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Not getting off on anything, and I don't know where you get the purist thing from. Just calling it like I see (hear) it; HBM started out promising with a weird intro not quite like anything I've heard in the Motorpsycho canon before, but the rest was a huge anti-climax to me. The rest of the gig was pretty good, including the HBM songs. Spin was done power trio-style, at first I thought they were starting to play Hogwash.
Ahem…let's get realistic. HBM is a decent album. Most of the songs outstay their welcome by a few minutes, but I can live with that. It's definitely not MP's best album, as some sources would have you believe, not by a long stretch, but it's OK, another worthy item in the MP discography.
But to to call HBM (the track) an MP classic is beyond ludicrous. It was a shapeless POS that is best cast under the veils of oblivion. It starts out rather promising, but what follows is the most mindless piece of drivel I've ever heard at a Motorpsycho concert. A shame, because it was pretty good up until Big Black Co… I mean Dog… Itself a song that outstays its welcome by a good 10 minutes on record, but decent enough tonight. Highlights were a barnstorming Whole Lotta Diana into Feedtime, notwithstanding Bent's cringeworthy opening vocals on WLD. Good stuff was great, but that last number was just…blah!
I'd have expected even more comments after such a huge event, but I suppose like me, everyone is simply still stunned and in shock and awe after a truly monmumental concert. I honestly did not in my wildest dreams expect something as good as this. Retro gigs like this are usually "nice" affairs. Only extremely rarely do bands manage to make justice to their older material in a way like this. Motorpsycho have moved on since 1993, so for them to be able to tap into the nerve that was present Saturday night was truly remarkable. Having Geb and Deathprod aboard just made the night complete.
As has been mentioned, the events leading up to the gig did lend the whole thing a special edge. We had to suffer through some pretty awful stuff during this day (cold winds, lots of drunk teenagers, russebusshelvete on the main stage including "pornosjokk"-Arif, a grumpy and disgruntled Echo and the Bunnymen shortchanged with a measly 40 min set on smaller stage and an overall pretty shitty atmosphere). And all the time the uncertainty of whether the gig would happen at all. But once it did…wheew…my beer buzz was just right, and from the very first minute it was simply pure bliss. The sound was so-so way back, especially the first two LP sides, but from Junior and on the sound was reasonably good.
The band, however, was transcendant. This honestly, hand to my heart, was one of the best 2 or 3 Motorpsycho gigs I've seen. There were no weak spots (although AIL was a little less effective than usual and Tuesday Morning a little scratchy, but mostly due to the sound). And from Junior and out, they just hit another plane. Plan #1 was achingly beautiful, executed with perfection, easily the best version I've heard. But it was the ending that just blew this gig right through the clouds and into extra-terrestrial heights.
Hearing Bent doing Come On In alone, on acoustic, on that huge stage, and every single soul attendant keeping perfectly shut…it brought a tear to my eye.
And then. "This is where it all…ends."
Demon Box. OMG. Back when I got into Motorpsycho this track never really did that much for me. Over the years I have come to appreciate it though. But to hear it on record is one thing. To actually *experience* it like we did on Saturday is just a whole different thing. I just stood there giggling, laughing and drolling maniacally as the noise washed over us. It must have been the best version they ever did. Of course this is pure speculation, but everyone was so *on* and inspired and attacked it with such fervour…
So thank you, thank you, Motorpsycho. Again and again and again you do it. You hit that special nerve, occupy that musical space that only you know how to. Nothing else comes close.
Now that we have the whole thing available, and also on CD, I've been playing it over and over the last few days. I have to say, this whole project was really cool, and the quality of the material much better than I had ever expected! This makes for a great mini-album. It's album length (particularly if you add Toys, which I haven't heard yet), but it does feel a little slight as an album (no real epics, probably not enough variety for a real Motorpsycho album), so releasing them in this form seems a very wise decision. The songs are allowed to shine in this context.
I am not entirely sure when all of these songs were recorded, but as I understand it they were all from the same sessions that yielded Eggplant and Behind the Sun, right? If that is the case, then it makes it even more odd that they would choose the songs they did for Eggplant, which was a huge disappointment for me. Turns out they had much, much better material available to release (as Behind the Sun proved). Well, Barleycorn was stunning, at least. In any case, most of the Motorpnakotic songs could be subbed into either record and worked well. Nevertheless, some of them do have a B-side feel, while some are more deep album track material.
Track by track:
1) The Jig Is Up
– one of the best, excellent groove, effortless elaboration. The band is in "the zone" on this one. Lots of nice little details, like the chromatically ascending countervoice at the end of each line in the verses. Killer track.
2) Mockingbird
– nice poppy tune. Love the way they've been using acoustic guitar on these Eggplant/Sun/Motorpnakotic tunes.
3) One Way or Another
– this one has really grown on me. Didn't like it too much at first, but the way it builds is huge. Could have easily replaced Ghost on Behind the Sun.
4) Forget It
– another favourite of mine. Super infectious chorus, this one stuck after the first time I heard it. Lovely middle section with the solo. It has something about it that reminds me of Timothy era, yet it's nothing like that at the same time.
5) Cutie in Decay
– Like this one too, although it's a bit indistinctive.
6) Whiskey & Rock & Roll
– In some ways, this is the kind of Motorpsycho I don't particularly like. I like them when they're serious, progressive, playing on all their register. This is just some dumb, cartoonish, stoner-ish heavy rock, right? But somehow with this one, it just wins me over – it's just hilarious and off-the-chart rocking fun. And those lyrics? "When I'm drinking, I get drunk"…LOL! I'd take this track over On a Plate any day.
7) Future of Our Nation
Yes, yes, yes!! Fantastic song! I'd go so far as to rate it one of their best covers ever. It really fits Motorpsycho. I have to go check out the original, but this one has "the spook" the way Motorpsycho treat it. When I first heard it I had no idea it was a cover, but I first thought maybe it was some really obscure Funkadelic song. Maybe Motorpsycho got the same vibes, because suddenly a melody appears that sounds like it's taken from Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow…is it there in the original by Master's Apprentices? And how it builds!! E-E-E-E EVERYWHERE…!
DominoesMy least favourite track of the release. The intro melody is just really annoying for some reason. It reminds me of the weaker tracks from the early 00s, like the abominable Fade to Grey or the utterly repelling Neverland… Fortunately it gets better, but overall this one leaves me cold.
So for me, The Jig Is Up, One Way Or Another, Forget It and Future of Our Nation are all stand-out tracks that would make any Motorpsycho album proud, and most of the rest are not far behind.
Very disappointed to find that my local Platekompaniet did not have the Demon Box box today.
Completely shocked to be informed that they most likely would not have it in the shop at all…special order only, except they don't take special orders in December…d'oh!! But he kindly told me I could buy it online. Thanks, but I'll pass on that suggestion.
What has the world come to? I practically grew up in a record store.
At least it was some consolation to come home and find the fourth fragment in my mailbox. Digging the CD as I type!
So how is everyone liking the songs then? I've heard them all about 3 times each now, and my initial impressions are very favourable. They have a somewhat B-side "feel" to them, but quality-wise I think they are strong enough. Perhaps nothing quite as good as the best tracks from Behind the Sun, but not far behind.
I really, really like Forget It. Mockingbird is also nice. Both of those songs are lighter, poppier, but still with a MP heaviness. For some reason they remind me a little of a Timothy's Monster vibe, or perhaps more precisely Another Ugly Tune (somene else already noted how Toys rewminded them of AUT).
One Way or Another is my least favourite. A bluesy, slow/heavy but slightly morose track. The last one (forgot the name…Snake something) is pretty cool and driving.
Those are only my initial impressions, but if the quality of all 8 (9) fragments is as good as this, it will make up a very nice album.
My two cents:
– as has been mentioned, a major plus this time is that they've actually bothered to write songs, many of them very good
– Bent's "rediscovery" of "emtional" songwriting a major plus
– mellotron: yes please, a large portion!
– Cloudwalker: brilliant opener. Shades of 90s Motorpsycho, but filtered through the early 00s pop/West Coast phase. Ultimately ends up sounding like it could only have been done by today's MP, with a pastoral feel. Goes along very well with Barleycorn (which was by far my favorite track on Eggplant).
– Ghost: my first thought as well was that it sounded similar to When the World Sleeps. It doesn't do much for me, but then I'm not a fan of …Sleeps either.
– On a Plate: yuck…the riff itself is fair enough, but nothing to get very excited about. The Mountain riff is somewhat similar, but early Motorpsycho transformed that type of riff into a real trip. This, however, becomes just trite and boring to my ears. Soundwise and approach-wise it's way too much standard stoner rock. Particularly the vocals and the sound effects on the vocals sound almost like a parody. I keep waiting for someone to sing about "problemer innad i Høyre". If they had released this track on an EP I might not be so harsh, but unfortunately these types of tracks end up on almbums these days rather than EPs, diluting the overall impact of the album. Same thing with for instance Coalmine Pony or August (nice but non-essential cover tracks category).
– The Promise: now we're back on track! Excellent quintessential Motorpsycho rocker.
– Kvæstor: I like it…but I think it was a wise move to keep it relatively short at about 5 mins.
– Hell 4-6: sublime, probably the best thing on the album. The type of majestic track with grand dynamics that nobody in the world, before or since, have done better than MP.
– Entropy: another good song, with beautiful additions by Reine Fiske. Almost like a MP/Dungen hybrid! I think it goes on for just a little too long, but that's a minor criticism. But it has to be said: Snah, I love you man. But that vocal was weak even by your standards…
– The Magic & the Wonder: love this one too, very infectious riff. Reminds of BH/BC, but I like that album a lot, so I'm not complaining.
– Hell 7: when I saw the video teaser before the album came out I thought: oh no, MP have finally stopped writing songs altogether, and gone all technical stoner rock. How wrong I was! This is MP's most song-driven album in ages, so I'll indulge them with this closing track. And I've actually grown to like it quite a lot, since it is so hilariously over-the-top. They haven't made anything as noisy, nasty and unhinged like this since the 90s, where albums regularly featured tracks like Grindstone, Timothy's Monster, Psychonaut etc.
All in all, this album is a huge improvement over Eggplant, which IMO contained exactly one great song (Barleycorn). I greatly welcome the return of real songwriting, and some tracks are downright excellent and could potentially end up as MP classics (Cloudwalker, Hell 4-6 the most obvious contenders for me). The sequencing does let it down though, since the two weakest tracks (Ghost, On a Plate) are put at the front. If I were to give marks, I'd prefer a 5-star rating system, since I wouldn't hesitate giving it 4 stars. On a dice, I can't quite roll out a 5…but it's very, very strong 4.
I have to agree with Riccardo on this one. Disclaimer: I have my LP right here, but haven't been able to play it yet as my 15 month old son can't let it spin without touching…so my judgment is based solely on Youtube clips. Nevertheless, while I enjoy it, as I do pretty much all Motorpsycho releases (the horrible autotune vocals on Roadwork IV notwithstanding), it feels like it's low on substance and high on Motorpsycho sound this time. I agree 100% with the characterizations of the indivudal tunes:
Hell pt 1-3: cool enough riffs, but the type of stoner-ish heavy metal that has dominated over indie rock in the Kenneth era…stuff they can do in their sleep by now, and unfortunately this time it sounds a bit like that's what they do…
August: Cool song (love the original), decent cover…but a cover nevertheless.
Barleycorn: Love it! Best song on the album by far.
Ratcatcher: Need some more quality time with this, but this was the sound of Motorpsycho losing their way into jazz hell with BÃ¥rd on keys back in 2002, and I'm not sure if it's that much better rebuilt as a Dead-style wait-and-see-if-anything-happens jam…may have to revise my thoughts on this one though.
Afterglow: Kind of meh…
All in all I think this is the weakest album since IALC. I loved BHBC, thought LLM was underdeveloped, loved COTF, thought HMF was good but not as great as it was cracked up to be (low on good songs, slightly overproduced, but had some fabulous moments), LOVED TDDU (best thing since Trust Us), so it's right on track with a somewhat under-par record this time. I am not pessimistic though, but very curious to hear the other stuff they recorded since I think this record is split between "songs" (Barleycorn, Afterglow) and "jams" (Hell, Ratcatcher). Gimme more songs next time.
I love this sort of info! Pretty sure I can hear when the Muff is in use though. I've never tried a Tubeking, but love the Zendrive 2 I currently have, so I doubt I'll be searching for something else.
The sound on that '98 tour was something else though…loved when he added reverb to great effect, presumably from a Space Echo?
Wow, Pidah, thanks for the fast and extremely informative reply. I was hoping for some clues, and it doesn't get more accurate than that! An op-amp Big Muff wasn't even on my radar, never tried one of those, but now I'll have to look into it. I've owned a number of different BMs and clones, but always end up selling them as I find them too compressed for my liking. Perhaps the op-amp version is a different beast? Compressed is not what I think about when I think about Snah's 1998 tone…but big, loud and hairy without being too gainy.
10 days after my first comments, and I stand by every word. In fact, I don't think I went far enough…this album is a small miracle! For a band to hit a peak like this 22 years into their career should not really be possible. It's a masterpiece, and as a unified piece of music it stands above anything else they've done. I'm not saying it's a better record than Trust Us, Timothy's, Blissard or any of their other "best" records, but it is actually on a par with those records IMO. That's pretty high praise from me – I *love* those mid-late 90s records to bits, and they will probably always come out on top.
But this album brings back some elements I've been missing for a good while: a sense of urgency, passion, like they made this album because their lives depended on it and they just *had* to get this music out to people. Every single moment on the album is inspired, driven, the themes are elaborate but not elaborated upon unnecessarily. As nice as the other Kapstad-era albums have been, I've felt the songs were frequently drawn out way beyond their potential. Not so here – concise and to the point, yet elaborate and interesting.
Oh, and Bent's singing is soooo much better here than in ages! What happened??
This album will stand the test of time, mark my words. A true masterpiece.
