Getting Freaky...

Mothership - Live Over Freak Valley (2015)

 The raw energy of great rock 'n' roll can be a hard thing to capture on tape.  Many of the great rock bands are as famed for their live shows than their studio material (if not more), irregardless of the quality of those albums.  And yet, for so many bands, live albums are a hard thing to get right.  Perhaps the sheer dynamism of a scorching rock titan is too much for the limits of the recorded album, but many great bands and concerts have sounded less than scintillating when played back at home.  By the same flip of the coin, when live albums work they can show a ecstatic explosion of energy that is almost impossible to produce in a studio environment.

Thankfully for both fans and newcomers (of which I am one), Mothership's Live From Freak Valley is one of those live records that not only does justice to a furious rock 'n' roll monster, but gives the band an energy that really can't be captured outside of the live environment.  The six-minute swirl of high-energy rock that makes up the opener, "Hallucination", is the sort of joyous revelry in noise that defies critics by battering them into submission.  It's almost impossible not to be swept up in the excitement of no-BS rock of "Lunar Master" and "Cosmic Rain".

Audience interaction walks a fine and effective line between atmosphere-building and indulgence.  If too gratuitous, audience interaction can be great at the show but dull when listening at home.  Mothership strike it just right here though as shouts of "Hello Freak Valley!" convey enough of a sense of excitement to enhance the album but are brief enough that they never get in the way of the music.

Another common pitfall of the live album is poor mixing and, again, it's one that Mothership traverse safely.  Vocals are clear in the mix, with both bass and guitar occupying their own space.  The drums are clear and well-mic'd.  It seems simple on paper but far too many good live albums are crippled by poor production.

Mothership manage to tick all the boxes with Live Over Freak Valley.  Negative criticism, if there is any, would be more with the songs than the live format itself, which the band execute very ably.  The songs they play perhaps won't win any award for originality, but if that's their only flaw, then they're doing pretty good.

Live Over Freak Valley is an album of well crafted, infectious rock songs that, had they been recorded a few decades ago, may now be revered as classics by many.  It doesn't push the boundaries, but it's great at what it does.

~ Martin

For Fans Of; Wo Fat, Egypt, Led Zeppelin, Red Desert, Mos Generator

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Mothership - Lunar Master (320 kbps)

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Heady Vibes...

Honeymoon Disease - The Transcendence (2015)
 

In The Transcendence, Honeymoon Disease (named after a particularly vicious STD) have created a compelling and well-executed album that brings to mind numerous '70s rock bands (as practically all modern heavy rock bands do).  Perhaps more importantly though, they also sit perfectly alongside their musical peers in a modern music scene that enjoys a generous number of excellent female-fronted metal and rock bands.

The first band that came to mind when I listened to the album opener, "Higher", was the classic Dutch psych band Earth and Fire.  While Honeymoon Disease are less overtly psychedelic and more in a classic hard rock tradition, the organ-heavy opener had more than a little of the fruitful late '60s / early '70s psychedelic scene about it, whilst still sounding contemporary.

Another older group that came to mind was Lynyrd Skynyrd. 
Although less centered around jamming than much of the best-known Skynyrd, the energetic guitar soloing on a number of the songs here brought to mind moments of "Free Bird".  Honeymoon Disease also sit very comfortably alongside a number of comparable contemporary bands.  The retro psych rock of Electric Citizen and at times even the NWOBHM / doom crossover of The Oath is, if not particularly similar to Honeymoon Disease, then at least likely to appeal to fans of Honeymoon's impassioned boogie hard rock.

There are moments of psych on this record, but for the most part it leans more towards the danceable, energetic riff rock and even the occasional southern rock twang of Crazy Horse's frenetic country rock.  The result of these influences is a heady album of fun, easy to like rock 'n' roll.  It's not a game-changer of a record, but it's very hard to dislike and everything it sets out to do is done well.  Although it's not hard to compare this album to classics of the past, it's not derivative, and it's an enjoyable album from start to finish.

~ Martin

For Fans Of; Earth and Fire, Blues Pills, Lynard Skynard, Electric Citizen, Janis Joplin

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