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162.42.41.181
Ah, the sound of distorted, dissonant electric guitars. Mmmm. I've been listening to this album a lot again lately. The difference between it and their previous album Happy Songs For Happy People is striking. Happy Songs has the same basic sound and approach that Mogwai's always had, but compared to Mr. Beast, it's thoroughly lighter, more joyful, sometimes whimsical, sometimes even tender.The tone of Mr. Beast, however, is subdued in a resolute kind of way. Mr. Beast has no whimsy. What it has instead is power, lots and lots of power. Mogwai never previously captured this power in a recording. Fitting, then, that the last track is "We're No Here", to blow a hole in your speakers as the album's on it's way out. Or "Travel Is Dangerous", one of the few tracks with vocals, whose chorus arrives early and loudly. Though there still are a few quieter tracks, such as "Emergency Trap", with it's circular, pretty melody that ends much too soon. Throughout it all, the power is palpable.
Despite feeling so different, I think these two albums are Mogwai's best. Mr. Beast has excellent songwriting and denser arrangements, but Happy Songs has great songwriting as well, and isn't so severe. It's also less compressed. Different songs for different moods, I suppose.
If you haven't heard the album, Napster will stream it in it's entirety, and it will play fine over 56K. Just click on the link below, then on the Play button next to the album cover.
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Edits: 11/28/07Follow Ups:
"Despite feeling so different, I think these two albums are Mogwai's best."
I wish I felt that way, though I do like both albums. "Young Team" is hard to beat..."Rock Action" got me hooked and "Come On Die Young" hangs with both of those albums.
---James
While I like all of their albums, their songwriting on these last two has been a lot more focused and consistent. In fact, with Mr. Beast, the songwriting is possibly TOO focused at times. As I said, the pretty melody in "Emergency Trap" is good enough, and has enough movement in it, that they could have dwelt on it longer, and I think it's to the song's detriment that they didn't. Still, I'd rather listen to one of their really good songs that's too short, instead of some older ones that meander on and on and don't really go anywhere.
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