag" in a slightly different arrangement. It's totally upbeat, catchy and will have you kicking up your heels! The two pre-Monks' tracks featured at the end are interesting. You'll hear their weirdness surfacing on these songs too.

Get "Black Monk Time" and then get "Five Upstart Americans" because everyone needs to hear The Monks, whether they end up liking them or not. For me personally, I didn't mind the expensive price tags on either (both are hard to find). The Monks are worth your money and your time!

Wow. This stuff is so primitive it makes the Flat Duo Jets sound like the Beach Boys during the "Pet Sounds" sessions. A fascinating alternate look at many of the songs that went onto "Black Monk Time," this is a must get for punk/garage fans. Iggy and the Stooges, eat yer hearts out.

Not as together as BLACK MONK TIME, nor as manic and hopped-up as the live stuff which slipped out on some of those Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium compilations, this is a fascinating look at the early Monks as a collective work-in-progress. Larry's signature churchy organ intro to every single song, you can imagine the arguments that went down before those came out for good. Gary's still not entirely sure how to howl/scream the songs, he's still singing them half the time. It's rave-up and I'm sure it sounded/worked a hell of a lot better live than comes across here. Nonetheless they rock like NOBODY else could, and when they're on, you feel it to your spinal cord.

Not essential, but damn close. It's beat time! It's hop time! It's monk time!

Hushie Pushie ? Pretty Suzanne ? Unreleased tracks from the greatest band in the world ? Buy this immediatly ! If you don't already have BLACK MONK TIME, shame on you . read the book and sorry if you missed the Monks at Cavestomp . One of the best shows of my life .

this is just the proto- type for what was about to come.