Troyka

Troyka, Cotillion Records, Canada, 1970. £100. Troyka is a weird and wonderful, primarily hard rock album, but which defies description and is all the better for it.

Formed in the Canadian town of Edmonton, from the ashes of garage rockers the Royal Family, Troyka consisted of three musicians of Ukranian descent. It’s clear that this was a trio who understood each other well and that their craft had evolved out of intensive jam sessions. The album has a large portion of mindbending instrumentals, from gorgeous slices of psychedelic rock (Beautiful Pink Eyes) to funky jazz-rock (Life’s OK), trippy semi-classical (Early Morning) and traditional Russian folk (Introduction).

Apparently it was the wild and raw singing style of drummer/vocalist Michael Richards that caught the attention of Atlantic Records A&R department, leading them to be signed to its subsidiary Cotillion. His gravelly tone adds caveman rowdiness to the fuzzy acid blues of Natural and the garage dirge of Rolling Down The Road.

Lyrically, Troyka didn’t seem to take things too seriously and there appears to be quite a bit of satire going on (Rub-ADub-Dub Troyka In A Tub, for example).

For all its diversity, ambition and madness there seems to be a controlled anarchy behind Troyka’s bizarre chemistry, making it very listenable. Skillful musicianship helped, too.

Unfortunately the band fell apart following the untimely departure of guitarist Robert Edwards towards the end of 1970. LD

‘There’s a controlled anarchy behind their bizarre chemistry.’