Apes, the – “Oddeyesee ” – [French Kiss Records]

The Apes are an organ/bass/drums/vocal combo out of the Wash DC area, and are possibly the missing link between ambitious prog and snarling garage rock. By “organ”, I don’t mean cheesy pop Farfisa organ; we’re talking about big beefy Hammond organ in the manner of Deep Purple, Vanilla Fudge, and Steppenwolf. This CD, the band’s second full-length release, is an elaborate concept album built on simple pounding riffs and raw vocals. The story is vague but goes something like this: the band embarks on a journey to find a wise two-headed butterfly. Along the way they meet a couple of evil brainiacs, they get lost in fog, they come across a video-game freak, and then they go to some sort of disco. Eventually a troublemaker named Wor Wiz shows up, with his bomb that can destroy the world. It seems that The Apes prevail in the end, but I’m not 100% sure. The songs are mostly short, and they make exactly as much sense played separately as they do strung together. But why not enjoy this work as a long, flowing, concept album?