Index
The Black Album
A fully licensed, analogue reissue -sure, on cassette and not on vinyl, that's a long story- of the first Index LP, originally released in 1967. 'The Black Album' is one of the all-time holy grails of psychedelia, with originals going for more than $4,000. It is an album with a really druggie sound, full of feedback and fuzzy guitars. The vocals, when present, are not easily heard. The cover of 'Eight Miles High' is very good, probably one of the best cover versions. The original songs all follow a similar pattern as the covers, with hazy guitar riffs and loud rhythms. The last track is particularly noisy and unstructured. Hidden in amongst the echoing canyons of sound there's some really snotty punk attitude wrapped up in trippy velvet fuzz. This record is magnificent, bizarre, atmospheric, amateurish (in the best of all possible ways). It has a wonderful bleak sound, both droning and murky... the atonal sound of 1960's rock that would leave the most lasting impression on what would become future punk, post-punk and indie rock artists. Limited to 200 copies.