Cambodian Rocks

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Now this is an obscure compilation! I'm sure this music has an interesting story, but the liner notes are puzzling to say the least. From what I can gather, someone (the identity of this person is revealed on the comp Love, Peace and Peotry: Asian Psychedelic Music and not here, for some odd reason) was traveling with a friend through Cambodia (it is not explained when or for what purpose) and bought several cassette tapes. Later, "my hosts at the guest house" (yes, of course, the guest house—that sounds crebible enough) explained to the traveler that he had purchased tapes of "circle dance music," a contemporaneous Cambodian interpretation of American music of the late 1960s and early 1970s. That's all we know about the music on this CD, though. All of the lyrics are in Khmer (I'm guessing) and, despite some Asian elements in the music, this is well played 1960s rock. The artists on this compilation had clearly listened to their share of rock & roll, presumably from Armed Forces Radio. Some garage elements come into play, such as organ and fuzz guitar, but these musicians rely more on reverb and wah-wah than on fuzz. Track 13 (no song titles are listed) is built on the riff from "Gloria" and has a spoken word interlude, but that's the only immediately recognizable song in this collection. The music on Cambodian Rocks is remarkably fresh and the instrumentation varies somewhat from track to track. A number of tracks employ a saxophone and track 20 features an accordion. The b

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