Bunalim

Getting wasted, running around naked and rocking out are global pastimes. Some places are more permissive than others, and early ’70s Turkey was not too welcoming of the antics of Bunalim. This is Turkish psych at its rawest. While the hallmarks of prog-y chord changes, wailing guitar and funk underneath are all present, Bunalim weren’t virtuosi, unlike some of the ace musicians witnessed on recent Turkish reissues. A proto-punk spirit surfaces with a vengeance on this collection of six seven-inch singles, particularly on the earliest tracks from 1970. Highlighted by a raw translation of Lee Dorsey’s "Get Out My Life Woman,” the sound is somewhere between the Stooges and the Zombies. 1972 saw the songwriting become more organised with more trickery in the studio, and the groove is definitely more danceable. The vocals also seemed to have mellowed compared to some of the full-bodied shrieking earlier on. Nevertheless, the later stuff still rates well within the genre. This collection is worthwhile but not as essential as work by Selda and Edip Akbayram.