King Khan and the Shrines - The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines

The brainchild of their Montreal-born frontman, Berlin-based King Khan and The Shrines are an eleven-piece psychedelic-soul band, and The Supreme Genius of… sees them compile tracks from their previous albums, EPs and singles. As one might expect from the title, it’s a loud, brash, eccentric record, which dances between 60s soul, doo wop and funk, all done with a dollop of raucous garage rock.

The songs here are delivered with a caricatured rock ‘n’ roll, Hives-esque swagger, and indeed Khan’s vocal is a bit like Howlin’ Pete Almqvist mimicking Mick Jagger. Khan also often channels James Brown, like in his vocal riffing with the band on Land of the Free. In the garage rock tradition, the lyrics are consistently dumb as hell and sometimes - like on Took My Lady Out To Dinner - you have to leave your brain at the door: “She‘s fat, she’s ugly/But I really, really love her.”

Teetering so near the edge of parody, it’s hard to tell whether The Supreme Genius of… is pastiche or loving homage or somewhere twixt the two. Regardless, at 16 songs and 52 minutes, it’s a bit too long but, in small doses, there is enough energy here to suggest that seeing King Khan and The Shrines live might just be the best fun ever. On record though, after the initial rush of excitement at its vivacity subsides, there’s not much substance left to grab hold of and you might just be left wondering as to the relevance of it all.