Comments
Raik's Progress, The
SEWER RAT LOVE CHANT
Long before Tonio K. became the skeptically funny and godly singer/songwriter conscience of Los Angeles new wave, he vented the weirdness of his spleen in a psychedelic punk/folk rock quintet called The Raik's Progress. One single released nationally in 1967 resulted, but in the can was enough for an album named for the A-side of that 45, Sewer Rat Love Chant. In keeping with that title and the acidity of K.'s later solo work, here's some wild and murky stuff. For '60s punk aficionados, comparisons to The Leaves, The Electric Prunes, Mouse And The Traps or a drug-free Thirteenth Floor Elevators ready to play the go-go club scene in a Roger Corman teensploitation flick should give an apt picture. For others of you, let the crazy-arse organ, sometimes Middle Eastern and East Indian-influenced fuzztone guitar and animalistic percussion be an introduction to the sound. Apart from wild originals such as "Prisoner Of Chillon" and "'F' In 'A'," covers of numbers by The Byrds, The Animals and Muddy Waters (a freaked-out "BaBy Please Don't Go") make for prime psychedelia. Liner notes reveal a band as polarizingly nutty in their stage demeanor as their music was of the mid-'60s Sunset Strip moment. [SUNDAZED] JAMIE LEE RAKE
Return to Album Reviews
