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@the other Anders – Best post I've read on this forum yet. Great background for a 'newbie'. Thank you!
'Go to California' is not a tune I normally get overly excited about on a setlist. This show, it blew me away. This is something Motorpsycho can do that no other band I have ever known can do. They can take a song you have set your mind against, and turn you around. I think it was the little 'Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida' tease on the bass that did it. Is that something Bent has done before? Wicked.
@ Punj – This is what hooked me on Colour Haze…
Also, since this is a MP forum, don't miss this…
I really appreciate the effort of keying in the lyrics. Thank you! I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but reading the lyrics to Psychotzar makes me think this song is about Donald Trump. It doesn't seem ambiguous in any way. I love it.
@Punj – The internet and DIME (and Motortrades) have enabled my unusual education about MP. More importantly, I owe great thanks to the tapers! Perhaps, I am a little bit like a guy living in Europe discovering the Grateful Dead after 1972.
It is true that I must see a band live before I am fully connected. Perhaps that is why I am so focused on listening to live MP shows. I will eventually start purchasing the music on vinyl. I will probably go with Stickman releases, because I think they offer vinyl and download code together. That package interests me the most. I don't think it matters where I start, because I will end up owning it all.
I am envious of all the shows I am missing, MP and so many other acts that don't play in America. I would move across the Atlantic tomorrow if my wife would get on board! My boys are too young (three and two) for me to organize even a short trip to catch any shows for now. I am sure my chance will come one day.
Tournee 2015 covers a lot of Colour Haze bases, but you might explore more CH music. I would listen to 'Colour Haze' and 'Tempel' for sure. My favorite aspect of CH is probably the lyrics. I especially connect with the song 'Love'. I would not be surprised to learn that there is an anthroposophical background.
It is interesting that you and I have grown up in the world 'together', and here we are connecting through MP. They are like a beacon!
@ Punj – Thank you for starting this thread, and thank you for digging deep into the MP oeuvre and telling us about your journey! You have inspired me to attempt to do the same. I had knee surgery today, and I'm medicated. Seems like a good time.
You could call me a newbie. I am American and have lived all of my 57 years in America. I was not aware of MP early enough to catch one of their few US gigs. I have never seen them live. I have also never heard one of their studio albums. A quick word on that later.
My discovery of Colour Haze around 2010 led to my discovery of MP. I was downloading CH shows from DIME, and I noticed Spacebandit's comments about CH being his second favorite band after MP, I started downloading MP shows. At first, I could not quite get into the music, but I sensed there would be a reward in time. It was the variety in the setlists that captured my imagination. I was especially enamored of the idea of a band who could cover the Grateful Dead and Motorhead on the same night and played 'Light in the Black' as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio.
Audience recordings are probably not the best way to get into a band, but I kept at it. I grabbed every MP show on DIME and all the new ones that showed up as time went on. One day, in 2012 or 2013 while making a six-hour drive, I heard 'All Is Loneliness' for the first time. I don't remember which show I was listening to. That did it. I was hooked. I could see the band on stage, and I could feel the magic in their music. I heard a room full of people chanting after the band had let their music fade away, and I understood that there was a whole community of people who felt it too.
@JERO – You should be able to deduce that this was an emotional connection for me. 'All Is Loneliness' is not a song to think about. It is a song to feel, and I felt it. I felt it speak to me on a soul level.
I do not think about music. I either feel it, or I don't. I feel music that is 'heavy'. I cannot articulate what heavy is, but I know it when I hear it. Heavy has many hues, and MP is the only band I know with the ability to create such a wide range of songs with heaviness in them. I hear it in songs as diverse as 'Un Chien', 'Starhammer', and 'Vortex Surfer'.
Let it be said, though, that man cannot live on heavy alone. There must be soul. Someone once said, "You don't have a soul. You ARE a soul, you have a body." If I could explain how that concept relates to MP music, I would consider my exploration of this music complete.
So, why have I not listened to any studio albums? I could say that I am waiting to possess enough disposable income to purchase it all, which is true. I could make an excuse about why I don't just listen on Spotify or similar. The truth is, I don't want to hear the studio recordings, yet. I might even be a little afraid of losing something special. As it is now, my relationship to each song is not bound by a 'definitive' version. Hey, it's the trip I'm on, and I'm gonna hang onto it! At least a little longer…
Finally, my favorite era of MP is happening right now. In fact, I think I will even purchase 'The Crucible' on vinyl. Why not do it right now?
Interesting. As an American living in Massachusetts, 'The Crucible' was a staple of my high school English literature education along with 'The Scarlet Letter'. To me, I began thinking of the Salem witch trials as soon as I first saw the title of the new MP record. Anybody else?
Hi Harry, He went to the local record store and found a used copy of 'Heavy Metal Fruit'. I was amazed, because MP vinyl is not often seen in the USA.
I asked a music writer friend of mine to listen to MP and tell me what he heard. He said, "like Yes at their peak doing their best attempt at Live/Dead."
@pfnuesel – If you want to try and grok the whole Hawkwind oeuvre, I suggest listening to 'Space Ritual', 'Quark, Strangeness and Charm', 'Live 79', 'Chronicle of the Black Sword', 'Electric Teepee'.
1973 is peak for sure. 'Yuri Gagarin' was re-released with better sound as 'Empire Pool Wembley 1973'. Great gig. Windsor is unique and awesome. There are quite a few other shows in circulation worth a listen. If you dive into the more obscure HW boots, you have to get your head into the game. Imagine listening to the show from inside a running laundry machine.
Most important, do not miss the Greasy Truckers set from 1972. That's been released with fantastic sound. This is required listening for early Hawkwind fans. It captures the band in full flight. Brock has told a story about how the whole band dosed prior to the show and could not be persuaded to go on stage for quite some time. Lemmy told a story about the roadies hooking his boot heels on the back of the stage and levering him up into a standing position for the gig. You can hear the synapses crackling on this show.
@Punj – Nice wrap up. I appreciate what you're saying about Hawkwind support bands. In my case when Wyndorf was in the audience, MM was about to release 'Spine of God', and I was about to be kicked out of a sputtering space rock band in a dispute over ownership of a fog machine. Nolo contendere. Interesting comment on the American hard rock vocal style. I could get into that conversation, but it's heading far afield of MP world.
@Devotional – I think we have spent enough time on the Hawkwind-MP connection for now, but I will say that 'K9' and 'All Is Loneliness' are my two favorite MP songs. They are the ones that hooked me and opened the door for me loving MP.
Peace, brothers.
Interesting comments on the influence of HW on MP. I guess what I don't hear is any Brock. There are bands (e.g. Monster Magnet) who can capture Brock pretty. To me, Snah is such a distinct animal that he is not wired like Brock at all and forges his own sound.
As for Monster Magnet @Punj, don't forget to give Tab… 25 a spin. "Get in your car, start it up, and drive straight into a fucken brick wall. I guarantee you will love it."
A MM/HW anecdote for anyone still reading… I played in a space rock band called Architectural Metaphor in the late 80's and early 90's. We opened for Hawkwind a few times in the USA. One night in New York in 1991, we were on stage at the Wetlands doing Sonic Attack after getting some tips from Brock on the tour bus. Dave Wyndorf was in the audience. He told one of my friends that he was offended that his band was not opening for Hawkwind, because they were so much better than us. He was right!
