MOGWAI - Classic or Dud?

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Hmm. Had a couple of long drives with work and Happy Songs was one of the CDs I took with me (primarily because of reading this thread the other day, and also because given it all sounded pretty good at ATP I thought I might have been uncharitable to it when it came out).

On the way up, only Hunted By A Freak and Ratts Of The Capital grabbed me at all. On the way back just now I thought I'd give it another try - Ratts Of The Capital didn't sound as good as it did yesterday. Hmm.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:41 (nineteen years ago) link

"Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home" sounds EXACTFUCKINGLY like the Pumpkins.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Well when it comes to Young Team I'd say more like Smashing Pumpkins.

Jesus! Thanks for the tip. I might have bought that thing on a whim or something someday.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:22 (nineteen years ago) link

*scratches head* I am befuddled by this comparison, though I think it's because everyone forgot to mention there's no Billy Corgan singing over the music.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Scott, fwiw I fucking HATE Smashing Pumpkins, and I think "Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home" is great.

Sorry Ned!

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Ah well.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link

fwiw I think ILM has been absolutely magnificent today on just about all fronts (or the threads I've used anyway), if that makes it any better, Ned.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Rock Action is the best purely for the six odd minutes of 2 Rights = 1 Wrong, especially for the comedown bit with the three-note banjo line and glitchy noises in the last couple of minutes.

right OTM.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 18:14 (nineteen years ago) link

"Fear Satan" is definitely classic, the way the noise interacts with the propulsive minimal riff, sometimes sounding evil and threatening, sometimes more soft or open-feeling. The drumming is great too. And the MBV remix is just as good or better. I may check out that album (esp now, since I like the Pumpkins a lot). I remember hating CODY but I don't know what I'd think now. I liked what I heard from Rock Action so I may look that one up too.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:56 (nineteen years ago) link

"Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home" sounds EXACTFUCKINGLY like the Pumpkins.
I can see where this is coming from -- during the loud parts, the guitars DO sound like those on "Siamese Dream".
Otherwise, I don't hear this Pumpkins similarity. Almost every quiet portion of the album sounds exactly like Slint (even the original title of "Like Herod" was "Slint").

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 00:22 (nineteen years ago) link

see there is a perfect example of where the Slint comparisons fail, time and time again. I mean, go back to your slint records... they were never anywhere close to as melodic as mogwai is. all of slint's 13 songs are very discordant, only a few of mogwai's 40 or so are.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 00:26 (nineteen years ago) link

maybe 50-60 is more like it, i'm lowballing obviously.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 00:26 (nineteen years ago) link

True, only a few of Mogwai's 50-60 songs sound like Slint ... and they were all recorded before 1998.
It's mainly the picking -- compare "Like Herod" and "Ithica" to "Don Aman" and "Good Morning Captain". (not respectively, just compare the pairs of songs to each other)

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 00:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Barry, I read your post as, "True, only 50-60 of Mogwai's songs sound like Slint."

― Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, anyway, currently relistening to Rock Action...and I ask myself why the hell I've not been listening to this more often lately. I shall correct that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 04:02 (nineteen years ago) link

four months pass...

Saw them last night at a really small venue. Anyone who's not sure about this band need only see them live, that'll fix you right up. I like the albums but it's unfortunate that so much of what makes them great just doesn't come across all that well on record.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 7 October 2004 04:53 (nineteen years ago) link

True.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 7 October 2004 10:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Dud. I've really tried listening to a lot of their material, from different records, but to me it's worth nothing. And I've seen them live.

I like Slint though.

― strom (strom), Thursday, 7 October 2004 17:14 (nineteen years ago) link

three months pass...

Come anticipate Government Commissions (ie collected BBC Sessions) with me! Especially stoked that "CODY" and "BMX" are included.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Sunday, 16 January 2005 06:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Looks pretty good. All of their (six?) Peel Sessions are amazing. And that version of "BMX" is amazing -- much noisier than the recorded version.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 16 January 2005 06:40 (nineteen years ago) link

hoooo, MAGIC. i managed to miss most of the peel sessions. this will RULE.

and they're playing ATP, huzzah huzzah.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Sunday, 16 January 2005 11:27 (nineteen years ago) link

I have that version of "BMX" on a weird early mispressing of one of the EPs...

The BBC version of "New Paths To Helicon" is like a hot wet fuck.... yes it is. Sorry.

― gygax! (gygax!), Sunday, 16 January 2005 11:58 (nineteen years ago) link

ie. good but hardly distinguished from any other decent record?

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 16 January 2005 14:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Certainly dud.
Never liked 'em

― zeus, Sunday, 16 January 2005 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Ranked:

1. Happy Songs For Happy People
2. Young Team
3. Ten Rapid
4. Rock Action
5. Come On Die Young (I don't dig CODY)

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Sunday, 16 January 2005 22:58 (nineteen years ago) link

That's almost the exact reverse of how I'd rank them but with Rock Action ahead of CODY.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Monday, 17 January 2005 01:41 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

mogwai: are fuckin amazing and young team is one of the best albums of the 90's. anyone who listens to their shit (pre-CODY especially, though i quite like rock action and happy songs is a fine album) and can honestly say they are bored or undewhelmed is the goddamn antichrist in my opinion. don't talk to me. don't even LOOK at me. i'll clap you bitch, right in the middle of the dancefloor. truth.

― rockaction (rockaction), Friday, 18 February 2005 05:01 (nineteen years ago) link

How is Happy Songs not boring?

― wondering aloud, Friday, 18 February 2005 05:04 (nineteen years ago) link

i'm ready to be clapped. i don't have all day, you know.

― jack cole (jackcole), Friday, 18 February 2005 05:07 (nineteen years ago) link

does that mean you're going to give me the clap?

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Friday, 18 February 2005 05:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Young Team is one of my all-time faves. The others that I've heard (Rock Action, Happy Songs) are also good.

― sleep (sleep), Friday, 18 February 2005 06:02 (nineteen years ago) link

Step on up and clap me, choirboy, because that shit is boring and underwhelming.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 18 February 2005 06:10 (nineteen years ago) link

It's all about 'Summer' people. As loud as possible. Even the quiet bits.

Mogwai: Are mostly classic but with more than a smattering of dud.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 18 February 2005 09:04 (nineteen years ago) link

mogwai: rock.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Friday, 18 February 2005 10:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Onimo OTM.

I haven't been completely convinced by an album since Young Team, and the single version of Summer marks a high spot they've never reached again (so it's a shame it came so early). In fact, sometimes I think Summer is the best quiet/loud song evaarrr.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 18 February 2005 11:05 (nineteen years ago) link

see them live, then judge again

― Rizz (Rizz), Friday, 18 February 2005 11:27 (nineteen years ago) link

The best album is the collection of the 7"s (Summer, Ithica, Tuner, Helicon etc.)

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Friday, 18 February 2005 11:35 (nineteen years ago) link

no, you're all misunderstanding this. mogwai rock and they get better with everything they do. "happy songs" is a work of godlike genius. it's as simple as that. they are great. anyone who doesn't get this is plain WRONG. etc etc.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Friday, 18 February 2005 11:57 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...

On relistening to Rock Action today I think increasingly that this is more and more a 'core' album of mine, something that I can never get tired of no matter how often I listen (see the Cure's Faith as another example). It feels like an elegy.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 14:08 (eighteen years ago) link

They made me realize.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 14:41 (eighteen years ago) link

Hehehe

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 14:41 (eighteen years ago) link

Stuart Braithwaite HND

Hahahahahaha

― Czammer, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 15:12 (eighteen years ago) link

three months pass...

so ... is anyone else going to the glasgow ABC show tomorrow night? this will be something silly, like the tenth time i've seen them. and somehow i've persuaded mrs fiendish to come too. oy.

anyway. i am very excited about this. errors (rah) and trout (oh jesus) supporting. roll up, roll up. pints at the bar. etc.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 21:02 (eighteen years ago) link

four weeks pass...

Do you understand what I'm saying, sir?

― Leeeeeeeee (Leee), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 19:09 (eighteen years ago) link

So THAT'S where it's from. Cool.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 19:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Class.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

ye gods the loud bits are shit

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 6 July 2007 15:21 (sixteen years ago) link

Still can't bring myself to enjoy this album.

― Alex in NYC, Saturday, 7 July 2007 00:11 (sixteen years ago) link

Barry Burns was Mogwai's Yoko.

― jim, Saturday, 7 July 2007 00:13 (sixteen years ago) link

To be honest I'm still a bit bitter that they used "young team". I really wanted to call a band that or something.

― jim, Saturday, 7 July 2007 00:16 (sixteen years ago) link

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