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The black disc has landed. 1 1/2 spinnings so far. First impression: much too short. And: an upside down album. Inner gatefold should be album cover imho – and vice versa. Love it very much. I suspect it might be another rip-off motive as MP are wont to produce sometimes. Somehow the almost b/w fotograph and the colour typo remind me of another classic cover, but I can't remember which one. Besides the motive of Tomas sending ripples through the grassy ground with his gong would be a perfect candidate for an ECM cover, b/w fotograph provided.
Listened to side B just once and am somewhat underwhelmed – probably much too high expectations. Another upside down element probably concerning the piece's structure: starts with the end part, then heavy 2nd half, then long, slightly rising progression finally fading out. I'll give it another listen soon…
Side A excellent – but still improved much while listening for a 2nd time. Just Great. Mona Lisa / Azrael the highlight for me at present. Could also have been called Greensleeves Digs Holes in Space
. Probably as close as you get to a pure percussion piece by our Northern rhythmites with the two drummers chasing each other and Snah hectically fuzzing around and about in a very freejazzy way.I love Tomas' input on the album, both the gong parts and the excellent fast drumming he provides here. Can't wait to hear what they're doing with that music on stage.
Btw.: One of these five or six follow-up albums in preparation just now must be an acoustic ambient one with Tomas' gong & cymbals in the lead, Snah soloing on water-filled wineglasses and Bent supplying the rhythm on a kind of talking drum made out of a gigantic glass vase or bottle.
@ supernaut: Metal? Go to hell
(just joking). From what I learned from the interviews we can expect at least five different Motorpsycho albums in the next 18 months. I do hope the lying bit was just the passage about the farmhouse situation…
Quote:Is there a better band in this worldYou're talking about predominantly instrumental stuff, aren't you, gentlemen
And yes – there's lots of best bands around – but no one else does what MP does.
Ha! End of all discussions concerning Metal. Unchain your brain! And another 23 nods to Robert Anton Wilson…
We're reviewing rock music in general and especially metal – sorry for the diversion
Another case of predicting a thread that is still to come (see Bent's 23 favourite metal tracks from 1980)…
@ Punj Lizard: Metal started with the Beatles of course – Helter Skelter. And Stoner Rock as well – I Want You (She's So Heavy). And Motorhead didn't regard themselves as a Heavy Metal Band – of course they were, at least in their later middle stage. And Kate Bush IS prog – beside a lot of other things, notably among them being Kate Bush
. I remember a Motorhead concert in the late 80s where they played "Interstellar Overdrive" (by Pink Floyd of course) at full volume through the massive speakers just before Motorhead got on. That's genre-hopping for you! Lets dump all these boxes anyway…Btw.: A friend of mine who had just been to Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets mentioned to me he noticed how close to Punk these early Barrett numbers were…
@ grindove: I can subscribe to almost anything you said above. Perhaps not in detail, but certainly in principle. Especially regarding Sade worship
. (Though I hated her at first, being stuck in trite Metal stuff and – luckily – 70s rock). I still regret having sold Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" and Maiden's "Piece of Mind" and even liked the Scorpions' "comeback" gig at Wacken 2006 – well, featuring Uli Jon Roth & Michael Schenker, what can you say?Even got in a Michael Schenker frenzy lately – probably due to Motorpsycho digging out "Rock Bottom" once again. Still – there's so much Metal stuff out there that's hardly worth mentioning. In the end most of these 80s bands closely clung to the ground or even digged their own genre wholes, while some of the more glorious 70s bands where the real Ancient Astronauts! Hope I don't waste it for me by exagerated expectations, but I'm ready to take off on the new/old stuff…
@ Punj Lizard: Of course it is unfair what I said about Metal in general. While writing I had exactly your arguments in mind, and they are at least partly valid. But If I do shit in somebody's backyard, it is preferably my own – or my metal past, as it were
. Btw: Sabbath isn't metal for me or has become so only in its later stages for a while. But I do have a problem with some "music" – and Metal, Hip-hop and even Prog-Rock for me have the same problem: In their more extreme, let alone more standardized formes they cross the border from living music to "functional noise" – make your standard moves, show your standard outfit, get off aggression, show your frustration etc. – all not bad in itself but not what I digest in my old days
Heavy metal iz a poze, hardt rock iz a leifschteil – take this, "Metal Temple"!
While having myself wasted a few years in my youth with "Metal", I now consider most of it limitied, formulaic, epigone "music". No wonder they can't cope with "odd" tunings, chords, chord progressions. And so few choruses to drunkenly shout your lungs out with, my god!
Insofar I can imagine "Metal Temple" is not too overwhelmed with what promises to be another highlight in my ever growing Motorpsycho collection
When listening to Geb's new album I recognized once more what influence he had on his period's MP – way beyond his songwriting credits (which surpass those of his successors on the drum stool by far).
Same can be said for Kenneth – he gave LLM and some of its followers quite a push. For Tomas it is probably too early to judge – but compare those last albums to those ante-Tower, and there you go.
I already knew this one (the pravda beer), but it still makes me laugh. Would't trust a beer with Putin on though, even if it is only a spitting image…
@ punknotyet: How's the situation wiht you right now? Just read about some rockets from Russia on Dnipro. Pootin got that wrong as well: the song's called "Rocket to Russia". Take your Rock'n'Roll lessions, man!
@ Aki: This is only free creative naming by our good friend Spacebandit, who has posted so many MP recordings on DIME that he has to invent new titles to avoid being bored
I never got to grips with the DDU concept/lyrics. Everytime I tried I was somehow transported into the world of Terry Jones' "Eric the viking" – and therefore DDU always has an underlying comic note for me. Probably never intended by MP
Kobaian: after being estranged, surprised, fascinated and equally irritated by that language it suddenly appeared to me that it may be just a Frenchman's concept to come to terms with the German language. German – without understanding the words – must have an equal effect to a foreign listener, especially one not used to germanic tongues. I consider the whole Magma concept as a way of – probably subconciously – coming to terms with the French occupation trauma during WW2: horror, submission, and at the same time the dark fascination of fascism, military order, Nazi uniforms and so on. It certainly all is mirrored in the Magma concept – probably expressed in the strong Carl Orff influence on the music. Of course the French counter culture of the 70s used the social taboos and fears (especially the dark Nazi elements) to express itself. Same thing probably happened – on another level – in England, from David Bowie and Lemmy Kilmister via Joy Division up to Prince Harry.
In Magma this dark side is outbalanced by the strong spiritual dimension which Vander always has explained as his Coltrane influence.
Daevid Allen has always described Magma as the shadow (band/aspect) of Gong – and vice versa. On the one hand total musical discipline, strong leadership, big Ego on Planet Kobaia, on the other hand loose, chaotic hippie mysticism on Planet Gong. When both bands went on tour together, which happened several times in the 70s, it would always be a brilliant evening for one band and a musical disaster for the other – with changing roles.
