The success of the shambling, retro-fried duo King Khan & BBQ Show in garage circles during the past few years -- probably along with some help from Vice Records labelmates the Black Lips -- has spurred the release of this compilation drawn from his majesty's other current aggregation, King Khan & the Shrines.
In a former life, King Khan was the bassist for Montreal punkers, the Spaceshits. However, he didn't return with them from a 1999 European tour, and the Shrines have been playing shows around the Continent ever since.
It's nearly unbelievable that this music hasn't received a U.S. release previously, as it's a heady brew of up-tempo rock 'n roll, '60s-style soul and punky attitude -- sort of an Ike and Tina Turner Revue for the indie rock set.
I may not have stumbled across it either, if I hadn't heard it playing one day in a local record store, which is yet another reason to browse locally rather than online. The only complaint about this compilation is that it isn't longer -- 16 tracks spread over two LPs -- but what is here is uniformly excellent, and well-sequenced to boot. With any luck, this compilation will sell well enough to allow the various German-only releases it's drawn from to escape stateside. (Vice, 2008)
