Search - Sonny Sharrock :: Monkey Pockie Boo (Spec)

Not Sonny's best record, but has some good bits

lexo1941 | Edinburgh, Scotland | 02/01/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I seriously doubt the sobriety of the other reviewer of this album, especially since there are no keyboards on it.



This was Sonny Sharrock's second album as a leader, and it's frustrating if you're a fan of his (and I am a HUGE Sharrock fan) that what little there is of his work was so often recorded under less-than-ideal circumstances. In the case of 'Monkey-Pockie-Boo', the adverse circs include his then wife Linda whose singing is not, shall we say, really up to the job; a not very brilliant French rhythm section; and a late 60s atmosphere of anything-goes in which Sonny could have persuaded himself that it was okay to wait ten minutes before playing anything at all on the title track, and then when he finally did so, to do it on a slide whistle.



This is Sonny Sharrock, after all, the dark prince of American free guitar playing, a man whose sonic assault could blister paint at a hundred yards. On guitar, Sharrock was a sublimely moving and effective musician. On slide whistle, he sounds like some guy playing a slide whistle.



I like free playing, but a lot of this album is what the late Derek Bailey called 'avantgarderie'. The most effective track is 'Soon', where Linda Sharrock has the writing credit and where her sub-Yoko vocalisations are actually quite effective. She begins by crooning a wordless bluesy melody, and then after a couple of minutes Sonny plus rhythm section enter at full blast. The rest of the track is the closest anyone has ever come to an aural equivalent of hentai, in which Linda Sharrock sounds like she's being ravished by some kind of monstrous electronic beast; it sends chills down your spine.



Having said that, it's only one track on the album, and not the longest. Those who want to know why Sonny was great should listen to his much later 'Guitar' and 'Ask the Ages' albums, plus his work with Material and Last Exit. 'Monkey-Pockie-Boo' is mainly for completists."