[.ca] Lets Start A Beat! Live From

The latest in a series of Monks triumphs:
Go away if you're expecting "Chant" -- this kind of Monk music is meaty and primal. It's taken 30-odd years for the Monks to get their due. They started out in the mid-60's as five ex-GIs in Germany with a drive to create unheard-of music. While the rest of the musical world was drifting toward trippy, loose feel-goodery, the Monks were belting out dark, forbidding, earthy music. After releasing a lone-wolf masterpiece of an album and a single or two, they disbanded and faded toward obscurity. Happily, thanks to some first-rate reissues as well as bassist Eddie Shaw's book "Black Monk Time," the Monks are enjoying a resurrection. This CD documents their first gigs in decades, two stellar shows at the Cavestomp! fest in NYC in '99. I was privileged to be there while the Monks belted out their "over-beat" to an adoring crowd, and I'm happy to say that the CD captures the sweaty feel of these shows. All of the original members were present, and none of them had lost a lick in all these years... Their driving, primal beat had lost none of its edge. While most reunion-tour albums sound like sterile, phony revues, this one is genuine.

The Monks are Back!:
This is a great opportunity to hear this legendary group live...It is even rougher sounding than "Black Monk Time" and even the '65 demos! Of course that's all the charm of the group....Great videos on the enhanced track as well...

The Monks ROCK!...:
They are definitely one of the best of a dying breed of rock bands that played with heart, soul and passion. This is more than a live CD of some band from the 60s playing again after their heyday just for the money. The Monks were ex-GIs who got together and played for the LOVE of it. Thoughtful, rockin' songs with interesting musical touches permeate their sound. American Records put out a compilation of their earlier work, a few years ago, and now that seems to be out of print or something. So this winds up being one of the few albums available that showcases their unique sound and intentionally short career (or kinda like a live best of). What's cool about this CD is that it contains a bonus computer Enhanced video of them playing some songs at 1999's Cavestomp bash in NYC. So if you like your Rock N Roll well played, smart and rockin' then I recommend this CD. P.S.- If you loved the Stooges or the MC5 check these guys out.

Back to the water, boys, land stinks!:
Okay, it's a comeback album. Scary propositon, right? Reunion gigs usually fail to live up to dangerously high expectations. This is one time it works. The Monks deliver a fantastic set that finally allows listeners to understand how overbeat sounded in Germany's beer drenched clubs circa '66. The Monks are the main proponents and orginators of minimalism and devolution. Hence the title in this review. This is as raw and simple as it gets. Ramones, eat yer hearts out! Most garage fans are analog snobs etc. Modern technology actually captures what Monk music sounded like live. The entire band is an organic rhythm section. Some of this stuff absolutely smokes the BLACK MONK TIME VERSIONS, especially SHUT UP. The song is so heavy it would make Metallica blush. Admittedly, the album takes a while to get cooking. Around CUCKOO, we have ignition. From there on, this album stakes a claim to enter the fabled live albums Hall of Fame. By the end of this CD, you might be willing to place it alongside LIVE YARDBIRDS! FEATURING JIMMY PAGE, JERRY LEE LEWIS LIVE AT THE STAR CLUB and AC/DC's IF YOU WANT BLOOD YOU'VE GOT IT as one of the best live albums ever. It's certainly doesn't tarnish the Monks recorded legacy as a previous reviewer suggests. It's a fitting epitath for the Monks, should they never play again. And it's the only document as to what overbeat sounds and looks like live (unless you get your hands on the German t.v. footage from '66). The CD is enhanced with videos from the comeback show They are simply stellar.

A major disappointment:
What a shame. When The Monks performed this live in 1999, they hadnt played together in 30 years. Most of them looked to be nearing social security age and with all that in mind, they played admirably well and gave it 100% (and were delightfully gracious to their audience, young bands take note!). Unfortunately, this album does not even approach the magic of that performance, the original album or the wonderfully packaged original demos that came out last year. This album lacks energy, drive and conviction. What it sounds like is exactly what is is, a group of rusty players who are giving it their all for an adoring crowd, but knowing full well that they arent where they were. For a live event this is a fine. But do we need a record of it? Making matters worse is the album is so overdone with blatanly obvious (almost laughably obvious) after-the-fact studio-fix-ups that any life that was initially captured on tape sounds laborously recreated and ultimately stiff. With the other two superior Monk releases available (albeit hard to find) this is a rotten introduction to the band, and of little interest to the casual listener. I guess it's for die hard fans and completists. But it really does not serve the memory of the band well. They sound like, dare I say, an oldies act (the packaging does not help this cause either). A pity that this is possibly the final document of The Monks. But I suppose it was worth a try.

• Monk Time
• Oh, How to Do Now
• We Do Wie Du
• Boys Are Boys
• Pretty Suzanne
• Hushie Pushie
• Cuckoo
• Complication
• That's My Girl
• Shut Up
• I Can't Get over You
• Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy
• Blast Off!
• I Hate You
• Monk Jam
• Inspirational Message