Kak - Disc of the day

Kak
Kak-Ola

(Big Beat, 1999)

Expanded psych reissue turns good album great.

Following the muttering on MOJO message boards about the rip-off nature of modern CD reissues I give you a repackaged album that significantly improves upon the original. I first tracked down the Kak album (Epic, 1968) in a disreputable Camden lean-to in 1985. I paid too much. Recorded by a San Francisco four-piece clearly under the influence of Quicksilver, Moby Grape and Donovan, Kak left the 19-year-old me feeling a little underwhelmed. Bit weedy and derivative, I thought. In fact, it wasn’t until Big Beat’s expanded 1999 release that I realised the magnitude of my faux-pas. Kak-Ola sounded leaner and crunchier than my scuffed vinyl copy, and came with a storming single version of driving modal shouter Rain and three acoustic demos of songwriter/guitarist Gary Lee‘s softer tracks. Suddenly I could hear the harmonies and the sadness behind all that fuzz and wail. Here was a missing link between heavy and soft psych, an album to fox the purists, an album that had foxed me. It’s great, but don’t blow £200 on a vinyl original, just buy this CD.

Andrew Male

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 10/01/2008

Further Listening

Moby Grape – Moby Grape (San Francisco Sound, 1967)

Dino Valente – Dino Valente (Epic, 1968)

Kelley Stoltz – Antique Glow (Beautiful Happiness, 2004)

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