Performer Notes
- Inital pressings of the U.S. release of K included a bonus CD single, TATTVA LUCKY 13 MIX.
- Kula Shaker: Crispian Mills (vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, tamboura); Jay Darlington (piano, Mellotron, organ); Alonza Bevan (piano, bass, tabla, background vocals); Paul Winterhart (drums).
- Additional personnel includes: The Kick Horns.
- Producers include: John Leckie, Crispian Mills.
- Engineers include: John Leckie.
- Recorded between January and May 1996.
- The Britpop quartet Kula Shaker appears to have raided the closets of its favorite bands in the making of its debut album. K contains a bluesy, retro ambience very much like The Stone Roses and Primal Scream. The full-throttled guitars sound like those of Oasis. And a hefty dose of Hindu mysticism runs rampant throughout--a la Cornershop.
- But Kula Shaker manages to make something original of all those borrowed parts. Rising above its influences, Kula Shaker creates a niche of Britpop in which transcendence is the goal. Amidst the blues-drenched guitars and the Hindi chanting, the band is hard at work building something spiritual and sensual. Kula Shaker isn't afraid of a tamboura, using the exotic instrument on several tracks. Nor is it afraid to be linked with the Grateful Dead, eulogizing that band in the track "Grateful When You're Dead/Jerry Was There." But Kula Shaker is no freewheeling "jam" band; there's a precision to the musicianship on this record that cannot be ignored.
Professional Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (10/25/96, p.116) - "...Kula Shaker don't merely take you back 20 years on this confident debut, they rejuvenate that period by mixing sitar and Sanskrit chants with wa-wa guitar Hammond organ. The blissed-out effect is somewhere between post-India George Harrison and early Stone Roses." - Rating: B+
Q (10/96, p.165) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...they can go from delicacy to harder bluesy riffs and mix harmonies with funky rhythmic undertows to produce a gloriously full sound. They have discipline, a surefooted sense of pop melody, and they do it all with a sense of positivity..."
Alternative Press (1/97, p.73) - 5 (out of 5) - "...Tight song structures embrace Kula Shaker's freakform excursions, and though they're into jam, they use butter, as well, which means that self-indulgence is kept to a minimum..."
NME (Magazine) (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #14 in NME's 1996 critic's poll.
NME (Magazine) (9/14/96, p.50) - 9 (out of 10) - "...K is enormous; generating mighty, vertical grooves of pan-dimensional power pop which will surely have The Stone Roses gnawing at their innards....it's The Verve gone ethno-berserk, as huge as the horizon itself....astonishingly confident, musicianly gifted, gloriously hedonistic..."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.95) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The John Leckie-produced ornate long-player remains a solid piece of retro-rock."
Uncut (magazine) (p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Their 1996's debut, K, is still a good pop-rock LP....'Hey Dude' remains an enjoyable period rock song."
