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With the risk of explaining something obvious to everyone in here:
"Un Chien" is French for "a dog", and K9 is a numeronym for "canine", which again comes from latin and means "dog". I have heard Bent sometimes refer to it as "bikkja", which is the Norse word for "the dog".
From http://motorpsycho.fix.no/thisis/trivia/
"Motorpsycho did two special performances at Cinemateket in Oslo october 96. It was in connection with the viewing of Luis Bunuels surrealistic filmclassic "Un Chien Andalou" [An Andalusian Dog] from 1928. The last show was an extra show because of the big success with the first. The shows were supposed to be improvised. Not really, but it was an instrumental version of Un Chien D’Espace. Lasted 17 minutes."
I have heard/read somewhere that Un Chien d'Espace, "A dog in space", is about Laika, the Russian dog that became the first living creature in orbit around Earth on board Sputnink II in 1957. But I fail to make the connection between the text and this explanation, nor can I find any reference here. Help anyone?
Musically, though, the space travel theme is not difficult to hear. The song sounds like a trip in space. I always imagine we're preparing for take off in the quiet beginning, while the heavy part shoots us out in space, entering the jam part we're in orbit. Then we're brought back to Earth when the last verse is sung. Or are we? At least musically the song comes full circle. 13 of the most stunningly beautiful minutes of Motorpsycho music was released on Angels & Daemons at Play in 1997, together with "Have Spacesuit, Will travel", a jam which never has been repeated live, to my knowledge.
During the 1998 tour, Un Chien continued to develop as a vehicle for jamming, and the middle part was expanded into the suite structure known as K9 on RW1. Audience recordings reveal that the suite, while varying in length from night to night, kept to this structure throughout the tour, and usually clocked in between 20 and 30 minutes.
The longest version to my knowledge was Eindhoven 1999 (or was it the 1998 show), where they jammed it out to about 45 minutes. Someone please correct/confirm me here.
Un Chien / K9 has been brought back during most tours, although not every tour. Still, every lineup of the band since the songs conception has made its take on it. Most often the song will be jammed out in a similar way each night of each tour, so that the versions are pretty much alike inside a tour, while they might differ greatly from tour to tour. Still no version is of course the same, its still a huge jam. The 2006 tour with Jacco on drums sometimes saw jams showing up in other places than usual, for instance during the intro and/or the outro, and there was a tour with Kenneth when the song differed in jam approach from night to night.
To my knowledge has it only happened a few times that they didn't play the whole song. First time was in Halden 2000, when Bent, after a mind blowing jam that took them through Sun Ra's "We Travel the Spaceways", broke a string on the 12-string guitar just as they were returning to the last verse. Bent swiftly changed his guitar, they omitted the last verse and the ending, and continued seamlessly into Upstairs/Downstairs. Magic! They tried to recreate the magic later on that tour (where/when?), but afterwards the song was brought back to its full form and has stayed that way since.
The deluxe edition of Angels & Daemons at Play contains three versions of Un Chien d'Espace, from it's birth, to the album version to the classic live version of the 1997 tour. RW1 contains the 1998 K9 version. After that it has been referred to as both Un Chien and K9.
https://www.stickman-records.com/shop/motorpsycho-angels-and-daemons-at-play-6cd-box-set/
Hi Punj Lizard, welcome! Oh, how I envy you discovering MP now. To stumble upon such a treasure, it doesn't happen too often these days, not to me, al least. I mostly lurk around here, but I want to point you in direction of the officially released live recordings before you seek out the soundboards (not too many of them), the radio recordings (luckily there are a handful of great ones) and the audience recordings (there are 100s, and at least a couple from each tour will be worth your time.
Since your oldest record is Trust Us, you should start with Roadwork 1, which was recorded on that tour, and which – in my book – is another cornerstone of their catalogue. Here you get a fantastic glimpse of the live magic.
Another live classic is Oslo Rockefeller March 14th 1997, a radio recording that circulated among the traders for 20 years, before finally being released in its entirety as part of the Angels and Daemons at Play Boxset.
You also have the DVD "Haircuts", which contains a recording from Amsterdam 2002. Also a great, great release.
When you work your way further back in their catalogue, you will find live recordings shattered throughout, beginning with a show from 1993 in the Demon Box boxset, and also a far out jazz experiment on Roadwork 2, from a show in 1995.
Let me know, and I'll try to assemble the radio recordings list next time, unless someone else has that list at hand and will post it for me.
Enjoy!
Thank you Akane for pointing out the recording, and Un.Chien.d.Espace for the alternative download link. Indeed a good find, must have been intimate in there, judging by the acoustics of the recording.
Tomcat: Thanks, looking forward to meeting you again too. Mefisto: Just getting old, I guess. Or at least in a different state of mind. Yes, hope we meet again next tour!
Oakej: Funny anecdote! Do we know each other?
Latest additions/updates:
30.07.2011 – MÃ¥nefestivalen, Fredrikstad (NOR) http://maanefestivalen.com/
19.08.2011 – Parkenfestivalen, Bodø (NOR) (Date confirmed) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Parkenfestivalen-offisiell-facebookside/355840609070?sk=wall
Updated:
13.04.2011 – Bilbao, Azkena (ES) + Two Cow Garage
14.04.2011 – Barcelona, Rocksound (ES)
15.04.2011 – Murcia, 12 & Medio (ES)
16.04.2011 – Madrid, El Sol (ES) + Moongardening Inc.
03.05.2011 – Helsinki, Tavastia Club (FIN) + Master Musicians of Bukkake
04.05.2011 – Tampere, Klubi (FIN) + Goathound
25.06.2011 – Steinkjerfestivalen, Steinkjer (NOR)
09.07.2011 – Kongsberg Jazzfestival, Kongsberg (NOR) + Primus
14.07.2011 – Burg Herzberg Festival, Breitenbach (GER)
15.07.2011 – Sonnenrot Festival, Eching bei München (GER)
30.07.2011 – MÃ¥nefestivalen, Fredrikstad (NOR)
19.08.2011 – Parkenfestivalen, Bodø (NOR)
02./03.09.2011 – Verket Music Festival, Mo i Rana (NOR)
Thanks for the correction, supernaut! I don't think it can get too nerdy, btw. Alex, feel free to correct the text.
If it indeed comes from Bremen 08, then it segued from Kill Devil Hills, according to http://motorpsycho.fix.no/comeonin/oldforums/read.php?4,50390
Wow, seems like london was a jamming night!
loneliness>starhammer>wheel>hogwash>halleluwah>x3>oblivion!
Sounds massive!
Plus of course the new songs, and the beautiful and massive opener year zero, and Diana!
I sure hope someone taped!
Brussels always turns out special, and it was with sadness I left the tour after Heidelberg (the gig before Brussels). Now I finally got the recording, and it turns out the epic setlist of Brussels 2010 contains some of the most mindblowing moments of the tour! Especially the first hour (Un Chien->Timothy’s Monster, Sunship->Arne H) made me listen in awe. Far out, imaginative and adventurous jams. Amazing stuff going on.
After that the momentum drops a bit during PPP, although it is a nice breath of air after the breathtaking first hour of the show. Mountain picks it up again, but is also the last real treat with a very long keyboard part from Snah among other things. Starhammer is rather short compared to other nights, Plan#1 is messy, as is most of Gullible. Then, as Rune said: Vortex is Vortex. To have it played after Gullible is a huge bonus. Gullible usually ment the end of the show on this tour.
Over the years some legendary Motorpsycho cities/venues have established themselves in the way that the shows there always turn out special. And by special I mean spaced out or epic setlists or both. Brussels is such a city, as is Bielefeld, Vienna, Tilburg, Halden, Bremen and Darmstadt. The one thing these cities have in common is that the audiences there are quiet, concentrated, and respectful of the band and their music. Motorpsycho simply need this kind of audience more than most bands do because their receipt of suspense and release cannot work as well in a room filled with noise.
A big thank you to Vortex155 for recording and making it possible for me to enjoy Brussels so much once again, even if I was not there this time!
I simply cannot understand how some people can say that The Wheel is too long. Have you ever taken the time to actually listen to the song?
Journalists are not always supposed to expose their sources.
Hm, what a fantastic combination of bands! Althoug I am usually against support bands at MP shows, I can totally see this combi work. They should jam together in the encores!
Thanks Elisa! Are you the travelling Italian Elisa from 10 years back, or do you live in Aalborg? Any thought on the show? Good/bad? How did people receive MP in Aalborg? How many showed up? Did you talk to the band? Will they ever play Denmark again if what we heard is true (only 50-60 people)? It is really a shame that people do not go to see the band when they visit the cities outside of Copenhagen. I thought it was a brave thing to do, to do Aalborg instead of Copenhagen. I’ll have to ask their Danish agent why they ended up in Aalborg this time…. Band wish? Logistics? Impossible to find a gig in Copenhagen or Ã…rhus? I’ll let you know if I find out.
