The Monks - Black Monk Time

60s band The Monks consisted of 5 American GIs stationed in Germany, trying to give the locals a taste of the contemporary sounds. While isolation such as this would have choked up and starved most bands, The Monks used their alone time to hone and perfect a sound that would become not only unique in comparison to most popular music at the time, but would stand as a forerunner to the punk movements of the 70s.Black Monk Time carries with it some of the expected trappings of a band working in this decade: anti-Vietnam sentiments, vocal harmonies, jamming organ lines, moments of silly psychedelic lyricism and imagery. But this album, aided by isolation from the general ebbs and flows of the world at large, ends up with a sounds quite removed from anything else of that era. Since the music industry still wielded incredible power in the 60s, most newly-signed bands went though a buffing and polishing of sorts, both image and sound-wise, before hitting the streets. With a lack on a strong industry influence in Germany at the time gave The Monks the freedom to create novelty. Black Monk Time comes across as much more abrasive and raw than most of it contemporaries. It tends to emphasize rhythm over melody, and is one of the first albums that uses guitar feedback, which would become a mainstay in later years. There is also heavy use of a six-string gut-strung banjo, which added a much more metallic sound to their songs. They also moved away from the traditional songwriting pattern of verse-chorus-verse, and stuck to a more stripped-down sound.While Black Monk Time, then and now, enjoyed nothing more than an underground following, its sound is a telling indication of where rock music was heading. Once rock matured in the late 60s and early 70s, bands started reaching back towards their bluesy roots. Things got to the point where only virtuosos could play the kind of complicated chord and rhythm progressions that became all the rage. Punk helped to democratize rock-n-roll again, giving groups of brash kids with instruments the ability to become international sensations. Traits that made Black Monk Time such a interesting listen came back to the fore; the people wanted to hear power, passion, and simplicity again. When placed in context, the creation Black Monk Time becomes all the more astounding, an weather vane pointing the way towards what rock could (and would) become.