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Meanwhile, over at Instagram: Yesterday, which was mother's day in Norway, Bent posted a photo of his mother, who died of cancer half a year ago. He used several hash-tags, including "eviglys" and "eternallight". Could the song be about his mother?
@mefisto: April 12th is the opening night of Vossa Jazz, the annual festival taking place in Voss, an hour or so east of Bergen. Some of us are hoping that the entire band, or one of two of them, will appear there.
Heh – a return to Hulen? That's where I attended my first Motorpsycho show, in March 1992. Back then the show started with a crowd of around a hundred, around half of us stayed until the end.
Re: Motorpsycho and drugs: This topic was also discussed back in 2002. Some interesting quotes from Bent and Snah here.
http://motorpsycho.fix.no/comeonin/oldforums/read.php?1,2985
Is this the interview you're referring to, Punj Lizard? It's from 2014, and Bent talks for fifteen minutes about what it's like to be in Motorpsycho – writing songs, touring, improvising, and so on. It certainly doesn't answer all your questions, but he touches upon some of them. And there are some great shots of the band on stage as well.
@ everybody: Thanks for the kind words re the blog. The blog's been going since 2009, so there are reports from all MP shows I've witnessed since then. The first of them, from Bergen, October 2009, includes a brief outline of how I've followed Motorpsycho since 1992.
@otheranders: you can claim a bonus point for your positive words about nynorsk. I may be mistaken after all these years, but I have a hunch that we met briefly in the line at Moldejazz in 2002, waiting to be admitted to the Motorpsycho show back then.
@ the visitant: It sounds better om paper than it did on stage. For me the opening impro om Chien, and the impro part before lift-off on the same song, was the least impressive parts of yesterday's show.
@ Spacebandit: Yes, you're right. A slightly un-adventourous setlist, seeing that most songs were from The Tower. But those songs are good, and, as you point out, Kristoffer and Ola make for some good playmates. Kristoffer is also great fun to watch, of the four frontmen he was the one most likely to dance around, clearly excited by the soundscape he's part of. (Maybe the others don't have the legs to do it anymore.)
As usual, I've written a couple of paragraphs about yesterday's show on my blog (Norwegian only): http://kulturguffen.blogspot.com/2018/07/motorpsycho-moldejazz-2172018.html
Stuart Maconie (BBC6) has picked The Tower as one of the albums of the year. Listen to his impressions, including an interview with the band (starting around 45:00) here:
And the leader of Mountain was called Leslie West, of course. Motorpsycho played "Leslie's Vest" a couple of times in 2011 – didn't that song turn into On A Plate?
Six years ago, on a thread about something completely different, I wrote this:
In a program on Norwegian radio back in the mid-90s, Norwegian radio legend Harald Are Lund talked about the music that had influenced Motorpsycho. He mentioned the band Mountain, and said that the MP song "Mountain" was inspired by a song by Mountain. He played that song, and you could hear his point. The two songs were not identical, far from it, but there were some similarities.
A few years later, on an impulse in a record shop, I bought a Mountain collection, Over The Top. I managed to get through the 34 songs a couple of times, but couldn't figure out if any of these songs had influenced "Mountain". I haven't listened to it since, my main recollection is that even if the music was ok, the vocals were just horrible. Almost painful.
Wanting to get the bottom of said riddle, I e-mailed Harald Are Lund, to find out more. He replied that he remembered the program, and that there indeed was one Mountain song that had inspired "Mountain", but he couldn't recall what the song was called. So there you are – a mystery unsolved.
To which TraktorBass replied:
I only have Mountains album Twin Peaks here, but could it be 'Never in my life'? There is also a track named 'Theme for an imaginary western' on the album..
– –
And if I remember correctly, I agreed with the mighty Traktor, and found similarities between the two songs.
Punj Lizard -> just use a ¤ instead of @. Most of us here are bright enough to know what to do.
And enjoy the Jaga concert. They are a marvellous, marvellous band.
Review from Mojo. As usual, they appreciate what they hear:
Motorpsycho: The Tower (4/5)
Norwegian proggers' 19th LP feels like the first time.
These Norwegian sonic voyagers' almost-three-decade journey to the outer reaches continues, their focus barely shaken by the exit of long-serving drummer Kenneth Kapstad, replaced by Tomas Järmyr, who stalwarts Brent [!] Sæther and Hans Ryan credit with The Tower's heavier crunch. Certainly, Bartok Of The Universe's steel-armoured riffage and half-inched CSN harmonies conjures a beast that could slay latter-day Mastodon, but this double-set is no one-note riff-blitz: The Maypole eschews the trad-folk suggestion of the title for trippy, sun-soaked delirium; In Every Dream Home is a polymorphous treat liberally drizzled with Yes-juice; while the excursive Intrepid Explorer is exhilarating, a reminder of just how much fun prog can be, in the right hands. The Tower's refreshing absence of cynicism, boundless joy, never self-indulgent instrumental excursions and ample cosmic thrills make listeners feel like wide-eyed 11-year olds dropping the needle on their very first proggy expedition.
Review by Stevie Chick
