The women are weeping.

And I am too.

Despite getting a domestic release on Cooking Vinyl Records, and some well received reviews stateside, Kula Shaker's mighty return album Strangefolk hasn't yet merited even the smallest US tour for the boys and still leaves me kicking myself for discovering the band just months after they broke up in 1999 (which was, consequently, just months after they'd played the Metro in Chicago. Son of a...)

The good news (or at least the good scuttlebutt) is that Crispian, Alonza, Paul and Harry are coming off the European and Japanese gig circuits (lucky bastards) to start focusing on album #4, which is always going to be sweet music to my ears I'm sure, and might yet merit a US tour. Seriously... just a small one... I'm prepared to fly to New York if I have to... come on...

Anyhow, anyhow... since it's Friday and I've been kind of an absentee blogger this week, I thought I'd give you a good dose of Kula that not only Americans were left dropping import fees for, but so were Europeans.

Prior to the Japanese release of Strangefolk last year, Kula Shaker put out the "Freedom Lovin' People" EP as, obviously, something handy to have at merchandise stands for the Fuji Rock Festival.

The EP kind of worked as a "Double A-side" single for the George W. Bush-baiting "Great Dictator (of the Free World)" and another of the album's little rockers, "Super CB Operator," but it also contained 3 B-sides that only those lucky Japanese folk had to pay easy money for.

Kula Shaker - Big Bad Wolf
Crispian's really been on a Bush-hating slant since 2003 when he was with the Kula-break-interim-band, the (fantastic) Jeevas, which had a fun little county and western tinged number called "How Much Do You Suck?" This obviously continued into the Kula reformation with "Great Dictator," the anti-war "Die For Love," and the Katrina-musing "Hurricane Season." This cut continues that "bite me, Dubya" sentiment, although lyrically it's a little clumsier than his other stabs. It's a shame, 'cos it's a cracking backing track and maybe with a little more time (or a little less focus on our president) this could've been whittled into something a bit more accessible and "303"-esque, but c'est la vie. Who can write songs about getting stoned and driving to Glastonbury forever, anyway?

Kula Shaker - Out on the Highway (acoustic)
Obviously, Strangefolk's lead cut is a band favorite, as they've not only taken every opportunity to play it live, but also in any acoustic setting any TV, radio or internet station could give them. By now, I'm a little tired of hearing this song (and I like the electric version better anyway), but the whole "If you had the world at your feet..." bit is still marvellous.

Kula Shaker - Some Good Reason
The best thing about Kula Shaker's return is that it's given some spotlight to Alonza's work, if only in B-side form for now. I've said many a time on this blog that I think Crispian is one of the best pop songwriters of all time with a natural ear for a good hook and more-than-capable proclivity to turn a good lyric (although, they are better when they're not overtly political, there, guy...), but all along he had a great foil. It's no surprise -- I'm sure Alonza had a hand in writing many of Kula Shaker's 1990s material, but to get to hear him come to the mic and sing his own song is a lot more refreshing and suprising than I thought it'd be. This 1960s pastiche is actually the EP's finest moment.


I only post the video here because I do with every "ComBlete" feature I do, but this video is really a load of bollocks. Seriously. I could've done something better. And I wouldn't have even charged... that much... At least the "Second Sight" video was WAAAY better.



I reccomend you check out this cool acoustic performance instead.