AKA Hard Beat AKA Hard Rock Indonesia A.K.A. Vinyl 2xLP Strawberry Rain SEALED
$
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Description
AKA - Hard Beat (2 LP)
SEALED!
LP IS NOW SOLD OUT / OUT OF PRINT
Label: Strawberry Rain ?– SR001
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 24 May 2011
Genre: Hard Rock
Tracklist:
1. Do What You Like
2. Glenmore
3. Reflections
4. We've Gotta Work It Out
5. Cruel Side
6. Groovy
7. Suez War
8. Mr. Bull Doc
9. Shake Me
10. Only One Man
11. Crazy Joe
12. Skip Away
13. Open Doors
14. Sky Rider
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Notes
* First anthology from Indonesia’s Heaviest Psychedelic & Progressive Funk Rock group
* Double-LP housed in “old school” gatefold jacket
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Originating from Indonesia’s second largest city, Surabaya, East Java, AKA is an acronym of Apotik Kali Asin. Starting off their careers as an infamous local band with notorious crowd pleasing antics, AKA regularly went through repertoires of Steppenwolf, Grand Funk Railroad, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Three Dog Night before finding a significant audience outside their home city. It was soon after that the band signed with a Jakarta based label, Indra Records that they started producing a steady release of albums, including 11 studio lp’s and a couple of compilations. The lead singer Ucok Harahap -who famously idolizes James Brown- is perhaps the most notorious rock performer in Indonesia’s pop history, infamous for brandishing (amongst others) coffins, whips and stripping naked on stage during performances. Sadly due to recording English based, heavy- psychedelic/progressive funk, AKA’s music failed to gain popularity at the time of it’s release. Today, AKA is recognized as one of Indonesia’s top rock bands of all time, and for good reason. With this release, we are proud to offer an Anthology encompassing AKA’s heaviest & funkiest moments. Licensed with the help of Benny Soebardja and AKA drummer Syech Abidin, this is a limited edition, one time pressing housed in an old-style paste on gatefold sleeve. Double vinyl LP with band photo’s & liner notes, CD housed in old-style gatefold sleeve with insert. Close to 70 minutes of incredible music without any weak moments. LP IS NOW SOLD OUT / OUT OF PRINT
AKA, the legend lives on...
AKA was Indonesia's first contribution to the global heavy rock movement. Founded as early as 1967 in the city of Surabaya, the group took its name — an acronym for Apotik Kali Asin, or the Kali Asin Pharmacy — from the place of business owned by singer Ucok Harahap's parents, which doubled as the fledgling band's rehearsal space during non-working hours. And while it could be argued that AKA.'s modest local reputation owed as much to Ucok's wild on-stage antics as to their music, the band would prosper well enough to release a handful of albums throughout the early ‘70s. It should also be noted that the Hard Beat collection surveys only the cream of AKA's westernized material, since the group curiously hedged their bets by padding each LP with songs of the Malay-pop persuasion, making them quite the schizophrenic listening experience…man, what a trip. To wit, the songs culled from 1970's debut, Do What You Like, and 1971's Reflection, blend their heavy-psych milkshake with an improbably long list of influences, including Cream, Hendrix, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, and more. That first album's title track, for instance, resolves into a Mothers of Invention-styled freakout; the bouncy “Crazy Joe” loses the distortion but keeps the psychedelia for an early glimpse of the Soup Dragons, decades before the fact (and it even topped the Australian charts for a few weeks); the jittery “Groovy” sneaks a toke from Captain Beyond; and by 1972's hard-driving “Sky Rider,” Ucok is heard shrieking just like Ian Gillan. Soon after, he'd set loose his James Brown obsessions, too, getting down with his bad self on the ultra-funky “Mr. Bull Doc” before leading his bandmates in the crossover from funk to reggae on 1975's “Suez War.” Unfortunately, within a year of that interesting development, the AKA dream was over, as the reliably unreliable Ucok opted to move on and was only briefly replaced for 1977's swan song Pucukku Mati, where heavy rock made a brief return before the band signed off for good. Still, it was all very intriguing while it lasted, and while these cultural curiosities and sporadic thrills aren't enough to elevate AKA's legacy to the same level as the great names in ‘70s hard rock, Hard Beat nevertheless delivers a mind-blowing document for previously unaware occidental ears.
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