Kahvas Jute - 1971 - Wide Open

Kahvas Jute

1971

Wide Open

01. Free 5:12

02. Odyssey 4:01

03. Up There 2:50

04. She's So Hard To Shake 4:19

05. Vikings 4:32

06. Steps Of Time 3:20

07. 23 4:32

08. Ascend 3:10

09. Parade Of Fools 9:06

Bass, Harmony Vocals – Bob Daisley

Drums – Dannie Davidson

Guitar, Lead Vocals – Dennis Wilson

Guitar, Piano, Vocals – Tim Gaze

Recorded at Festival Studios, Sydney, Australia

Kahvas Jute were an unfortunately short-lived late 60s/early 70s "hard" rock/psychedelic rock outfit from Australia. Well short-lived as far as the studio was concerned releasing only one album although it looks like they limped on until the late 70s as a live band including numerous personnel changes and a change of name to Chariot.

The band's main claim to fame is the twin lead guitar attack of Dennis Wilson and Tim Gaze. This aspect of their sound reminds me most of Wishbone Ash. Unfortunately it reminds me most of Wishbone Ash's first two albums Wishbone Ash and Pilgrimage rather than the far superior Argus. Like Wishbone Ash's first two albums the band seems to think that "soulful" twin lead guitar playing is all that is required to make good music. They fail to inject enough good songwriting or creativity and, most importantly, heaviness for a supposedly hard rock band. Speaking of which, I wouldn't trust these genre labels too much, this is barely hard rock, with quite a soft, slow or midtempo and attempted soulful sound in parts. (Medium rock? Does that exist?) Apart from the virtuosic guitars and a few progressive leanings, it's also definitely not prog. Heavy psych is probably fair enough but just be aware it isn't that heavy. Perhaps just slightly progressive psychedelic rock?

Having said all the above I don't want to skewer the band too much. They are actually a good band and I do actually enjoy listening to this one album wondering what might have been if they had been able to release a few more. But these weaknesses mean that I can't enjoy the album as much as I could. The biggest problem for me though is that this is one of those albums where the opening track is just so much better than anything else. It is unbelievable really just how good 'Free' is compared to the remainder of the album. This track is one of the slower and softer tracks but is one of the few where the twin guitar attack is so effortlessly soulful and moving. After this almost every track just bludgeons you with its indiscernible twin guitar wankery or total lack of creativity. Track after track is mostly generic blues/psychedelic rock with barely an interesting moment amongst them. All of it is bland but none of it is bad mind, well nothing until we get to the closing 'Parade of Fools'. Presumably this is supposed to no holds barred jam or "wig out" as modern music journalists would call it but it's just so pedestrian and lengthy for the sake of it. No thanks.

All in all, a promising album, but nowhere near as good as it could have been.

Great aussie record that even if it's considered mostly as a heavy psych one, i warn you that this is not that heavy as the ridiculous hype can lead us to believe (some even say that this is a "stoner rock" album... WTF?), actually this is a moderately heavy, melodic, bluesy, folk rock infused acid rock album that sounds like a mix between Cream, Ten Years After and San Francisco bands like Grateful Dead, Mountain Bus, Tripsichord Music Box or even Quicksilver Messenger Service. The melodies are nice and interesting enough to compensate the relative lack of heaviness compared to contemporary aussie bands like Buffalo, Master's Apprentices, Chook, Blackfeather or Michael Turner In Session. Also, i can't get why this is considered "progressive", when this doesn't have anything about super-complex structures, time signature changes or super virtuosistic approach, actually it sounds quite stuck on the 60's stuff and it's not a bad thing if you like that kind of stuff.