Knocker Jungle - Knocker Jungle (expanded) (special)
SKU
15-Acrobat 4266
"2008 reissue of perhaps the rarest album on Ember Records. The band had already taken their collaboration as far as their individual musical tastes would allow and had split before it was released. Further, due to an "offensive hand signal" inside the cover, many shops refused to stock it. As a result it was completely withdrawn from sale almost immediately after release, with only a tiny handful of pressings ever sold! Adding to this veneer of mystery is that very little is known about the artists prior to the release of the album and certainly not after. Beyond a Spanish only single containing two tracks from the album, and gigs in the seedy confines of Wardour Street's "The Temple", the duo have proved to be immune from the Google age. It is this scarcity that seems to be stoking the flames of interest and adding to the mystic!"
" Well there certainly seems to have been a bit of a deluge of rediscovered/lost classics being released in recent years and we can add this to the ever lengthening line. I approached this album with a little suspicion and wariness but found myself very pleasantly surprised. From the opening track I found the album to be packed very lovable tunes and an easy-going carefree hippy vibe that gives the disc great character.
At eighteen tracks and some fifty minutes in length it is a pretty substantial work and is surprisingly consistent in quality throughout with, to my mind, only a few tracks that could be considered merely pleasant filler. What does it sound like? Well saying that the influence of the Beatles and Dylan can be heard is like saying that 'it sounds like music' so I would say that I could hear early T-Rex, Donovan and at least one track('where I belong')that would fit neatly onto Love's "Forever Changes". Here's the strange thing though, I actually feel this music will appeal more strongly to fans of Devandra Banhart(if only his last album were this good)or Six Organs of Admittance, than those who are into the music of the time('68-'72)and looking to unearth another 'lost gem' in the style of Nick Drake/Judee Sill/Bill Fay. Having said that if you enjoyed Gary Higgins or Linda Perhacs this may well appeal. Some will find the production a little murky and some of the track edits could have been done with more care but these flaws in presentation are easily counter-balanced by the enjoyment provided by the music."-William J. Walker