HW: OFF: Monster Magnet in CH etc.

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 22 Aug 2010, at 09:50 , Jonathan Jarrett wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Aug 2010, Keith Henderson wrote:
>> Best bit was the long version of The Right Stuff, preceded by the awesome "Radiation Day" from the FAR-underrated Monolithic Baby CD (which may even be my favourite MM album of all).
>> nothing from last two studio albums, 4-way Diablo or God Says No
> 
> 	Putting these two bits together leaves me a bit confused. I thought _Monolithic Baby_ utterly stank, not a worthwhile note that I wanted to listen to twice on it (and I did listen to it twice, to make sure), but on the other hand, it is (unless I'm mad) more recent than _God Says No_, which I thought was quite good albeit far too much of it recorded by computers rather than band members. Have you perhaps got the two confused? Yours,
> 		     Jon (who, after _Monolithic Baby_, has been very unsure for some time whether he needs _4-Way Diablo_)


Frankly, I thought MM were getting a bit hit-and-miss by the time they hit Powertrip!  OK, yes, it's got what must have been their biggest hit ("Space Lord"), but ... well, DW's writing can be very cool, but just as with many other artists, I'm not entirely sure he generates enough quality stuff to carry whole albums, especially when the lineup keeps changing.  As for Monolithic Baby, well, I enjoyed the "Unbroken" single for what it is, and the extended Right Stuff version (which may only have appeared in the video? I ripped the audio to iTunes, anyway.)  I don't really recall whether 4-Way was better or worse.  I have to admit that I'd started considering MM a largely spent force during or after the Powertrip era when the whole band lineup flip-flopped around like a speared fish.  Whether or not DW has been spending more time in Denny's than the gym, I think he needs to get his musical world in order, if nothing else.  Well, with the new album supposedly to be released in a few months, I guess we'll see whether or not that's already happened.  

I kind of feel like I did with Amorphis, around about the Am Universum and Far from the Sun albums: "OK, whatever, but this needs to be better if it's going to go on."  Of course Amorphis then surprised me by actually reorganizing and reinventing themselves with their last three really quite excellent albums (Eclipse, Silent Waters, and Skyforger).  So bands can do it, on occasion!

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
http://www.carlaz.com/