Monks “Hamburg Recordings 1967″ 1967/2017. Third Man Records. This past weekend we were in Asheville, NC visiting good friends and of course checking out the local record stores, including Harvest Records in West Asheville. I was taking a browsing break, checking my Insta-feed and saw the Third Man post about that day being the release date for Hamburg Recordings. I looked up from my phone and bam! there was the record was on the wall. So here it is! According to Third Man’s website, “the crew at Third Man, already huge fans, were presented with an honest-to-God treasure trove of original Monks photos, newspaper clippings, business cards, letterhead, contracts, postcards and, yes, analog tapes, containing trailblazing, wild compositions completely unheard by public ears.“I’m Watching You” would have been recorded on February 28th, 1967 at the same sessions that would produce the Monks’ final single “Love Can Tame the Wild” b/w “He Went Down to the Sea.” The remaining four songs were recorded after hours in the Top Ten Club later that year, just prior to the break-up of the band.These songs have been unreleased for 50 years and are quite possibly the last music left to be heard by this legendary band.”

The four remaining songs are “Julia,” “P.O. Box 3291” (probably my favorite on this EP), “I Need U Shatzi” and “Yellow Grass.” All have the crazy staccato’d banjo rhythm that defines the Monks’ unique sound, some wild horns and organ, and an irreverent 60′s garage attitude. The instrumental “Yellow Grass” in particular has a slightly deranged carnival flavor, as if the carnies were wild-eyed flower child gypsies rocking out on the tilt-o-whirl.

Interestingly, all five tracks appear on the A side of this record. Side B is blank, but physically beautiful, with lassoed ropes etched throughout the glassy black vinyl. Runout groove etching on Side A – “This is what we leave behind”