The Devil’s Anvil – Shisheler (Columbia)
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Download Hard Rock From The Middle East
This is some old school awesomeness right here. Found this mono gem in the new bin at my favorite local record store in all its hard psych glory. Songs in Greek, Turkish, and Arabic (with an English “Miserlou” cover thrown in to tip it over the edge), blazing hot guitars with that sweet Middle Eastern twang, killer ’60s acid rock jams and noodley traditional charmers, totally weird, way ahead of its time. 100% great, especially the B-side opener “Shiseler” which is just too fucking cool.
And if you’ve never heard of them, this is probably why (taken from Wikipedia): “Unfortunately for The Devil’s Anvil, their album was released during escalating tensions between Israel and neighboring Arab countries and the Six Day War, or the Arab-Israeli War, in 1967. Subsequently, radio stations would not touch the album because of its controversial sound.”