Always interesting to read a US opinion on the album..
www.caughtinthecarousel.com

Kula Shaker
Strangefolk
Cooking Vinyl

For good reason much has been made of the Verve’s decision to reform, but amidst that news, the return of Kula Shaker has been vastly underreported. Back together after a nearly eight year hiatus, the band’s third long player Strangefolk finds the original lineup (minus organist Jay Darlington who’s now on the Oasis payroll) sounding positively reinvigorated. In other words, this is no casual comeback—Kula Shaker flex their pop muscle here like they mean it. Known for writing hit singles in Sanskrit and speaking in interviews about the legend of King Arthur, Kula Shaker were perhaps the strangest sons of the ‘90s Britpop-era, but Strangefolk proves that they were also one of the best. “Out On The Highway” has all the pop guts that Oasis seems to have lost; “Second Sight” sounds like The Who at the top of their game and “Shadow Lands” brings to mind the dark landscapes of The Good The Bad And The Queen. Also noteworthy is “Great Dictator (Of The Free World),” a searing indictment of Mr. Bush, written from the soon to be ex-President’s dim point of view. Not content to hold his cards to his chest, singer Crispian Mills taunts, “I’m a dic, I’m a dic, I’m a dictator…” Mills, by the way, has never sounded better and he tears through Strangefolk’s fourteen tracks (the U.S. release comes with the two bonus cuts “Persephone” and “Super CB Operator”) with more charisma and personality than any frontman in recent memory. Elsewhere, there’s swirling psychedelia (“Song Of Love/Narayana”), meditative shuffles (“Fool That I Am”) and exquisite Beatle-esque ballads (“Ol’ Jack Tar”). “Every story has a beginning,” Mills sings on “Shadow Lands.” We’re lucky as hell this one hasn’t ended.

--Alex Green

Hmm interesting review; nice to see the album positively received over there. Interesting that Great Dictator is welcomed too; as I can imagine some people taking offence at a Brit lecturing Americans about their politicians. Although I guess a lot depends on the political opinions of the reviewer to begin with, I'm sure.

Why have the only very positive Strangefolk reviews come from nonentities. Seriously.

quote:

Originally posted by 2-J:
Why have the only very positive Strangefolk reviews come from nonentities. Seriously.

I guess in England (not even Britain - Scotland are OK) it's fashionable to dislike certain bands. Usually, whatever NME and MTV2 say's cool, goes. In America and Europe, people must be more relaxed about their taste and more open minded.

Great review!

And Im pleased to say that I was playing strangefolk in the USA back in October!

Cruising from Orlando to Miami and playing the album along Ocean Drive.

USA is the land of opportuninty -if you can get in!

Its a great place to crack if ur a musician. Many have tried and many have failed. KS maybe aint even trying buy I hope they do well there as it will make them S*&% loads of $$$$$s if our allies (lol) catch on.

Great Review!! What a pleasant surprise! Hope the umm, Love Spreads in future American reviews! (oops, what an improper pun!)

Boston Phoenix Review:

Paisley drips from the notes these British neo-transcendentalists wring from the instruments on their third album, which ends a six-year hiatus. “Second Sight,” with its droning organ introduction, ragged guitar churn, and stacked vocal harmonies, and the loping folk tale “Hurricane Season,” which balances acoustic and electric guitars — and seagull calls — with Crispian Mills’s Dylan-on-microdot singing, straddle the colorful turf staked out by Pink Floyd’s 1967 Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Yes’s 1969 Yes. There’s much beauty here, but some sleek modernity, too, in the nagging, dirty punk growler “6FT Down Blues” and “Great Dictator of the Free World,” a jittery bitch slap at the evil heartless bastard in the Oval Office with the sing-along chorus “I’m a dic, a dic, a dictator of the free world.” Mostly, though, Kula Shaker keep busy on Strangefolk feeding the torch of psychedelic rock with musical kerosene. 3/4


On Tap Magazine:
A six-year hiatus would kill most bands and, to be honest, Kula Shaker disappeared from the British consciousness rather quickly after they slid from view in 1999. With a few peculiar past choices mostly forgotten, Kula Shaker emerge again drenched in their nostalgic Doors and Hendrix influenced sound, dirty as rock was intended to be, with psychedelic tangents in tow. There’s some Zeppelin, Beatles and Dylan-esque moments, too, to complete the homage to the era when rock music was all that mattered and had a social and political conscious, as well as numerous exits through which to escape the outside world. Welcome back, Kula Shaker.

Bring it on!
Fancy the U.S press being more open-minded, open armed and not up their own arses like some
of the Brit press, the latter is in for a rude awakening!

i wonder what the chances are of pitchfork running a review...

i hope so, i quite like them.

SPIN.com has a very positive writeup of "Song of Love / Narayana":

http://www.spin.com/mp3/2008/02/080207_kula_shaker/

I've no idea if it's in the printed version at all.

quote:

From the National Post:
Kula Shaker -- Strange Folk -- When this album came across my desk I experienced a flashback to, oh, about grade eight. Kula Shaker burst onto to scene with a blend a mystic-Indian-rock and managed to score a few hits along the way -- recall Tattva and Hush. I haven't really followed the career of Crispian Mills and company since, but they've kept putting out albums. Strange Folk isn't going to knock anyone out but it's a solid record: shades of Oasis on tracks like Out On The Highway; the bluesy Die For Love; and the band gets political on the the doo-wop-ish Great Dictator (of The Free World), though that track suffers from awful lyrics like: "Oh baby, I'm so crazy, wow wow wow/I wanna make love in Guantanamo." Add to your iPod: Hurricane Season. Avoid: Great Dictator (of the Free World).

Another review I came across (sorry if I missed it in the above-mentioned posts) that gives them a 4/5.

Somebody in Winnipeg saying something nice about the album.

Oh, and from a Canadian perspective, the few francophone reviews I've read seem positive as well. (see: Voir.ca for example)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dazytripper,

Oh but they're not ALL immune from ignoring the "swastika" moment.

quote:

Originally from The Gazette:
[QUOTE]
Kula Shaker

Strangefolk

Cooking Vinyl

Not everything needs to be justified in answer to the question "is this necessary?" Thankfully, existence for its own sake is often enough. But not in this case. Not when a retro Brit band which had broken up amid the shards of its own soft neo-psychedelia decides to come back with similarly soft Harrisonisms and limp offerings of hippie/vegan "protest" about the state of the world, man. It's a bummer, but hey, love everyone, OK? Oh, and isn't this the singer who made all those swastika comments back in the day? Rating 2 1/2

Podworthy: Out on the Highway

Mark Lepage

They're trying to show us we have a point about the only people caring about the swastika commen tthese days are the people who don't like them anyway, I'd say.

still, a rating of 21 out of 2... that's not bad at all.

"Shades of Oasis"?? Noel would love to have written that one. I wish these reviewers would realise that while the first two Oasis albums are bona fide classics, it has been a steady slide since. However, as Liam and Noel's private lives seem to be more important to the media than their music, the press want to keep their profile high in case they fade away and the media lose a constant source of business.

(BTW I use the term media loosely!)

PS Swastikas again, too?