Mustafa Ozkent ve Orkestrasi “Genclik Ili Elele” [Finders Keepers] (full length CD)

ArtCrimes   11/28/2006   CD, Format, International

It’s easy to see how this fell through the cracks of the Turkish pop scene in 1973, with the insane-chimp-in-studio cover photo and the 3-D type bursts proudly declaring “Rhythm’n’Soul”, “Blues’n’Jazz”, “Rock’n’Pop” and most charmingly, “Folc”…as if this recording easily fit all those genres. Strangely, it nearly does, and without a word ever being sung.

This instrumental combo, recorded without overdubs in what we can only assume were Spartan recording conditions, falls somewhere along the lines of Booker T & the MGs doing a student exchange program with Frank Zappa circa Hot Rats, with Hammond organ, extremely busy electric bass, and two drummers backing the ethnically psychedelic guitar work of Mustafa Ozkent and Cahit Oben. The album title translates as “Hand in Hand With Youth”, and so it’s got to have all the hip, new sounds of the era, with wah wah and other guitar effects, but it also draws heavily on traditional Turkish melodies, which utilize non-Western tunings and apparently additional guitar frets.

Master tape damage is apparent here and there, with some tape speed changes, but we’re lucky to have this at all, the liner notes suggest, due to the recycling of much Turkish vinyl during 70s oil shortages.