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It's a long time since I posted here, but just felt compelled…I picked up the album on my way home from work this morning. Have only had a chance to give it one spin at low volume, with my baby boy at my lap. Nevertheless…
…I am speechless! To be honest, I didn't expect much. In fact, I was rather skeptical….commissioned work, featuring strings, heavy on Storløkken contributions (not that I don't like him on his own and with Supersilent…but with Motorpsycho??). My fears have been duly put to shame.
I thought it was past the point where Motorpsycho were able to "move" me like they used to. The Kapstad era albums have "impressed" me more than actually moved me. LLM is underdeveloped and the songs drag on for too long….CotF rocks like mad and is a fun, but a somewhat slight album…HMF is mega-impressive, but ultimately fails to move me…Roadworks IV felt limp, and I hate the auto-tune vocals. Part of the problem I've felt is that the songs seem more emotionally remote than the classics of the 90s, where Bent's lyrics seemed more personal and I had the feeling that everything mattered that little bit much more (typical of men in their 20s, I guess…)
Then this…an album of entirely fictional songs, a rock opera on a grand scale, featuring a barrage of guest performers… how´s that supposed to work? Well, it just does. For some strange reason, Motorpsycho are even more impressive here than ever before, yet they connect with me like they haven't done for a long time. It all hangs together, it's progressive rock of the highest order. This is an album I dare to put alongside the best prog-rock classics. There are elements of Yes, Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra (particularly the albums Apocalypse and Visions of the Emerald Beyond). Still, at its heart, it's quintessential Motorpsycho.
Dare I say it? Well, I will….best album since Trust Us! 6/6.
I have to say I feel a bit shortchanged by the Tønsberg gig…not that the guys didn't give their best, but my main complaint was that there were too many similar songs, not showing off their diversity well enough. These last few gigs seem to have a much better balance between light and shade, hard and soft, loud and quiet. Not that I'm dying to hear You Lied again, but some of those "pop songs" are nice now and then.
When was the last time they did Hey Jane, anyway?
Still, it's a long way from fulfilling my wet dream of hearing them play Radiance Freq. 38.9 again…when, oh when will that happen? They've never been in better shape since '98 to play it either…
Very approximate setlist:
Close Your Eyes
Leslie's Vest
Whole Lotta Diana
New song ("I can never go back…")
Sail On
Hallucifuge
Year Zero
Starhammer–>The Wheel
Mountain–>Nothing to Say
Kill Devil Hills
The Alchemyst
Gullible's Travails
Main set lasted exactly 2 hrs, with a 20 minute encore.
I have probably forgotten something, but with the exception of Mountain/The Wheel/Nothing to Say (and only the latter was played in its entirety) the set was entirely made up of songs from the last four records, plus the two new ones.
Sound was great, playing was stellar, tighter than I've ever seen them, but I felt it was kind of cold and soulless last night. Super-heavy, but machine-like. Way too many similar stoner-prog songs with a predictable structure (drawn out in the middle, Snah noodling, Kenneth rattling on some drum, then BANG back to last verse). Last night showed only one facet of Motorpsycho.
The cover song is probably “Eagle’s Son” by The Pretty Things, released under pseudonym as The Electric Banana. They recorded a bunch of stuff in their SF Sorrow era under pseudonym for use in movie soundtracks. It’s a killer song with one of the coolest fuzz sounds ever! Can’t wait to hear a Motorpsycho single version! This is like the golden days – a flurry of releases, and off-the-cuff singles, rarities, etc…
It’s a good sign when I keep returning to 20 sec. soundclips. This sounds veeeeeery promising.
Is this truly the second spring of Motorpsycho? I never thought they’d get to their ’94-’98 peak again, but the last few years has seen them going back underground, in a sense, and in the process they’re evolving into a new band with a new lease on life. It’s almost like two parallell runs…first with Geb, now with Kenneth. The string of albums starting with BHBC now looks better and better…
There’s also a lengthy review in Morgenbladet, although it talks more about the decision to make it vinyl-only (which they support, or at least defend the band’s right to decide) than the actual contents. It’s very favourable altogether though.
Time for a track-by-track:
A1) The Ozzylot (Hidden in a Girl): upbeat and catchy opener. It reminds me too of Hyena, mainly due to the drums and bouncy feel. I also understand the Ãœberwagner reference above. The energy level is palpable, even though this is probably the “lightest” and “poppiest” track on the album. I hear some similarities in the vocal melodies and harmonies to songs like Go to California, SNAFU and Fade to Grey (ugh!), but worry not. This is light years better, and shows that Motorpsycho have not forgotten how to make catchy indie-rock songs that stick in your mind. Snah pulls off a great solo that balances neatly on the edge between stupid and clever…such a fine line, you know. I love to hear him approach the guitar irreverently like this.
A2) Riding the Tiger: Comes riding in on a great groove by Kenneth, adding Tristano-style bass from Bent and some beautiful spacey noodling from Snah, on a wash of electric organ underneath. Then the groove solidifes around that familiar riff, which they finally make proper use of (remember those great versions of Tristano around ’99-’00?). Nice vocals and some really inspired guitarwork from Snah (with that gorgeous Space-echo reverb!) on a song which takes the energy level up quite a few notches. I struggle to come up with comparisons for this song. It doesn’t really sound quite like anything else in their catalogue, and seems to confirm what I heard at Slottsfjellet: they are starting to really find a new, yet familiar musical language for the Kenneth era.
A3) Whole Lotta Diana: if you thought it couldn’t get more intense, watch out! This song just explodes right in your face. The rhythm work by Bent and the Kap is out of this world. Bent screams the vocals like he hasn’t done in at least 10 years. Is this the best I’ve ever heard them *play* on record? Quite possibly. My favourite track on the album. When I first heard it at Slottsfjellet, I just stood there with my jaw on the ground and the silliest grin ever. Impossible not to love this track, and it’s going to be a show-stopper on every single show. Snah plays some blistering solos, and the energy level never drops. Multiple tempo and rhythm changes. It’s gloriously silly, stupid cock-rock of the highest order, complete with funky sections, a psychedelic effects-laden vocal interlude and Sabbath-style sludgey coda as the grooves run out. Perfect.
B1: Cornucopia (or Satan….uh, something): This reminds me of Triggerman, and is probably the darkest song on the album. It wouldn’t have sounded out of place on BHBC. Another great track.
B2: Mr. Victim: It took me a few spins to appreciate this. Usually the weakest track on an album is the second track on side B, and it’s possible that Motorpsycho thought so too. But you’ll have to love this for the energy and fantastic playing alone. Reminds me slightly of Mantrick Muffin Stomp, but also earlier tracks like Feedtime(!) and Sheer Profoundity(!!).
B3: The Waiting Game: take one pinch of Fool’s Gold and one pinch of Radiance Freq. Beautiful, eerie, psychedelic track with some gorgeous Leslie guitar, Beatles-style, added. I love how they dare to include such an obscure track as this. It could have just as easily been used on an EP, but it’s plenty strong enough to be LP material.
B4: Child of the Future: as I mentioned previously, I always dug this song, but overall prefer the faster version they played live in 2006. OTOH, it works much better as an album closer at the slower, more majestic pace the play it here.
Overall, I rate this album a very solid or even strong 5 out of 6. I like it much better than LLM, which is an album I admire or respect more than really enjoy. It was great to hear the new band on record sounding live and raw, but I thought it suffered from a lack of tunes and underdeveloped songs. All of that is fixed here; this is a band in the truest sense, playing and sounding live and raw, but not a second is wasted. More surprising, however, is how urgent and hungry the band sounds. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was a debut release by some fantastic new band from the underground, yet it’s a record which couldn’t have been made without 20 years of experience. Bravo!
They should have left the title track the way the played it in 2006 though. I always thought that was a cool little rocking song, but it’s a little sludgey now, at a lower tempo.
The Waiting Game OTOH fits in oh so nicely in that line of obscure home songs (Come on In, Feel, 7th Dream, Mad Sun etc).
Ah, forget it…Mr. Victim is great too! In a Mantrick Muffin Stomp sort of way.
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but to my ears this is as close to the early days (i.e. early 90s) as they’ve sounded ever since then. And it’s not just the sound itself, there’s something about the songs and the *feel* (i.e. *urgent*) that sounds very, very fresh. It’s like they’ve reconnected with themselves. And in the process they’ve kind of gone back underground. Which is not a bad thing *at all*.
If any of the old fans who were scared away in the early 2000s haven’t yet come back, it’s about time they do.
Oh yeah, and…the track “Child of the Future” is indeed the same song as has been previously played live. More precisely, it was listed as “Insert Songtitle” when it was played during the fall tour of 2006, and possibly at other gigs. It was played faster back then, though.
Mr. Victim is probably my least favourite so far. The Waiting Game is a beautiful little oddity, which does indeed send the thoughts back to those Bent demos sprinkled throughout the albums and EPs in the 90s.
I’m finally able to sit down and give this album the first spin. I’m on the last track on side 1, but I can already say that what I heard at Slottsfjellet was not a fluke…this is *by far!!!* the most inspired I’ve heard them since, dare I say it…Trust Us! BHBC was great, but now we have a *band* playing again!
I’m also pretty sure that the three new tracks they played at Slottsfjellet were the side 1 tracks. Whole Lotta Diana was definitely played, as I had just as huge a grin on my face as I do now, playing it on vinyl. OMG, this is just as raw as they were back in ’93-’94, no kidding! Barracuda is a joke of a record compared to this…and I like Barracuda.
I honestly never expected to like this album as much as it’s shaping up to. When I first heard they were only releasing it on vinyl my first thought was “That bad, huh?”, but the first side alone proves me wrong. I AM LOVING IT, in case you didn’t already understand that.
More to follow…
I’m a little late to the party, but I have to add my comments. I thought this gig *rocked* in a huge way. I’ve seen them maybe 25 times since ’97, and this gig was possibly the best I’ve seen since ’99, no less! That may not be fair to some great shows I saw around 2000-2001, but it was hard not to shake the feeling that they were on the decline early in this decade, and they’ve been struggling to re-gain their strength since then.
I though BHBC was an amazing return to form on record, but the shows with Jacco were mostly lacklustre (save for the short Norwegain fall tour of 2006, which was actually quite superb!). LLM and the first two years with Kenneth Kapstad brought some great moments, but I hadn’t quite heard any of the “old” magic…that is until this show.
I was dead center front row on purpose; outdoor stage and a bit windy, which screws with the PA sound big-time. I had a perfect mix of the stage sound where I was, I could hear both Bent and Snah distinctly, and hearing the drums is never a problem…I couldn’t hear the vocals very well, unfortunately, but hearing Snah’s details more than made up for it.
In short, the whole band was *on* from the very first note. I haven’t heard them as tight and telepathic as this since the glory days of Geb. Kenneth finally seems to have found his place; I thought he was great but a bit “too” heavy-hitting and all over the place the first few times I saw him. Simply put, I think he shows a much better understanding of the music and his role in it now. In short, much more musical. Which applies to the band as a whole – they are now, IMHO, a fully organic entity again, an element which has been somewhat missing for a good while now seemed to be back. Effortless, yet complex and hard all at the same time.
Both Bent and Snah were *on fire* throughout. Bent really seemed to enjoy himself much more than I’ve seen for many, many years. Snah was simply stupendously good!
Finally a few words about the new songs. I must say I *loved* them on first listen! Complex hard rocking riffs, tempo changes, funky rhythms…progressive cock rock, if that makes sense! Truly progressive yet classic power trio rock. Maybe not so much psychedelic or spacey, but the way the songs ebbed and flowed in an organic way meant that I didn’t really miss that either.
Can’t wait to hear the new album, and even less to see them again playing a full show. The fact that they were cut short after only 1 hr was simply a scandal! They were the last band on the stage, on the other side of the mountain from where Big Bang were about to go on, but apparently the whole festival management seemed set on making Big Bang the big name this day. No offense, they’re a good band, but don’t hold a candle to Motorpsycho. Particularly this special night!
