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There's always low traffic in here inbetween tour and new releases, so I make something up…
What are your MP songs you loved, hated or were rather indifferent about at some point, but grew to hate, love or became indifferent about since?
Hm… I just realize that this never really happened to me. Ha, what a way to start a topic! I can say though that I listened a lot and with pleasure to Cake, Phano and the Love Cult when they came out but rarely pick those up nowadays when I want to listen to the band. But maybe someone in here couldn't stand Fleshharrower but can't go to sleep without it being on heavy rotation nowadays?
Hmmm… Let me think… First of all i really liked almost every motorpsychodelic tune.., But i remember i had a rough start with
Timothys Monster complete Album…
Had to listen to it at least 2 years after i listened the first few times to it… But then it all went well.. And my musical taste got a bit more into Rock and Roll these days… Back in 2001.. :STG:
AS it's still only a little over six months since I first listened to any Motorpsycho, I've heard a lot of Motorpsycho music in that time – most of it repeatedly. The one album that I really didn't like on first listen but which suddenly revealed itself to me was Blissard. For some reason it sounded rough, awkward, lacking in musicality … Then one day, with over-ear headphones on, playing it on my very good player while wandering down to the shops, I was just bowled over by Sinful, Wind-Borne, Drug Thing and Greener. Funnily enough, I had two copies of the album on the player (one in FLAC format the other in mp3), so each track played twice before moving on to the next one. I think that helped!
I then went on to very quickly appreciate the album as a whole. And then recently I read Johan Harstad's book and my appreciation levels rose even further. While Bent's ability to write good songs was (in my humble opinion) evident before this, I think this album is when he really showed himself to be more than just a good songwriter but an exceptional one.
I never really treasured Demon Box in the original CD version. Somehow too much noise and too little harmonic content for me. That having said – I always loved several songs on it, but as a whole it didn't do for me – until the 2LP re-release came out. And wow – suddenly all the pieces fell into shape: a great album indeed! With "Mountain" included and on 4 LP sides it's a different beast!
Listened to "It's A Love Cult" recently (also 2-LP version) and refreshed my original esteem for the album. As a whole definitely another MP highlight, whatever you might think. Had forgotten how good it sounded – great rockers, great "Mirror & the Lie", excellent production, clear % well sung vocals not submerged in the mix or weakened by too many yes-ish harmony backing as happened so often in the Kenneth era. (COTF !)
@Punj — Just out of curiosity, since you’re a recent convert, what’s your top MP records as of today? Any special period? I guess a lot of oldies like me rate Timothy’s and the whole late 90s period pretty highly, but I’ve started wondering how those records (and DB) stand up today for new listeners, or if they’re «too 90s» in sound and structure. And of course I agree, Blissard is great, and I remember well that those records needed a few spins before they really opened themselves, a common trait I’ve found with all my favorite records btw
@Bartok – My top MP records as of today would be … damn, this could be a long list… but I'll try to keep it to five:
Trust Us
En Konsert For Folk Flest
HMF
LLM
LTEC
By next week, this list could well have changed! I mean, I can't believe I left out ITF10, DDU, Phano and HBM.
The thing is, I just become immersed in an album and sometimes it's one I haven't listened too so much. Like LTEC – it was ok, but Phano was my favourite from that period, then suddenly – WOW! LTEC is brilliant! I think Trust Us will always be in my MP top five, though.As for one era versus another – I can't really say, except that I can only get into about half of Demon Box, and a few tracks on TM don't do much for me, though mostly it's brilliant. I still haven't heard anything before Demon Box. Each 'era' and each album has characteristics I can get into in a big way though, which is just one reason why MP are so special.
I should add that "being too 90s" is not really an issue. Yes, it's possible to feel some music is too much of its time, and doesn't stand up well in the present, but for me, with the exception of much of the 80s sound, if it's good it's good.
As for Demon Box specifically, I cannot handle growly vocals on pretty much anything, so that means a lot of DB doesn't work for me. But that has nothing to do with it being a 90s album. Pretty much all the rest of it I either really like or am just happy to listen to. Maybe one day I'll have a DB epiphany
Good selection, both TU and En konsert is also top 5 on my list (as of today) But as someone mentioned It’s a Love Cult I gave it a spin today, it’s been years, but of course, it’s nice. Still think it’s a bit baroque or something, it was the end of an era? but good. There’s always something great in all their records as you say. Now giving phanerothyme a spin, the bass and guitar and what, brass? on Painting the night is, well, unreal, good stuff. And yes, I agree, DDU should be top 5, but what the hell, maybe next week.
The period after Geb left was problematic, the Tussler stuff was already a bit boring and Black Hole/Blank Canvas was a disappointment, then Lucid Little Moments was released and I did not like it much.
Child Of The Future was a vinyl only release, not a great move. I was in doubt, however for some reason I accidently got to hear Year Zero at high volume, it was brilliant. To this day I still think it's the one of the very best moments in Kapstad era and kind of turning point for the "new" MP.
Ah! I remember one! When ASFE was released I thought it was ok but it didn't floor me at all. But then listening to it in sequence within The Tower album I suddenly found it to be a monster song. Quite similar to In Our Tree, when it was released ahead of BHBC on a sampler CD coming with the german Visions magazine. Very underwhelming I found, but nowadays it's one of my fave shorties. That stakkato guitar in the verse and then the exploding bass in the chorus and the passionate vocals. Oh and another one: On A Plate came to me as a quite the by-the-book stoner rocker, but after a few spins (and playing guitar along to it) it convinced me, too. Sleeper songs, I guess.
I still find the Kenneth era the most exciting one (for my taste), and as I started exploring their music as soon as I discovered them I didn't care a lot for earlier stuff (with some exceptions)… but since the first time I saw them live in 2012 a strange process began:
I hear old songs at a concert, go back home and listen to them again in the following days and end up loving them :mrgreen: this has happened with Taifun, Greener, Feel, Watersound and many others.
Afrer that, I listen to the whole record and even if some songs might still remain "meh" others become "whoa!"
There are basically only two songs I truly despise and, unfortunately, didn't manage to change my mind about…
Ratcatcher…..Eggplant is lacking that unique MP-feel in general IMO, some good stuff on it, but that song is a total train wreck
Spin, Spin, Spin……I love love love the more hippiesque efforts of the lads (cake/phan/cult), I know it's a cover song, but to me it is just super-generic composition / lyrical effort. Glad they made up for it with the Maypole, which is brilliant. In that genre it apparently is a very thin line wether a song works or fails.
Quote:Ratcatcher…..Eggplant is lacking that unique MP-feel in general IMO, some good stuff on it, but that song is a total train wreckHaha, that´s about the only song I like on that album.
Speaking of change my mind about: At first I really liked Spin x 3, It felt fresh and rather easy (in a good way) after years of heavy prog, but now it ranks among my least favorite mp songs, yeah, its just really boring. That might change as summer is coming though
The first MP record I purchased was "Timothy's monster". This was in April 1996, after my first show. My record store had the whole discography of MP in stock including "Tussler" on 2×10" and whatnot and as it turned out the owner of the shop was a huge fan. I was being truely overwhelmed by the choices — already back then, ha ha — so he recommended me to snap up the last remaining copy of "Timothy's monster" on 3LP with poster. So I went with this one. I was right in the middle of my "Seattle" period and I didn't really know how to deal with the lofi and indie asthetics of "TM" and I couldn't seem to process the enormous whealth of material as well as the range of styles. I cannot say I really liked it. I liked "Feel" and "Kill Some Day" and gravitated towards "The Wheel" because this was smoker's music. So yeah, I was kinda dissappointed with my first MP record. I became a fan of the band anyway but I had to really work with "TM" to get it. I do believe it took me 3-4 years until I had come to appreciate and LOVE the album as the genuine milestone it is widely being considered.
Hey, i got first MP record, the demon box from a friend. he was a metalhead. The Demon Box was the "Album of the Month" in the Metalhammer Magazin. Bevor this i knew only HüskerDü DinsaurJr und Sonic Youth. And the punk rock madness as a 16 year old boy.
My all time vavorite is "The golden Core" I heared it lots of time. mostly by tape, to save the vinyl. i got/get all the time a cold shower over the neck…
Timothy's Monster was also my first record. I guess it was 1998. I just bought it, because I heard it's so cool. And I listened to it regularly – again, just because I heard it's so cool. It never actually did that much to me. But apart from Grindstone, it also didn't hurt that much.
And then it kicked in…
You know how everyone tells you that they know exactly what they were doing on some specific date, like 9/11? Well, I know exactly what I was doing when it kicked in… I remember this moment as if it happened last week.
A shrug and a fistful later, down on all fours again, to beat me black'n'blue won't prove a thing…
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