As a rule, I really don’t like “remix” albums. In the pop world, the word simply seems to indicate no more than a tweaking of the auto-tune and changing the beat of the drum machine. Even in the world of metal, there have been some real misfires: I love Prong, but ‘Power of the Damn MiXXXer’? Yeesh! And as for The Pet Shop Boys and their take on Rammstein, in the modern parlance, “WTF and OMG!” Likewise the word “re-imagining”, normally used by Hollywood to indicate a flabby and unnecessary reboot of a classic franchise, such as 2010’s ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ mistake, has me cringing in anticipation. However, if there is one person who can give a legitimate weight and authority to either term, that man is Dave Wyndorf, albeit he has cleverly subtitled the new album ‘Cobras and Fire’ as ‘The Mastermind Redux’, maybe just to escape the stigma.
Here’s a quick history lesson: ‘Mastermind’ was Monster Magnet’s eighth studio album, released in late 2010, and to many fans, represented a real return to form after the dark and under-performing ‘4 -Way Diablo’, as well as being the first release on Napalm Records. However, there are more than enough differences for the two to each have a definite and distinct identity. On ‘Mastermind’ ‘Dig That Hole’ is a dark and rocking exploration of depression. Jump forward five years and it is now ‘She Digs That Hole’, Mr Wyndorf coming across as a psychedelic Sid James, ending his day with “a mountain of poon, by the light of the moon!” Yes, the song could easily take a dark misogynistic turn, but it is delivered with his tongue so far in his cheek it’s a surprise Dave managed to record his vocals at all, instead being about as dangerous as an old seaside postcard. Yes, there is plenty for humourless social justice warriors to dislike, but for the average liberal minded rock fan, it’s just a laugh. ‘Mastermind’ is the next to get a thorough reconditioning, opening guitar riffs being replaced by an electric sitar line that helps transport the track back to the age of sixties psychedelia; if ever there’s a video for the track it would have to feature hippy go-go dancers gyrating to an accompaniment or an oil filter light show. ‘Hallucination Bomb’ gets an even more dramatic reworking, the original five minute rocking crunch doubling in length and becoming an altogether gentler mix of distorted vocals built over layers of acoustic guitars and Berber instruments like a latter day ‘Kashmir’.
Time and again, arrangements are modified and lyrics reworked around the central musical themes of the original recordings, or in the case of ‘The Titan’, the lyrics are entirely jettisoned, the original ode to comic book super-beings metamorphosing into the background music to a cinematic mad scientists machinations. I found myself imagining Ming the Merciless menacing the cosmos from his laboratory, Interociters glowing and light beams flashing as he maniacally manipulated the controls. Yes, I love the original Queen soundtrack to the camp classic eighties ‘Flash Gordon’, but this number could have fitted in seamlessly. This same instrumental treatment is given to ‘Time Machine’, the mellow and nostalgic original now becoming a perfect chill out stoner rock track.
The fact that Mr Wyndorf has released re-workings of both of his Napalm Records albums has led to some speculating that this is some sort of contractual obligation trick, or that he is becoming barren of ideas. Personally I think that is a load of old bollocks! ‘Cobras and Fire’ is an album that could easily stand on its own merits, not just a remix, but an entirely new recording both instrumentally and vocally. ‘Mastermind’ was an album stuffed full of solid numbers to stomp along to live, as I happily did when Monster Magnet played Glasgow earlier on this year, whilst ‘Cobras and Fire’ is an album to sit down to at home, maybe with your favourite chemical relaxant, and just drift into and be carried away by. I, for one, will be happy if Monster Magnet continue with this winning formula of alternating new albums with their “redux” counterparts, and hope that the buying public at large agrees with me.
(8.5/10 Spenny)
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