URBAN ASPIRINES: The Chesterfield Kings: Let's Go Get Stoned 1994

Friday, January 10, 2020

The Chesterfield Kings: Let's Go Get Stoned 1994

The Chesterfield Kings were a rock band from Rochester, New York, who began as a retro-1960s garage band, and who have heavily mined 1960s music.

The early Kings were a late-1970s recreation of a mid-1960s garage band sound. Their self-released first single (Living Eye Records, LSD-1) was a cover of The Brogues' 1965 "I Ain't No Miracle Worker" b/w The Heard's 1967 "Exit 9". In a deliberate effort to create their own rare garage-band collectible singles, only 100 copies were pressed.

Their first broader public exposure came when a track on Greg Shaw's 1981 Bomp! Records compilation Battle of the Garage netted them a series of dates at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City. They continued with this 1960s garage sound through the mid-1980s, releasing two albums—Here are the Chesterfield Kings (1982) which contained entirely cover songs, and Stop! (1985) which introduced their first originals. They then turned to a harder-edged rock sound for Don't Open Till Doomsday (1987) and Berlin Wall of Sound (1989) featuring the blues guitar work of new band member Paul Rocco. The group's next album was an acoustic blues record Drunk On Muddy Water (1990).

Their Let's Go Get Stoned (1994) is a mix of slightly post-Aftermath Stones covers and worthy originals in the Stones' style.
[ AllMusic Review by Matt Carlson

Although the Chesterfield Kings promised that the group would never sound like anything after The Rolling Stones' Aftermath, Let's Go Get Stoned is a tribute to the post-Aftermath Stones, replete with Stones covers ("Street Fighting Man" and "Can't Believe It"), songs The Stones covered (Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home"), and Kings originals that mimic The Stones. Mick Taylor even guests on "I'm Not Talking." Singer Greg Provost has always worshipped at Mick Jagger's altar, but here, the attempt is deliberate. Musically, the results are different, of course, but The Chesterfield Kings go beyond mere ripoff or idolatry.]

Surfin' Rampage (1997) showed that they were fully capable of pop harmonies; Where the Action Is (1999) was a return to garage band roots, a mix of covers and 1960s-styled originals.

The Mindbending Sounds of the Chesterfield Kings (2003) pays tribute to the more baroque side of the 1960s underground, evoking at times the sound of the Electric Prunes ("Transparent Life", "Disconnection"), and featuring appearances by Jorma Kaukonen on two tracks.

Their Psychedelic Sunrise (2008) was an extension of sorts of the group's previous album.
Got Live…If You Want It (2009) was a dual live recording and DVD set, as well as the group's final release.