Cem Karaca’s album, Nem Kaldi, is a grab-bag of singles from the ’60s and ’70s and, as you might expect, it’s all over the map. Besides Karaca’s booming Scott Walker-esque voice and melodramatic delivery, there aren’t many constants from song to song, running the gamut from Curtis Mayfield-styled orchestral funk (“Oy Bobo”) to soft-psych balladry (“Baba”) to crazed funk-prog (“Namas Balasi”). By constantly shifting styles (and sound quality) Nem Kaldi is somewhat tiring, though the highs make it worthwhile. The highest of those highs is “Unutamadigim,” a heavy rocker with manic double-bass drums and swooping synth squiggles pushing the song further into the stratosphere with each passing second.
Edip Akbayram’s Nedir Ne Degildir is the better of the two. It has the advantage of being an actual album, rather than a singles compilation, so the sound quality and backing band (Dostlar) are consistent throughout. The album dates from 1977, long after psychedelic rock had faded, but Akbayram still uses the sounds of the previous decade, mixing hard rock histrionics with proggy keyboards, funky beats and those great Turkish instruments you don’t hear often in the Western World. Favorites include “Arabam Kaldi Yolda” with its sped up tape manipulations (like “War Pigs”), and “Adam Olmak Dile Kolay” which features an in-the-pocket instrumental section that pretty much rules. In addition to psych-heads, crate-diggers should check this out too for a wealth of funky beats just waiting to be turned into hip-hop tracks.
Midnight To Six 