The Churchills - The Churchills CD
SKU
28-GEAR317.2
“Amazing LP. The back story is epic and puts this remarkable LP in a context that elevates it from a brilliant psychedelic LP to a miraculous beacon to the human spirit and a towering work of art.
Israel 1968 was not a great place to be, check your history. It certainly wasn't the most relaxing time and place to be using psychedelic drugs. The music scene in Israel was also very backward: It was like the early 60s in UK/America - conservative, all cover versions of pop hits, dance crazes, nothing original at all. In this climate came The Churchill's, a band who wanted to do something meaningful and produce music that would be on the cutting edge and complement their trips and herculean hashish intake.
The band were a mixture of nationalities and cultures - an ex-Tornado from the UK, a vocalist from Canada and 3 native Israelis. From the outset they were fighting against their management, producers and even the general public to make the music they wanted. Clearly career progression, making money and public acceptance wasn't the driving force here. It's quite hard to imagine any band or artist feeling that way today. But music genuinely meant something different back then, it was the primary expression of youthful rebellion and idealism, and all the best youth movements are naive, utopian and intent on changing the world. The fact The Churchills were doing this in isolation faced with constant hostility made them genuinely heroic. They were also subversive and irreverent, very punk in fact. This record is peppered with swearing, anti-establishment in-jokes, is very sexual and has very blatant drug references. But they were determined to make the record they wanted without compromise, whether anyone bought it or not, and not many did.
None of the above would really matter if the music wasn't good, but in this case, against all the odds, the band produced a psychedelic masterpiece. Influenced by Hendrix, Doors, Cream etc, but also with a unique stamp all their own, incorporating elements of traditional middle eastern music seamlessly into the mix. The song writing is uniformly excellent, as is the musicianship. This band was very talented, imaginative and sounded very tight and together, playing with an unbridled joy and enthusiasm which really shines through.” - rate your music
- LabelGear Fab
- UPC645270031721