BLOG TO COMM

BUNALUM CD (Shadocks, Germany, available through Forced Exposure)

The number of music Cee-Dees of a non-Amerigan or British origin that are growing in my collection is probably even more humongous than the marital aids piling up under Dave Lang's bed, but that is to be expected from a connosewer of underground rockism like myself whose ideas regarding music are very similar to those regarding food, automobiles, comics, moom pitchers and wimmen. I find myself a proud member of the INTERNATIONAL ROCKISM CONSPIRACY not only because this globe of ours is shrinking even as we speak (imagine, with a few pecks to the keyboard I can send a message all the way to Lindsay Hutton in Scotland, which he can ignore just as instantly as well!), but because there were so many good rock groups coming out from all corners of the globe back then that ignoring any of them due to phony chauvinistic provincialism would be a crime in the war against the jive! It's not that I'd ever give up looking for all of the undiscovered domestic hootch that's still waiting to be heard by eager obsessives like myself, but given the general lack of jamz that are being kicked out these days I must get whatever I can whenever I can! You just can't afford to be picky.

Which takes us to BUNALIM a group of Turks who were pounding the Istanbul beat back in the early-seventies whose material has been gathered up on this Cee-Dee that was issued by the usually onna ball Shadocks label. Lemme tell you, these guys were no Turkish Delight, yet they weren't Turkish Taffy either! But they were good enough; not as tantalizing as Savage Rose nor as psychedelic as Amon Duul nor were they anywhere as hard-crank splatter as Can but good enough that this coulda been the Pick Of The Week in the Jem Records catalog (South Plainfied, Hew Jersey, as the cover sticker sez!) had it only made it to vinyl back in 1975.

What Bunalim were was this hard rock trio that felt it worth their while to switch styles whenever they could, from hard rock psychedelic to proto-heavy metal to even Turkish radio pop complete with a plunky balalaika sound making this group rip and ready for Sunday afternoon Detroit radio. Some of their self-titled Cee-Dee is rather Mideastern-sounding pop with a hard rock attitude while others tend to capture the spirit of various West Coastisms with that typical European attitude firmly in place. In all, BUNALIM is not quite my cup o' tea, but they do have their occasional moments of interest and frankly I would rather listen to this one a few times than be locked up in a prison located in Bunalim's home country.