Summit –The Darkness

Summit –The Darkness/Thank You Mister Jones –North Room Records (US 1969)

Monster proto Doom from Summit. Now it has been mentioned that it owes some to Factory’s Path Through The Forest and it certainly shares a similar monotone drone effect with machine-like drumming,if you ask me, you can also throw in a bit of Pere Ubu for good measure, but this one goes full downer without reprieve. It’s heavy dark pounding number with an amazing lead fuzz guitar break from the guitarist (who was only 15 or 16 at the time!). The lyrics allude to Amazon warriors, but remain pretty cryptic. The B side is tribute to Brian Jones and was sung and performed by the bass player. It’s a stripped down basic affair and a nice counterpoint to the A side.
Summit was never an actual band, just a bunch of kids who got together to jam, but still managed to record these 2 songs in September 1969 at Damon Studios in Kansas City. 3 members were from Clinton, while the guitarist had to commute from Sikeston, which was quite a trek and perhaps explains why they only played ever played one gig.
A self-release, North Room refers to their practice space, which was the north room of the basement in the bassist’s house… A bit thank you to Mark P for the thorough detective work!

Hear a full version of The Darkness



Hear a full version of Thank You Mister Jones