Release
date: Oct 2nd
2015 RoW - Oct 9th
2015. US/CAN Label: Napalm Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Cobras
And Fire (The Mastermind Redux) - Tracklisting
She
Digs That Hole
Watch
Me Fade
Mastermind
Hallucination
Bomb
Gods
and Punks
The
Titan
When
the Planes Fall From the Sky
Ball
Of Confusion
Time
Machine
I
live Behind the Paradise Machine: Evil Joe ...
Band
Members:
Dave
- bass/vocals
Erik
- guitar/vocals/theremin
Mike
- drums/percussion
Review:
Dave
Wyndorf and Monster Magnet have decided to reimagine another LP.
Wyndorf and Co. did this before, quite successfully, when they
reimagined 2014's "Last Patrol" as "Milking The
Stars". They have now done it again. Wyndorf has chosen to
breathe a different type of psychedelic dust into 2010's "Mastemind"
under the title of "Cobras and Fire"(The Mastermind Redux).
I
have always considered this band space rock/stoner rock. Some people
primarily think that stoner rock rolled like a tumbleweed across the
sun baked desert, the mesa of the West Coast, the whole California
vibe…but this type of music was also being cultivated on another
sand terrain, near the salty ocean shores of the East Coast...in of
all places...New Jersey.
I believe that Monster Magnet deserve a
patch on your faded denim jacket...they actually deserve the most
coveted area...they should be adorning the full back patch area, so
they can be showcased through your human billboard appreciation for
their “phantasmic” creations.
Dave
Wyndorf loves music. He loves creating music. He is among the best at
making music. For those who have lost what they held so dear in
music, he has a therapeutic, dream like ability to assist you in
rekindling your love affair with music. I envy you and your future
experience if you choose to listen to this band’s newest album.
Dave
Wyndorf is a fantastic album writer. He can hear a psychedelic
symphony in is head and capture it all on vinyl. He then adds some of
the best lyrics you ever heard. I mean this guy is at least 10
minutes ahead of everyone else on earth. He tells his tales with
verbiage of things he holds dear. We are extremely fortunate enough
to exist as this frontman of psychedelics churns out sonic
masterpiece after sonic masterpiece. Wyndorf is the trippy conductor
of a hallucinogenic smoke filled train, riding the rails at surreal
speed through bizarro-land’s hidden time warp, straight into
oblivion. Get a one-way ticket to what should be a sold out ride to
expanding your consciousness.
In
short, this album is a must listen. This album has ebb and flow,
groove and “whoa”. This is monster magic. Not many folks could
take one of their old albums and transform it into something so
beautifully different. This is another life preserver thrown through
the great beyond from the hippie father you never knew you had...
This
album is essentially a reincarnation, a union between the original
past and the new distant past through the eyes of a mind-bending
illusionist. I think I had a magic kit with Wyndorf’s face on it
back in the 70's. Wyndorf is a black magic magician, throwing out
creepy crawlers, shrunken heads and deflated balloon animals at your
psychedelic birthday party. You must not misunderstand, there is no
trickery here. This not a quick cash in or an overnight rip-off. This
is a heroic and uncanny undertaking which shows you the strength in
the structure of these songs and what different orchestration can do
in breathing new life into past albums. Monster Magnet is onto
something here. But please remember that this album easily stands on
its own as another release in the Magnet's catalog. This album is a
supernatural royal flush.
First,
the album cover: The album cover depicts a bedroom where a teenage
misfit probably misspent his youth pondering the meaning of life and
decided to write the soundtrack of all of our blown out stoner lives.
This cover is the environmental setting for unleashing your
potential, where one realizes the power of their own imagination, the
potting soil for your own moss covered day-glo colored pet rock. The
primary hue is reddish or rosy which may also be in line with this
album being a reincarnation of a past album. The album should come
with a warning about wearing magnet shaped shoes fit for a monster
because gravity disappears on this experience. Don’t be surprised
when you open your album and shimmering stars fall out. The good old
days are back, my friends.
The
original Mastermind album was a somewhat clean sounding rock album.
This album takes the original, changes the recipe by removing some
ingredients, adding new substances, and then dipping it all in
dinosaur egg batter, rolling it dusty breadcrumbs and baking it
within your little sister's play oven which miraculously escaped many
garage sales by being hidden on the bottom of the long forgotten toy
box growing mold in your parent's old decor, now vintage, basement.
You will hear added sitar, organ & piano, as well as, echo on
nicotine stained vocals, trademark fuzz guitar, pulsing bass and
driving drums. The original songs are recognizable if you listen hard
enough, but the new versions are a freaked-up fuzz out. This maybe
less electrified as far as magnets go, but a magnet is still a magnet
and this ones controlled by the mastermind of the monsters.
The
track listing of this album is out of order from the original. Some
songs are hybrids with original album songs and "Last Patrol"
songs. Some titles have been changed. Some songs are gone. Also,
there is a great cover of The Temptations '69 recording: "Ball
Of Confusion".
You
almost expect to hear crackles and pops between tracks, sounds
analogous to groove separations between each track on a vinyl
recording, because this is like pulling an album out from dad's old
record collection and giving it a spin on the wooden turntable down
in the black light basement. This seems like a predecessor to
Mastermind. This is less than a rock album constructed in present
time and more of a thrift store find left over from the past.
Let’s
talk about the individual tracks…
"She
Digs That Hole" is a first class rocker with a guitar solo that
will slice your ear off. It is the perfect album opener.
"Watch
Me Fade" is a catchy tune that is heavy on the organ with a
great vocal performance by Wyndorf.
"Mastermind
‘69" incorporates the use of a sitar and some prominent organ.
The tail end of some vocal passages have a nice echo effect and the
guitar parts make the track sound complete. This is a fantastic song
no matter the arrangement. Your golden age comic book pages come
alive on this track. Have your coat nearby, because you will get the
chills.
"Hallucination
Bomb" is a long fugue journey into sound. This hallucination
trip, if sold on a space station cantina pit stop, would be stamped
“cobras and fire” and come with a star littered map to guide the
astral traveller through a black hole. The guitar is a cobra on fire
in zero gravity. This song is quite an orchestrated piece of music,
epic in scale and super massive in delivery. You must be prepared to
enter a new dimension through hypnotic sound with this track.
"Gods
and Punks" is less bombastic than the original version. It is
trance like with instrument pulsations and echoed vocals. The guitar
solo is dirty, almost rusty, like it was recorded in a junkyard, late
at night and it is perfectly awesome.
"The
Titan", with it’s chilling piano, is music accompaniment to
watching old footage of abandoned missile silos, Midwest shopping
malls and defunct school buildings. You need to listen to this while
watching your flea market VHS tapes containing those unreleased,
grainy, faded out, multiple generation copies of 60's sci-fi films
and 70's horror flicks.
"When
Planes Fall From the Sky" is cosmic power. It is a locomotive.
The echoed vocals are stretched out over distorted bass lines,
straightforward drums and sincere guitar work. I think I like this
version better than the original. It is a clear favorite.
"Ball
Of Confusion" is a rocket on full thrust that doesn't stop until
it crashes into the moon. It fits perfect on this album. This could
be a Monster Magnet song if one didn't know better...
"Time
Machine" is now an instrumental, a glowing green orb. This is an
organ baked beast that is majestically beautiful. The “Philthy”
Phil guitar work would make a war chief bow.
"I
Live Behind the Paradise Machine: Evil Joe Barresi’s Magnet Mash
Vol.1" is a cross breed hybrid of "I Live Behind the
Clouds", "Paradise" and "No Paradise For Me",
all originally from "Last Patrol" & "Milking the
Stars". It is a sonic mutation that could hold the key to the
salvation of music. This is a brilliant closer and is perfect for a
walk around the rings of Saturn. You may cry if you listen to this
with headphones on. Don't be surprised when your tears freeze and get
harvested by the planet's gravitational pull into the future spa,
where you crossing the finish line is automatically captured by a
ramshackle robot on a blurry “instamatic” photograph, which will
immediately immortalize you in the psychedelic photo
album...forever...
This
album should sell like flapjacks at a lumberjack convention. It
should be played at the International UFO conference. In the last
publicized blurry picture of Bigfoot, he was seen with this album
under his arm. Do you get it yet? Buy this album. This album will
leave you feeling dizzy. Analogous to when the drugged out carny
worker left you on the tilt and whirl ride for too long as a kid.
Actually,
do yourself a favor and don’t just stop at this album. Go see them
live…it's as close as you will come to being an astronaut.
In
conclusion, this album will essentially make you feel like you are in
a drunken stupor, enjoying a cool buzz, while walking on the beach of
Mars with your android girlfriend, staring at the golden aura on the
mysterious horizon…but wait…what’s that you see??? Something is
winking at you…It’s the bull god… and the old bull god can
still breathe glowing coals through his nostrils as he passes through
the galaxy leaving a trail of musical medicine behind…
Words
by Nick Palmisano
Thanks
to Mona, Jon and Andy at Napalm Records for the promo. Cobras And
Fire (The Mastermind Redux) will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl
from Napalm Records on Oct 2nd 2015 (RoW) and Oct 9th 2015 (USA)
Links:
