[Johnny_Heartfield]

Motorpsycho has always been yr elephant. Except for those who enjoy and make it big, big, big! So what…

As far as I understand the review in Plattentest, N.O.X. would have fared much better as a single album without the other songs. Well, we'll see in a few weeks. I do share the criticism of "Same old Rock" to some point, but let's not judge too early here – better not judge at all, but enjoy – and be it after the seventh desperate effort to digest another entirely new and still unfamiliar Motorpsycho record.

[Johnny_Heartfield]

Thanks a lot, Knoot!

[Johnny_Heartfield]

Can hardly wait as well, but will do. Getting everything the moment you hear of it partly diminishes some kind of value – waiting for it makes new music great and great music even greater.

[Johnny_Heartfield]

We're all too wasted from the onslaught of consumer-friendly, mainstreamed or even agressive product merchandising – be it acoustic or otherwise. And thus forget to listen or concentrate – sometimes even mor than once – before we judge. But then: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can never make him drink" – you can lead a man to Harper, but you can never make him… (think? enjoy? like? dig? digest – whatever.)

Roy is not god – he is antigod! (divine, but gods-defying).

[Johnny_Heartfield]

In response to Lizard's Pun (and all the other information):

"Creepy Crowley Creepy Crowley

Creepy Creepy Crowley Crowley

Bob Le Bad the Mystic" (Omm…)

Enough punning – eager to hear the music! Night of Pan – my God!

("Punning Punning, we're punning again…")

[Johnny_Heartfield]

Actually c/o "Hippies United" (Paul Pott & friends) – I'm just the bringer of good news and deliveries

Excellent gig – best is yet to come! Thanx Bernie! Thanx HU!

[Johnny_Heartfield]

@ Supernaut: Roy Harper IS God. Even though he sang: "The Death of God" (A mediocre late single, but just the same…).

Listen to this, and you might find traces of Iron Maiden in there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDPqhcYSKGg

Haha, just joking. "Thick as A Brick" is roughly from the same time, but came after Harper's "Stormcock" album – so who traces who? Ian Anderson counted Harper amongst his early idols and inspirations – "the first one to leave Blackpool", he quoted, before he went on to exchange the guitar given to him by one Lemmy Kilmister for a flute in the next music instruments shop (old stories…)

[Johnny_Heartfield]

@ David: Agreed! The iconic mp logo/Babylon industrial font should be used throughout – at least on the "regular" releases!

[Johnny_Heartfield]

Burn (Deep Purple Cover)

High Time

Ãœberpilgrim

Lykkepilgrim >> 577

Ship of Fools feat lengthy jams of "Love Love" (Julian Priester tune)

& "Theme de Yoyo" (Art Ensemble of Chicago)

Running With Scissors >> I.M.S.

Granny Takes A Trip

Psychotzar

A Pacific Sonata

Un Chien d'Espace

Close your Eyes (2012 live version)

Superstooge

Walking On The Water (You Lied)

Black to Comm'

There are so many combinations of great Motorpsychedelic Tunes & Jams that I could go on for hours…

[Johnny_Heartfield]

This is rather a 3 1/2 hours set

Allow some time for tunings, jams, extended play, long, drawn out versions…

I'd say:

1st Electric Set: (50 min.)

Year Zero

Radiation Freq.

Lacuna Sunrise

Acoustic set: (25 min)

Blueberry Daydream

Turn Turn Turn (acoustic version)

Wharf Rat (Grateful Dead Cover, semi-acoustic)

2nd Electric Set: (80 min.)

The Crucible >> Hell >> Big Black Dog >> The Crucible

The Mirror & The Lie

Starhammer into The Wheel

The Tower

Feel

Encore: (20 min.)

All Is Loneliness

Vortex Surfer

[Johnny_Heartfield]

@ supernaut: The ridiculité (wow, that's french for "get rid of it, you asshole") lies in the total lack of impact in the music world that the mighty Unicorn has made since its release. Therefore hardly to compare with the big concept monsters of their time who defined their decade.

I still am not decided if I'm happy or not that MP is such a limited cult phenomenon. But as Lemmy once said: "Had we been successful like Iron Maiden, we might have gotten lazy and sit around in our castles doing nothing".

[Johnny_Heartfield]

@ supernaut: You're right – the execution is dead serious. That's probably why they try to balance it with all the tongue in cheek stuff. It's exactly that attitude that I love in Motorpsycho.

@ PL: And that is it what makes the Unicorn so different from the overall pompous concept album stuff mentioned – so I used the preposition "to" quite correctly in my sentence above, not being smartassed by any other smartass, although of course completely unaware of any special significance, not being a native English speaker/writer ,-)

Btw: I do not consider the Unicorn as a rock opera like "The Wall", "Tommy" or "Quadrophenia" – just a great concept album. The difference is in the use of musical themes and leitmotifs, the use of different characters singing the songs etc. Therefore I do not sniff too much pretential artistry in our beloved single-horned double vinyl. I might be wrong, of course.

Then the Unicorn is just another excellent concept album by a rather unknown cult band almost without any artistic or whatsoever relevance for most of the people. This may hurt the common Motorpsychedelic believer (It sure hurts me), but that's the way it is with these latter-day heroes of Rock Music in a world of consumer-friendly programmed acoustic slime. Whereas "The Wall" or "Tommy" probably represented their respective eras like no other musical product of the times, oozing Zeitgeist from every inch of double vinyl. It is just that point that ridicules any comparison for me.

I hasten to add that my Psychonautic self sees Motorpsycho as the mirror image of the Beatles themselves! MP reunite and combine all those musical threads going out from the Liverpool Big Bang of Four – Pop, Psychedelia, (Heavy) Rock, Folk Rock, and whatever discipline you name. Rock Music ends with Motorpsycho! Beyond there is nothing (or sea-monsters, if you remain in the Unicorn mythology).

Having let my smartass hang out way too long, I quickly pull up my pants and leave the arena…

[Johnny_Heartfield]

I consider DDU as a special kind of Motorpsychedelic joke, a kind of comic book "Eric the viking" delivered rock-opera-wise by a version of toolified Crimson, supported by "Piece-of Mind"-derived posters, the fake "Iron-Butterfly"-programme, a cheap punk-version/fake Roger Dean-stage art and Storlokken with a white Wakeman cape, occasionally impersonating Jon Lord during the encores. Probably just to avoid any possible comparison to the classic rock opera stuff mentioned above beforehand. So please don't – comparing the Unicorn to Tommy or The Wall is just ridiculous.

Musically lacking a little lightness but still a good record, it suffered a lot live – the density of musical motives, the onslaught of riffing and loudness, sometimes hardly distinguishable in unfittingly small and bad sounding surroundings without any chance for a relaxing breather between songs made the whole thing quite hard to endure. Probably the still not released Oslo Opera version with orchestra will teach me better…

Anyway – I'd love to hear Through The Veil live again, as well as one or two compositions from "Folk Flest" – the Lykkepilgrim riff comes to my mind now…

[Johnny_Heartfield]

"The Cuban superpower was once again ready to help with doctors and equipment." Ha!

Cuba could help the US as well, but with the embargo still intact and even strengthened under Trump this is quite unlikely.

Meanwhile Putin uses the pandemic to deliver superfluous trash to Italy as a means for propaganda. Maybe Russia will finally suceed to destroy the US by means of ineffective gear sent to the US…

[Johnny_Heartfield]

And some more reading:

Neil Gaiman – World's End (Part of the Sandman cycle). A number of strangers from quite different worlds and origin are stranded in a tavern outside the maelstrom of time and tell the tales of their lives. Just the comic book to read these days.

[Author]

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