Monk - Monk (1971) **UPGRADE TO THE UPGRADE**

I've recently discovered that the de-clicker I use to try to improve old crackly 45's has a Super-scan facility, and so the first album I wanted to try it out on was this old acetate by the mysterious band Monk. I thought the best thing would be to start right from the beginning, so I downloaded a fresh copy of it, and when splitting out the tracks I found that I'd split the third track in half, as it had a fade in the middle which made it sound like it had finished, and so from then on all the track titles were incorrect for side one. As well as correcting that, I've also tried to remove some of the louder clunks, in particular on 'Fantasy 2: The Beast', and so this upgrade is not only for the sound quality, but also to correct the track listing. When I tracked this down again there had been a recent comment added that a record label was looking to remaster this album and release it officially, but we've all heard that before, so if it doesn't happen then at least we have this copy to listen to. 

Speaking of an official release, Soulseeker Johntest has informed me that this did in fact happen in 2023, when Bright Carvings released a limited edition pressing of 227 copies of the fully remastered album, but as they are now long gone, I'm replacing my improved copy with a vinyl rip of one of the 227 copies from Youtube, and all I've had to do this time is split out the tracks and tidy up some fades. And I must admit that the more I listen to this, especially in this new, cleaned-up version, the more I think that this really is a lost classic of progressive rock.   

Track listing

01 Fantasy 1: The Journey
02 Sit Back, Relax
03 House In The Country
04 Lazy Day
05 A Light In The Window
06 Fantasy 2: The Beast
07 Jesu 
08 Lover
09 And So To Bed
10 Intermezzo
11 Don't Talk About Me
12 Through An Electric Glass Darkly