Devil’s Anvil - Hard Rock From The Middle East

Greenwich Village’s other folk

Back in the mid-60s, Felix Pappalardi was a well-connected boy-about-town in New York, hanging out in folk cafés and rock clubs in Greenwich Village. While he made his name as producer with The Youngbloods and Cream before rocking out with Mountain, the hustler was also responsible for this wonderful marriage of Arabic and American styles. Today, such a fusion would be presented with reverence; in 1967, Columbia packaged it in a novelty/exploitation sleeve for release at the height of the Arab-Israeli tensions. It bombed (no pun intended).

With one-time Dylan drummer Bobby Gregg in tow, Felix blended East and West, electric gutars with the oud, bouzouki, durbeki and tamboura. Middle East is actually too specific a title: the material and range of instruments spreads from Greece and Turkey, via the Arab states to India. In the mix, Dick Dale’s Miserlou is completely reinvented. At its worst, though, the amalgam doesn’t engage (think that old adage about curry and pizza…) but at its best, Hard Rock From The Middle East mixes Eastern/ Arab scales with psychedelic instrumentation reminiscent of the mighty Kaleidoscope. As it states, the perfect companion piece to Rev-Ola’s recent reissue of John Berberian’s Middle Eastern Rock.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Rev-Ola | CRREV 282

Reviewed by John Reed
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