Moroni's Retro Review of The Mission's "God's Own Medicine"

This is another review of a selection of music that I haven't owned since the days when I owned cassettes...

Released in 1986, The Mission's (formerly known as The Mission UK) debut album "God's Own Medicine" was an iconic album for me.

The album starts out with lead singer, Wayne Hussey, spitting out a bitter statement:  "I still believe in God, but God no longer believes in me."

This intro was always significant to me.  Wayne Hussey was raised in Great Britain as a Mormon.  Rumor has it that his parents wanted him to serve a mission for the LDS Church, but instead he formed a rock band and called them The Mission.  (There is also an amusing urban legend that Wayne Hussey met Donny Osmond, and the wholesome Utah singer said, "I've heard of you."  And Hussey answered, "Yeah, I've heard of you, too.  Wanna beer?")

Hussey's intro was significant, because it was evident to me that his Mormon upbringing was an issue that he was struggling with.  He still believed, but doubted in himself.  Also, their lyrics seemed full of Mormonism.  Take "Severina", for example:

She believes in angels

She believes in the will of the gods

As an adult, I read Hussey's lyrics, and I see more Celtic paganism than I do Mormonism.  But their lyrics are still beautiful.

There is no doubt that The Mission had a huge impact on my life back in the '80s.  They seem to be a band that everyone seems to have forgotten, and yet I remember a time when many goths traded in their black for long hair, boleros, trenchcoats, and paisley.

The Mission started when Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams broke away from gothic pioneers, Sisters of Mercy, and formed their own band.  After their departure, Sisters of Mercy faded away into irrelevance, caught up more in their image than in any substance.  It became evident that the talent was with Hussey and Adams.  Today, I broke  out Sisters of Mercy's first (and only exceptional) album "First, Last and Always", and the influence is undeniable.  Apart from Andrew Eldritch's haunting baritone, it sounds just like a Mission album.

To call "God's Own Medicine" a gothic album would probably and technically be right.  But it was unlike any other gothic album.  It had a definite '60s, hippie vibe.  The guitars have a Celtic lilt to them. (I always liked the production of the guitars on this album.  They have a crystal clear sound to them that reminds me of a harpsichord.)  Their songs evoke images of faerys, mushroom circles in the forests, and unicorns.

Back to Wayne Hussey's lyrics, Andrew Eldritch - in an interview on MTV's "120 Minutes" - accuses Hussey of picking up novels and selecting at random flowery words to put in his songs.  Whatever the case, his lyrics are vibrant and scented, evoking delicious images.  As a teen, I didn't relalize it, but, as adult, I realize that just about every song is about sex.  Pretty much every song.  Sexual metaphors couched in poetry.  "Garden of Delight", "Stay With Me", and take this selection from "Love Me To Death":

Let me come inside your ivory tower

Let me come inside your hallowed walls

God, it's heaven in here

Fix me with your hand of praise

Fix me with your touch of precious thrill

Your fingers dance across my skin

Reaching our for the pride of man

Is it me, or is it hot in here?  Most of their songs read like romance novels.

But really, I am happy to have this album again after all these years.  After Hussey's haunting confession, the song starts with the eerie melody of "Wasteland".  The next song - "Bridges Burning" has a lovely, hellish chorus of men screaming in torment, presumably burning.  The next song is "Garden of Delight" is a moving melody to set to a chamber orchestra.  Once again, Hussey's lyrics are musical, but, not only laden with sexual references, but also drug allegories:

Your savage and violent flesh

The cut that bleeds

The kiss that stings

We're shooting up stars

And desperate snows

That fall from shimmering skies

"Sacrilege" is a rousing anthem that reflects their penchant for Celtic melodies.  I can almost picture leprechauns cavorting to this song.  And, of course, my favorite song will always be "Sevrina" - a hymn to a dancing libertine, a "star child, baby born in heaven" who believes in the "midnight trance" and the Thelemic "love is the law".  The chorus consists of the plaintive wail of the woman that gives such atmosphere to this song.

When the Mission came to Arizona for this tour, they played in a small club in Chandler called Prisms.  I didn't go, but my brothers went.  One of them observed that every single member of this band was a giant and seemed to tower over everyone.  The next time they came to Arizona, they opened in a sold-out arena for Robert Plant.  They were booed off the stage when they did a cover of Aerosmith's "Dream On".  That always upset me.

Their next two albums were great albums, but none of them had the same flare as their first album did. In the '90s, they veered off into electronica, like many rock bands from that era did.  None of it was that interesting to me.  

But "God's Own Medicine" is an album that I will never forget.  It is an album that influenced my view of music and art.  They even influenced my writing.  As proof at how important The Mission was to me, here is a photo of me at age 19 wearing one of their shirts (complete with Celtic design).

*Fact I did not know:  Wayne Hussey used to be in Dead Or Alive.  (!)

Moroni's Review of The Airborne Toxic Event's "Such Hot Blood"

I have to admit that - in the last five years - The Airborne Toxic Event is one of my favorite new bands, along with Silversun Pickups.  So it is with great anticipation that I have waited for this album.

That said, I want to put forth my only complaint about this album right up front.  However, my complaint is not about the music, but about the marketing.

At the beginning of the year, I purchased their single for the song "Timeless", which is an amazing song.  A month, or so, later, they released a four-song EP called "The Secret".  It also contained "Timeless", but also three other songs - "The Secret", "The Storm", and "Safe".  I also purchased this.  A matter of weeks later, the new album - "Such Hot Blood" - came out. I was upset to find that four of the ten tracks were the same songs found on the EP.  The EP wasn't like Silversun Pickup's three-song EP "Seasick" - material not found on any album.  Essentially, I paid for the same music - twice.  And in the instance of "Timeless" - three times!  It is a cheap gimmick perpetrated by the record company to get you to pay more, and I hate it.  I totally fell for it.

But "hate" is not a word that I would use to describe the new album.  In fact, I like it.

It was the summer of 2009 that I was first introduced to this band.  I was in Montana on the fair circuit.  In my travels, I had picked up a local 'zine and had seen this band advertised for an upcoming show.  I knew nothing about them, but decided to pick up a copy of their debut album.  It was a hot day in July, and we were tearing down the booth in Bozeman at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds.  The CD player was sitting on the wet grass, and I was hooked at the first listen.  This was deep-rooted Americana, something that you would listen to in a bar in some small town.  It was evocative of R.E.M. when they were on IRS, a little of the Smiths, and when I heard him growl at the end of "Missy", it reminded me of Tom Waits.  All summer, this CD was on heavy rotation.  I took this music home and introduced it to my family.

A couple of years later, we made a special trip to a music store in Mesa, Arizona to buy a copy of their sophomore release, "All At Once", for my then-wife, Temple.  She was in love with this band as much as I was.  The cool thing about this band is that they have acoustic versions of all their songs on YouTube called "Bombastic Versions".  In many ways, I prefer these versions over the album versions.  I bet these guys are great live.

The new album is not as moving as the previous two, but it is still a great album.  They have a deeply and richly layered sound, much like Arcade Fire, accented by heavy use of piano, orchestra, and violin.  In many ways, the new album has a sound similar to U2 or Springsteen with huge, driving anthems bold enough for flag waving.

The opening song, "The Secret", is a song that is typical of the band.  One of the thing that sets them apart is their lyrics.  I have said before - I am more of a music guy rather than a lyric guy.  But lead vocalist, Mikel Jollett, was a writer first and started a band as a vehicle to express his poetry.  And it shows.

The  next song is "Timeless".  I really hate when bands use the best song on the album as their primary single.  But really, this is the best song - or as Temple describes it - "genius".  It doesn't get any better than this song.  The third track, "What's In A Name?", is a driving tune fit for an Irish pub, and it is one of my favorite songs.  "Safe" and "The Bridegroom" display their fine usage of orchestra as a means of poetic expression, as does "The Fifth Day".  My absolute favorite song is "Elizabeth", the final track - a mellow song that tells a story in much the same way that "Sometime Before Midnight" did.

If you have not had exposure to this band, go out and listen to them.  This album is a pretty good place to start...

Moroni's Review of Bad Religion's "True North"

The other day, I was reflecting about  how - as a teenager - I loved horror movies so much.  When I went to the video store, I went right to the horror section, and that's what I would look for - everything from cheesy renditions of H.P. Lovecraft stories to Troma movies to underground slashers.  I don't know when I stopped being so interested in horror.  I can't remember.  There just came a day when I was renting other stuff.  On my DVD shelf, I still have a cherished copy of the original "Evil Dead" that I break out every couple of years, but horror is no longer really my thing.

It is the same way with punk rock, hardcore, or death/ speed metal.  There was a time between the ages of 13 to 16 where that was all that I listened to.  In junior high in the early '80s, there was the crowd that was break dancing or listening to Michael Jackson's "Thriller".  Then there was the other crowd that listened to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy, an Mötley Crüe.  In all of Casa Grande Junior High School, there was  only one  other kid who listened to punk, and we developed our friendship based on exchanging music.  (And we still maintain a friendship to this day.  This friend spends his spare time shopping for obscure vinyl in New York City and Philedelphia.)  Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, D.R.I., Minutemen, X, 45 Grave, the Effigies, D.I., Reagan Youth, and, yes, Bad Religion.  

It's amazing to think that this was all I practically listened to.  I don't know when that changed, but I gradually started listening to other things to the point that now I almost never listen to hardcore or metal.  Don't get me wrong.  I still really like this stuff, but it’s like “Evil Dead” – I only break it out every now and then.  Usually when I am angry.

Of all the hardcore bands from the ‘80s, the one that I listen to the most – and relate to the most – is Bad Religion.  Maybe because they endured and are still around.  Maybe because they are like me – middle-aged men with a punk background.  Their sound has steeped and aged and become refined.  Their sound now reminds me a lot of Hüsker Dü back then.

So punk died in the ‘80s, and, a decade later, I had a younger friend in Cornville (still in high school at the time) who invited me to a party at his house.  I was married with a child, but I went anyway.  I remember that I was surprised by their selection of music.  It was Bad Religion’s
“Stranger Than Fiction”.  Yes, I remembered Bad Religion.  I liked their first album.  I even liked their keyboard-heavy, new wavey second album, and I really like “Suffer”.  This was the music of my youth, but it was a tighter, cleaner sound, better engineering.  I was also surprised to see this band reaching out to a younger generation.  I bought the album, and for the last 18 years I have listened to it and listened to it.  I didn’t realize that it has become one of my most-listened-to CDs, but it really has.

So I recently downloaded their new album “True North”.  I have really enjoyed listening to it.  One thing that can be perceived as a strength or a weakness – all of Bad Religion’s songs kind of sound the same.  The song starts out with a guitar screech, and the drums make that punk gallop.  Greg Gaffin packs some wordy, intelligent observations into a two minute song, accented by some yawning harmonies in the background.  Yes, this band has their unique sound, and it hasn’t changed much over the years.  

But that’s one of the things that I like about this album!  I tap my finger at every song from start to finish.

Once again, Gaffin’s lyrics are ironic, socially conscious, and often caustic.  Take, for instance, this jab at Mitt Romney in “Robin Hood in Reverse”:

Here's the church; there's the steeple.
Open up the door; corporations are people.
Wait, what did he say?
What the fuck did he say?

There are some grinding rock songs like “Hello Cruel World”, and there are break-kneck fast songs like “Vanity”.  On an album like this, it is hard to pick favorites, but mine are the opening track, “True North”, “Robin Hood in Reverse”, “Dharma and the Bomb”, and “My Head Is Full of Ghosts”.  A particular favorite is “Fuck You”, a song that Gaffin says was 30 years in the writing.

I hope that Bad Religion is around for another 30 years, but there are rumors that this is their last album.  If so, this was a  good way to go.  You should definitely check it out.

Moroni's Review of Crystal Castles' "(III)"

Before the summer of 2011, I wanted some new electronic dance music before I went out deejaying on the fair circuit.  I wrote a friend in Chicago and asked for music suggestions.  She referred me to Skrillex, and to a couple of songs by Crystal Castles.  One was their remix of "Lovers Who Uncover" by the Little Ones, and another was the single "Not In Love" off their second album which featured vocals by Robert Smith of the Cure.  Pretty soon, my deejaying that particular summer became all about dubstep.  But Crystal Castles remained in my mix all summer.  In fact, in addition to those two songs, I added "Untrust Us" and "Black Panther" off of their first album.  And this was because their sound is so infectious and original. I played this music to thousands of people all across Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana (thanks to my friend from Chicago).

Their third studio album (III) continues their unique sound.  It is like a wash of unfiltered, raw sound that cascades over you in a wind of metallic chaff.  Like Purity Ring (whom I just reviewed here), they have a very unusual, staggered concept of rhythm.  Unlike Purity Ring, vocalist Alice Glass's vocals are not clear and are more often than not run through digital processors to give them a mewling, robotic sound that is more part of the music than designed to convey a message.  I am not saying that there is no message; I just can't hear it over the wall of sound.  Sometimes it sounds like she is singing with the aid of a helium balloon.

Often their music is cacaphonous, chaotic, and shrill, like in their songs "Pale Flesh", "Insulin", and "Mercenary".  But I think that is intentional.  On several songs, the tidal wave of noise sweeps you along and leaves you feeling head over heels in love, like in the songs "Plague", "Kerosene",
Wrath of God", "Sad Eyes", "Transgender", and "Violent Youth".  My favorite song is "Affection" - a song that is deliciously nostalgic.

All in all, this is a pretty good album, and it re-establishes the high opinion I already had of this band.

Moroni's Review of Purity Ring's "Shrines"

My grandfather was from Mexico, and his favorite kind of music was a brass music called banda sinaloense. This kind of polka music was loud, brash, and discordant.  My dad told me that Mexican men liked to listen to this music when they are very drunk.  When I listened to it, I could see why.  The music sounded like a drunk man lurching down the street, barely able to keep on his feet, and yet not falling.

What does banda sinaloense have to do with Purity Ring's debut album "Shrines"?

Well, first of all, I will tell you what this band is.  They are an electronic duo from Edmonton, Alberta.  They were signed to the prestigious 4AD label (which included Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance, and whom I recently posted about here).

So, this is not a very conventional electronic band.  Their rhythm is very discordant.  There is no beat in the normal sense.  It is staggered and severed is several places.  There is no pulse where you are expecting one, and beats fill what you think will be empty spaces.  This is not the " boom boom boom" of club techno.  But you know what?  It works!

The music is slow and languid, like a slow jam on an acid trip.  (Sometimes it is just a bit plain slow-moving.)  And the same concept flows through every song from start to finish, each song blending into the next, making this a wonderful, dark ambient experiment.  The cement that hold it all together is Megan James' breathy, dreamy vocals.  It took several listens, but I see this album becoming one of my favorites.  Never has trip-hoppy music been so compelling since Mono in the '90s.

I am usually not a "lyric person", but James' lyrics are so stark and vivid and beautiful that you can't help but take note.  It's like poetry.  For instance, this selection from "Obedear":

I came down over the sleeping mountains

Where our white tones plunged

Into the weeping shelter

Tear our skin up out from the bottom

Leaves our ankles bare

Don't just wander back and forth and leave it

Build it into

Pinnacles and shrines

Of some,

Some ghastly predicament in mind

You'll find

Leaves us plastered to a bed of hairs

We'll be all coiled up near the bottom

With my chest, unbare it

Obedear, the sky is low

Gather up its harm and gods

With grateful arms

Obedear, the sky is low

Gather up its harm and gods

With grateful arms

It is hard to pinpoint which songs are my favorite, because they all kind of sound the same.  Songs that stand out are "Fineshrine", "Amenamy", "Obedear", and "Lofticries".  (I know - unusual, yet pleasant song titles.)  My favorite song, by far,  is "Belispeak".  They have also released a single called "Belispeak II", which is essentially a reprisal of the song with rapper Danny Brown.  It's great.

There is nothing mainstream about this album, but it is a jewel.  If you like electronica, and if you like original music, then check this selection out.  It is worth it.

Other Blogs

This summer, take some time to check out my other blogs, including my movie blog.  I also have a polygamy blog, and a blog that details my writing project.

Thanks, and have a great summer!

Moroni's Retro Review of Love and Rockets

I grew up in the small town of Casa Grande, Arizona - located smack dab between Phoenix and Tucson.  It was a town that survived mainly on the work of cotton farmers.  On a good day, starting from 1986, we could pick up the airwaves in our dusty town from Phoenix - new alternative stations, the KEY 100.3, and later, KUKQ where radio personalities like Jonathan L and the Bone Mama introduced us to alternative music.

Alternative music was welcome relief to the musical wasteland that was the '80s - like the summer rains that occasionally settled the dust of Casa Grande.  Back then, alternative music was just that - an alternative to what the radio stations were playing then.  It wasn't particularly a genre.  It was a melange of styles and sounds.  It wasn't until the early '90s that it burgeoned into a solid movement (and many argue that it ended when it went commercial).

During the '80s, many of us who embraced the alternative movement were laughed at and scorned by our peers for our tastes.  This was especially true in high school.  There was a moment of vindication my freshman year at Central Arizona College in 1988.  In our philosophy class, Dr. Buys played us a couple of song selections and asked us to interpret the philosophical meanings behind the lyrics.  The songs were "I Do" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians.  The second song was "No New Tale To Tell" by Love & Rockets.  I was so happy that a teacher was playing "my music", I remember grooving while seated at my desk.

Since I recently reviewed Bauhaus and Tones On Tails, I decided that it would be fitting to review Love & Rockets.  So Bauhaus broke up, and Tones On Tail ended, and Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins, and David J decided to form a new band called Love & Rockets, which was basically the same lineup as Bauhas, minus Peter Murphy (who was having a prolific solo career.)

Their first album was "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven", which was released in 1985.  With this new album, they departed from the gloomy, gothic sound of their previous bands and embraced a more '60s psychedelic sound like many of the bands of that era, like the Church or Dream Syndicate.  This sound seemed prevalent on most of their other albums.  The most prevalent song on this album is "If There's A Heaven Above", which was an anthem of sorts on alternative radio.

But it wasn't really until their next album, "Express" (1986) that I started to get to know them.  "Ball of Confusion"  - a remake of a Temptations song - dominated the airwaves on the alternative stations.  On my laptop, I have other Love & Rockets albums, but I noticed that I did not have this album, which is my favorite of all their albums.  So I recently downloaded it.  The album starts out with "It Could Be Sunshine" with it's sax intro and 80s pop that could be Tears For Fears, but then it corrodes into smashing finish.  "Kundalini Express" was always a favorite with its train motif.  It always was reminiscent of the '60s, a feeling also found in "Life in Laralay".  "All In My Mind" is good jangle pop, and "Ying and Yang (the Flowerpot Man)" with its driving acoustic guitar is a good example of what good songwriters they are.  "An American Dream" is my favorite song, an acoustic gem played with a Pink Floyd-esque charm.

Their next album, 1987's "Earth, Sun, Moon" never moved me as much as "Express" did, but it is still a good album.  By now, they were well-establlished icons of the growing alternative music, as well as darlings on MTV's "120 Minutes".  This album contains "No New Tales To Tell", as well as my favorite song, "Waiting For the Flood".

By the time their self-titled album came out in 1989, I was kind of over Love & Rockets.  It was 1990, and I was living in Salt Lake City, working at an AutoZone on State Street.  We used blast a Top 40 station on the car stereos.  It seemed like every hour, they were playing "So Alive".  Instead of saying, "Oh, wow, Love & Rockets...  On the radio!"  I was mildly annoyed by the song.  It seemed as if they had become parodies of themselves.  I don't know; I might like it now.  But I never followed up with any of their albums afterwards.

But I do recommend the first three albums - especially "Express" - for any who are wondering what '80s alternative was all about.