San Diego is famous for its zoo; while the zoo possesses an impressive array of creatures from all parts of the globe, it’s fair to say little attention has been given to any display of donkeys in captivity. The humble donkey tends not to be one of God’s more celebrated creatures – it lacks the regal beauty of the horse, and its braying is about as sonically attractive as the grinding gears of an old Valiant sedan.
Such uncomplimentary observations are, thankfully, not applicable to San Diego’s The Donkeys. The band are that most volatile of creatures, the psychedelic-spiced southern Californian rock act – volatile because of the potential for success, countered with a perpetual risk of disappointment. But within moments of the Buffalo Springfield-infused Don’t Know Who We Are, you know you’re in safe hands.
It’s followed up with the laconic Californian rock affection of I Like The Way You Walk; if this was a sitcom, it’d be rating through the roof. The licks that usher in Bloodhound are reminiscent of Kim Salmon And The Surrealists’ Hanging Out; the track itself invokes the spirit of Harvest-era Neil Young.
Born With Stripes is like nothing else previous on the record, a sparkling bubblegum pop track as sweet as a twinkie and without the unclassified synthetic additives. Kaleidescope sits down alongside The Sand Pebbles on the beaches of Ceduna and chews the psychedelic fat on the legacy of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. West Coast Raga might even get a flicker of a smile from Anton Newcombe and New Blue Stockings finds a hitherto unknown path through The Doors, Crazy Horse and The Mamas And The Papas.
Ceiling Tan – with its reference to infamous murders of American history – is dark in the way only psychedelia can be, Oxblood returns to earlier bubblegum territory, tinged with a smidgin of Go-Betweens beauty, Valerie is awash with The Lovetones’ kaleidescopic pop sensibility and East Coast Raga is the companion dirty psych track to the earlier west coast version.
There’s a lot going on with The Donkeys – the spirit of the 1960s might have been bludgeoned to death in 1969, but the musical legacy lives on. Who would have thought donkeys would have been so inspirational?
Key Track: New Blue Stockings
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Buffalo Springfield
In a word: Psych-country-pop
