Record of the Day: Iranian Rock w/ Jokers ‘Going Away’

Despite mainstream media’s portrayal of Iran as an apocalyptic wasteland, a burgeoning counterculture continues to rise, seeded by its 1970s underground psych rock scene.

Hailing from the gritty Tehran neighbourhood of Jamaran, Jokers were an anomaly. Where the remainder of Iranian rock bands failed to secure a record deal, Jokers succeeded during a 1970 visit to the U.K. where they were signed by Light in the Attic/Fading Sunshine records.

In 1971, with little outside influence, and at risk of prosecution, Jokers released their self-titled LP, since reissued by Strawberry Rain records. The album contains four tracks, all killers, dripping with heavy psych reverb, in a similar vain to England’s Mighty Baby and Dragonfly. Tracks like Southern Blues, All Wrong and the epic three-parter Joker’s Theme positively ooze with stoner riffs, acid-drenched exploration, and pure rock n’ roll grunt.

But it’s the album opener, Going Away, that breaks the mould entirely. Coming in at just over three-minutes, Going Away’s staunch, gut-churning overtone could almost be mistaken for a late-sixties U.S. garage jam circa Blue Cheer and Billy Gibbons’ Moving Sidewalks. And I’ll be damned if I don’t hear a Detroit-laced proto-punk influence in there as well.

Whatever Jokers sound like, they command to be cranked loud n’ proud, and if you have a few hundred bucks to spare, to be snapped up pronto.