Black Monks Time – MONKS*

Monk Time/Shut Up/Boys Are Boys & Girls Are Choice/Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy/I Hate You/Oh How To Do Now/ Complication/We Do Wie Du/Drunken Maria/Love Came Tumblin’ Down/Blast Off/That’s My Girl

Black Monks Time was the only album from primitive experimental group The Monks. Their sound included rhythmic repetitions peppered with outlandish vocals. A toxic mixture considered avant-garde by some but monotonously tedious by many others.

“They were the anti-Beatles; when everyone grew their hair long and started wearing colourful threads, they cut their hair short, shaved tonsures into their skulls and wore sombre black. When The Beatles and others were singing love songs, The Monks were singing I Hate You and Complication.”

“This album is terrible on so many levels. Every song sounds the same, only the lyrics are different and the vocals are unbelievably bad. Definitely one of the most overrated albums.”

“Surely it has to be some kind of unpleasant joke to regard this as a record ahead of its time. This is only an awful, and unbearable, rock & roll mish-mash.”

“The Monks based their sound on primitive tom-tom rhythms, bursts of guitar feedback, fuzz bass, free form organ runs and an electric banjo. On top of all the chaos, they stumbled upon a style of their own.”

“I find that Black Monk Time all too often breaks down into childish chord-progressions which at the best of times are fun, but are not particularly innovative.”

“The Monks were one of the most original groups that emerged in the 1960s. Black Monk Time represents the zenith of their most creative work. They combined the best of R & B with avant-garde rhythmic repetition; the latter would be explored further by German groups. This is a must have for anyone who has an appreciation for alternative music.”

“The hypnotic, repetitive percussion, the driving, pounding fuzzed-out bass, the haunting, demonic organ and most bizarrely, the electric banjo. The bizarre, off-kilter instrumentation helps The Monks establish one of the most unique sounds of the 60s, and helped set the perfect background for the absolutely outlandish vocals.”