The Monks

New documentary out !

http://www.playloud.org/themonks.html

This screened at the WFMU fair, apparently. Too bad I was 3,000 miles away. According to that link the dvd release is postponed indefinitely, though it looks to be touring around the country from movie house to movie house--why the hell not in LA??

I bought Black Monk Time about a month ago and it is easily one of the best things I've picked up all year.

That's hard to do: It's out of print, and hardly ever turns up second-hand. EEspecially the 'infinite zero' one with all the singles/extra tracks.

I've got the release on Retribution Records. Am I missing anything?

I'm so excited about this film coming to Seattle!!!!

ILX love the Monks:

Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback
The Monks' Dave Day RIP
the monks: INTERVIEWED!
Monks documentary
The Monks vids from YouTube - Classic or Dud?
Silver Monk Time - Monks tribute CD
it's BEAT time, it's HOP time, it's POLL time !!! (The Monks)
When you first heared the Monks, did you love it straightaway? Of course you did.

By way of warm up for... the news that the Monks music is back in print! (Just got an eight in Spin. Geez, what does it take to get a nine or ten?)

https://lightintheattic.net/buy/item.php?product_id=523

BTW, I posted a 2004 link above about Roger Johnston that has since been broken (ugh, City Pages), so here's that post again:

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2004/11/death_of_a_monk.php

The documentary is apparently now available on dvd, too.

I was all set to preorder both CDs from Light in the Attic but now I can't find any mention of the planned Black Monk Time reissue- not on their front page, in their store, anywhere. I hope they didn't run into last-minute rights issues or some such bullshit.

BMT has been on eMusic for months now... not much help if you don't use eMusic, though.

i love every last song i've heard from this band.

me too. i wish there was more of the late singles and such, stuff like "cuckoo" and "i can't get over you"

Light in the Attic confirms April 14 as release date for both BMT and The Early Years, with premium vinyl versions due out in May.

Is the BMT version the same as the old Infinite Zero version or is it like the slightly inferior Repertoire version?

"He went down to the Sea" is friggin incredible.

Is the BMT version the same as the old Infinite Zero version or is it like the slightly inferior Repertoire version?

What was the difference? Sound quality or bonus tracks? I've only ever heard the Repertoire disc myself, if this ends up sounding better I'll be extremely happy.

On a side note, has anyone heard Light in the Attic's Melody Nelson remaster yet?

Bonus tracks definitely. I'm not so much of an audiophile that I can tell the difference.

Yeah, bonus tracks.

That version was my singular best purchase last time I was in New York. Mondo Kims.

Gonna be back soon! :)

Those bonus tracks are a mixed bag. "Cuckoo" is almost my favourite monks moment ever, but "Down to the Sea" and "Love Can Tame the Wild" show what a Fugsian, psychedelic turn they were likely going to take with their second album. Not sure if they're great cuts, but they're food for thought.

The Light in the Attic reissue of Black Monk Time has all but two of the bonus tracks from the Infinite Zero reissue of same, the 1965 demos of "I Hate You" and "Oh, How to Do Now." Both of those tracks are collected on Light in the Attic's other Monks reissue, Monks: The Early Years 1964-1965, along with 8 other 1965 demos, and the "Boys Are Boys"/"There She Walks" Torquays single.

As an enticement, Light in the Attic's Black Monk Time adds "Pretty Suzanne," a previously unreleased '67 track. But the remastering and beautiful liner-note photos would be enough to recommend it. I'm keeping the Infinite Zero one too, though, for its own unique liner notes, and because Eddie Shaw autographed it.

So, of the albums, there b.

1) Black Monk Time
2) Five Upstart Americans (aka)
3) Let's start a beat (live at Cavestomp)

left over =
1) A flexi, "Don't ha ha", a version of "Don't you just know it"
2) "Pretty Suzanne" the 1967 unreleased version (it's on 1 and 3 above, different versions)

"Cuckoo" is almost my favourite monks moment ever
Srsly? Song annoys the hell out of me.

Man this reissue sounds illy

as in "this is sick" or as in "bad sound quality"

I saw that one vinyl Monks thing the other day but it was too $$$ for me

IT'S MONK TIME

IT'S BEAT TIME, IT'S HOP TIME

WHAT ARMY WHO CARES WHAT ARMY

JAMES BOND WHO IS HE???????

PUSSY GALORE IS COMIN' DOWN AND WE LIKE IT

MY BROTHER DIED IN VIETNAM!!! WELL, NOT LITERALLY MY BROTHER...

^ been waiting for this to show up

(most memorable)

So it seems like Eddie wrote another book a few years ago but it doesn't look like it ever got published.

I don't know if these interview were linked anywhere else but I never saw them before today so: http://larecord.com/interviews/2009/05/20/the-monks-we-all-wanna-die-in-a-hail-of-bullets

Also if you never heard the most excellent holiday parody "It's Reindeer Time," by MIke Fornatale you can find it here : http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/13856. So good that it got him a gig as replacement singer and auxiliary member when Gary lost his voice. Now he is doing something similar for The Left Banke.

The videos of The Monks playing that German TV show... Man. Seeing them for the first time was like seeing God create the universe.

There's a thread devoted just to those videos here, IIRC.

You mean this:
The Monks vids from YouTube - Classic or Dud?

Yes.

Just realized how many of these tunes feature a "Truck Driver's Gear Change" but what else were they gonna do?

That's true, but rather an ersatz mood boost, it's a shift into the deranged - tends to make you want to edge away slowly than have you punching the air.

Gary Burger has passed away. :(

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2014/03/gary-burger-of-the-monks-passes-away/

Aw, RIP.

Its that 'oh, this thread got revived? Uh oh..' monk time

"Ok, now his name was Gary.."

RIP

RIP, The Monks were amazing, way ahead of their time. Hell, they are STILL ahead of our time imo.

What they did almost 50 years ago still brings out fresh, creative responses on the '07 tribute album, where Gary memorably materializes, still on top of things: http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-06-05/music/silver-monk-time-a-tribute-to-the-monks/full/ Still sounds good. Never did see the doc.

True hero of music
RIP

RIP. I remember first hearing about the Monks in a WFMU catalog and got the Repertoire reissue shortly afterwards, and I've listened to it pretty consistently since. Dude was great. Love his crazy voice and that guitar sound is still awesome.

Sad news. Thank you for the music Gary.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Most recent post on The Monks' message board is kind of poignant

This was one of the albums Henry Rollins reissued on his short-lived Infinite Zero imprint...1995-ish I guess? Anyway, it was a revelation to twenty-something me.

nah, extricate was 1990, infinite zero issue was '97. apparently the first cd issue of it was an israeli pirate on israphon in 1990.

I believe its a version of "Don't you just know it" with 'authentic' laughing in the chorus.

What?

Oh i see

pretty psyched for this tbh. just curious about the cover art. i thought by these final sessions they had ditched the haircuts and uniform.

Never knew about this Raincoats cover single until just now.

Also can’t remember if I commented on this thread that Eddie seems to have been named after Lawrence of Arabia

it's from the tribute album "silver monk time", has some good stuff on there including gary burger with faust (not sure which faust). there's also a nice live show from around that time (2006 or so) of the monks in berlin with the raincoats, the recently departed mark e. smith, etc., guesting.

It’s BEAT time, it’s HOP time, it’s *BUMP* time!

Just watched the doc with my mother- and sister-in-law. Both loved the band so much.

HI DERE!