Description
180 gram vinyl exact repro reissue in deluxe gatefold sleeve.
This snotty, New York band released just one album in the late ‘60s—and it’s fantastic.
In early 1968, five teenage kids from Brooklyn were gigging locally in a rock band called the United Popcorn Federation, when they were signed to major label. By April, they were recording their debut LP for Capitol Records. A single was released before the end of the year, though the label insisted on charging their name to the Koala and pushing them as an Australian group—! Well, it worked for The Strangeloves….The single received some area airplay, which all but vanished by the time their self-titled debut album came out in early 1969.
The Koala prove themselves to be above average players, full of passion and conviction on their lone album. “Look at the Way She Comes” is typical of the band’s best material: a Who/Stones hybrid with bile-inducing vocals, wild psych guitar, and a tight, nearly deranged performance—plus, it’s a great tune. At first, “Strange Feelings” seems to be teen-punk angst all the way, but features an unexpected yet seamless raga detour. “Poppa Duke Tyler” borrows both the melody and subject manner of “Eleanor Rigby,” but instead of going the somber route the Beatles took, Koala uses the universal theme of loneliness to produce a stomping, unhinged rocker—complete with a fuzz-tastic guitar solo from Louis Dambra —where the protagonist is actually driven to the brink of madness from the isolation. Like many garage vocalists from the mid-to-late ‘60s, singer Jay Mala’s super-snotty, Jagger-like snarl foreshadows punk, but Mala has so much New York attitude and an obvious dedication that he should stand with his peers as one of the most effective vocalists of the era.
Truly one of the misplaced gems of ‘60s garage psych-punk.
Not long after the album tanked, lead guitarist Louis Dambra quit, and formed the early heavy metal band, SIR LORD BALTIMORE . The Koala soldiered on, recording a handful of songs for a planned second album, before Capital dropped them. By 1973, they had broken up.
Singer Jay Mala joined glam band the Magic Tramps, and was later briefly the lead vocalist for the Joe Perry Project.
(info taken for www.dangeroudminds.net)
