Revolution

This album found Q 65 at their peak, and this reissue adds six strong bonus tracks to the original 12, including their first two singles, "You're the Victor" and "The Life I Live." Q 65 were among only a handful of non-English speaking bands of the mid-'60s whose talent rivaled second-tier groups such as the Pretty Things in the search for a rock-oriented update of Chicago blues. What set them apart, and what makes Revolution very reminiscent of Back Door Men by the Shadows of Knight, is the broad range of music performed above and beyond the basic R&B. The band played acoustic as well as hard psych numbers along with the standards, and experimented with harmonium and other instruments to make Revolution more interesting than the average garage release. Despite the eclecticism, their blues interpretations work best, from the nice take of "Spoonful" to the groundbreaking 13-minute cover of "Bring It on Home," the real missing link between the rave-ups of the Yardbirds and the post-Cream jam bands of the late-'60s. Not every move is successful, as a few numbers are derivative, and vocalist William Bieler's language barrier sounds clumsy at times. Like many great bands of that era, Q 65 peaked in 1966-1967, and then fell into disarray after Bieler was drafted, never again reaching the heights of Revolution. Start with this, or the harder-to-find Complete Collection (1966-1969), for a surprisingly consistent set of songs by a group you may have assumed to have only been one-hit wonders. ~ Brian Downing