KULA SHAKER – ALBUM REVIEW

Kula Shaker – K – 20th Anniversary Edition (BMG) 
Kula Shaker - K


Release Date: Out Now

It is human nature, at times of great sorry, despair or stress, to look back to better times when the world held more hope and social media meant sharing your copy of Melody Maker with the kid next to you on the bus. It’s fitting, then, that this 20th Anniversary Edition of Kula Shaker’s legendary ‘K’ should land on my door mat at just the time I needed it most. Let’s face it, when you’ve had a shitty day/week/month/year what you really need is for an old friend to turn up in a beaten up Mercedes and take you on a road trip with some good tunes and a bag of hash.

For those of you unacquainted with ‘K’, it was a debut released during the peak of Britpop that stood in direct opposition to the lad culture of the time with themes of Indian mysticism and English legend played out to a soundtrack of 60s guitars and urban hedonism. The opening strains of ‘Hey Dude’ are instantly recognisable as the soundtrack to the summer of ’96 as much as any Blur or Oasis number. The slow burn introduction to the classic ‘Govinda’, complete with peacocks, sitars and tabla, still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up – especially when Paul Winterhart’s loose drums come pounding in and the guitar kicks in.

Modern nostalgia is a funny thing that I’m usually suspicious of but being reminded of tunes like ‘Tattva’, ‘Grateful When You’re Dead/Jerry Was There’ and the road trip anthem of ‘303’ makes me feel like a teenager again and that is no bad thing right now. The other point to note is this; you can say what you like about Kula Shaker and their appropriation of other cultures or misguided use of the swastika in its original form but you can’t deny that they had honed their craft, played bloody good tunes and too the spirit of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper to a new logical conclusion. I’m off to vote for Blair, drink some Hooch and buy shares in Myspace……


Live Dates:

1st December – O2 Academy, Oxford
2nd December – O2 Academy, Bournemouth
3rd December – Rock City, Nottingham
5th December – UEA, Norwich
6th December – G Live, Guildford
8th December – O2  Forum, London
9th December – O2 Forum, London
10th December – Albert Hall, Manchester
12th December – Institute, Birmingham
13th December – O2 Academy, Bristol
14th December – O2 Academy, Liverpool

16th December – O2 Academy, Newcastle

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