The reunion of late 90s also-rans Kula Shaker has met with a predictably mixed reaction since three of the former members, led by the ever outspoken Crispian Mills, decided they “have to save the world again” after a six-year sojourn. Having surfaced first in the largely acknowledged nerve centres of psychedelic rock that are Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes, the four-piece (minus original Hammond organ wizard Jay Darlington) descended on Coventry’s Colosseum to kick off their Revenge of the King tour. The venue was full, the drinks were flowing, the incense was burning… and so Warwickshire stood to herald the return of the king. Moments later, the opening chords to Knight on the Town, from the quadruple-platinum Kula debut album K, resonated through the space, and the crowd erupted into a reaction that nobody expected – a kind of reckless abandon, the fulfillment of an unspecified dream. All achieved in an instant at the altar of the band we’re not supposed to like and thought had gone forever… but no. Full of the passion It’s delicious, occasionally indulgent and full of the passion for music and life the current scene lacks. Like Britpop before it, values the romanticism of the working classes and drug culture above such arbitrary things as love. | "It’s delicious, occasionally indulgent and full of the passion for music and life that lacks from the current scene..." | | Claire Spencer |
Nothing in the world of Kula Shaker is accidental, so when they sang "the disco became as a palace and shone like a crown", the words were chosen to invoke the transcendental – so wherever they’re taking you, you’re going. Having established the delight in hearing old classics such as Glastonbury trunk-road tribute 303, the heartfelt plea of a man "too stupid" with love to do anything but seek it in Shower Your Love or the ever crowd-pleasing cover of Joe South’s Hush, it would be easy to put the crowd’s reaction and general atmosphere down to nostalgia for those heady days of youth. After all, it has worked depressingly well for Embrace, who seem to have squeezed out an entire album in the time it took the scene to remember why they disappeared in the first place. New material Happily, Kula Shaker, although encapsulating Mills’ trademark lack of musical snobbery “it’ll be like covering ourselves”, are not looking backwards. The Revenge of the King EP was released via iTunes on 31 March, and much of the set was given over to this new material. The hand of Dylan was clear in works like Big Bad Wolf and the Bogeyman, but the real stars of the set came as a trio: Revenge of the King, Die For Love and Dictator of the Free World. The eponymous track is the band’s release – opening with a laid-back, folky strum, it builds to a monstrous marriage of the instrumental elements of Kula Shaker, coming to a climax with a shriek of “I don’t wanna die like a rat on a ship/I don’t wanna die for somebody’s kicks”, before waning as it waxed – both gradually and unexpectedly. Die for Love was just beauty itself, a continuation of the theme of mortality that seems to pervade the new material. Mills’ voice had just enough frailty to be genuine, and every heart in the room bled for the one who “would kneel at your door”…until Dictator of the Free World, with its hilariously scathing attack on unspecified yet glaringly obvious political figures. Kula nay-sayers would delight at the lyrical weapons of “I’m a dic- I’m a dic…”, although hopefully not at the expense of gems such as “who cares about the weather when you’re as rich as I am?”. This was quite emphatically not a political song in the ilk of, say, Masters of War, but it does reveal a band that believes battles can be fought with music and, by so doing, save the world. It was idealism at its peak, but after a show like the one Kula Shaker gave to Coventry on that rainy Sunday night, being part of the attempt would be a pleasure. | 
