Search - Monks :: Let's Start a Beat: Live From Cavestomp

The latest in a series of Monks triumphs

Michael Cluff | Galloway, NJ USA | 11/06/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Back to the water, boys, land stinks!

Will Shade | USA | 01/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

COMpliCAtion!

Fran Fried | Fresno, Ca. United States | 03/08/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There's but one reason this album has to exist: as proof to the rest of the world that The Monks were real, not a myth, and that they played their first two shows in 32 years -- their first two shows ever on their native soil -- on the first Friday and Sunday of November 1999. But that doesn't mean you have to buy it, especially if you weren't there.

I was there for both of their shows at Cavestomp '99 in NYC (and have the rope tie that drummer Roger Johnston, RIP as of November 2004, threw into the crowd after the last show). It was one of the great rock'n'roll weekends of my life, and I've had many. Unfortunately, this CD is nowhere near a true representation of what went on that weekend, but hey, it couldn't be avoided. Singer/guitarist Gary Burger blew out his voice a couple days before the first gig, and the band enlisted a longtime fan, Mike Fornatale, to do most of the singing, especially the first night. (And Mike did a great job -- became a legend in NYC music circles, too.) It didn't really matter that Gary had no vocal cords that first night and was still ragged two nights later; we were all flying on adrenaline and just plain enthralled to be seeing a bit of rock'n'roll history.

But because of Gary's problem, there was no way the CD could capture the monks magic. And while necessary, the slew of obvious overdubs made it worse. Luckily, the playing was pretty decent -- Gary wailing on guitar, Dave Day having a blast on banjo, Eddie Shaw fully into it on bass, Roger steadily pounding away with the butt ends of his sticks, and Larry Clark's church organ sounds turning the Westbeth Theatre into a majestic cathedral. Gawd, I wish Gary had his voice ...

If you were there, you need to hear this just for posterity's sake. If you're a newbie who's never heard The Monks before, please don't start here -- pick up "Black Monk Time" and then "Five Upstart Americans.""