#422

Beast is first I think

3 Likes
#423

Right then. Onto the album that Alan McGee once described as “probably the best art rock album I’ve been involved with since Loveless. In fact, it’s possibly better than Loveless.” Let’s see shall we?

Next up: Mr Beast, released 06/03/2006.

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Happy listening!

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#424

I only realised quite recently that lots of people here don’t rate Mr Beast. Was quite surprised as I think it’s great. One of their most immediate albums for me too imo.

I didn’t hear it until a few years later though, after a lot of the tracks were already setlist staples (I’ve seen the band describe it as too polished but I don’t really think so - they seem to like the tracks themselves though as they still play a few of them live a lot, Auto Rock in particular)

I like the variation, Acid Food doesn’t sound like anything else they’ve done really. Travel is Dangerous is one of their best ever vocal tracks. Glasgow Megasnake is the beginning of the latter career trend of having songs that are loud and heavy from the beginning rather than having to build up to it. Folk Death 95 is underrated and then We’re No Here is a wonderful pummeling closer - sounds great on the 2018 live album.

A couple of the quieter tracks in the second half do feel a bit bland in comparison to the rest, but some of their best stuff is on here imo.

Another album that I think would make a good intro to the band for a newcomer - I said that about Happy Songs because it’s a short album that captures their usual ‘mood’ quite well, but Mr Beast gives a good overview of everything they can do in one place.

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#425

Not a massive Mr Beast fan even though it has some good tracks. Agree that Folk Death 95 is underrated

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#426

I think this is the first Mogwai album i bought off the back of a Hot Press review. Definitely not love at first listen, impressions of it were that it was excellent-to-very-good for the first half but tailed off after. This is when you couldn’t stream stuff and I just bought one album a week so it’s probably one of my most-listened to Mogwai albums but i think it may well be one of their weakest. Feels like they wanted to keep the concision of Happy Songs going but it doesn’t feel as fresh or creative.

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#427

Going to revisit this tomorrow. Never been a huge fan of it as an album so don’t really listen to it ever, despite rating tracks when they’ve been played live.

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#428

I absolutely hate the guitar tone on the second track. Sounds like something written for a Dreamcast game.

I dislike this album the most. Wierd. Going to be a strange week.

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#429

I have this down as an excellent but not quite top tier Mogwai. I would definitely class this as a good where to start album and reckon it’s pretty immediate because those opening 3 tracks are just immense (and Acid Food then works really well to transition).

Always felt like the second half couldn’t quite keep up the momentum but as always will be good to hear in the light of comments here.

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#430
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#431

Another song title with amusing origin.

#432

I can’t remember this one?

Also it’s weird to think this song was in Miami Vice

#433

I think it was Martin’s brother thinking Celtic fans were singing ‘We’re no here’ when they were singing about Martin O’Neill.

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#434

Forgot I meant to post this one last week. Much better version

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#435

Re listened to this today in anticipation, it’s a fairly underrated record, but then also doesn’t quite capture the same magic as anything before. Some absolutely magic moments but

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#436

Mr Beast was my entry point into Mogwai, was aware of them (went to school with a brother of a band member) before then but this was the first album I listened to, so I have a soft spot for it.

To give a shout out to a couple of the tracks not already mentioned by others, Emergency Trap is like a sister song to Golden Porsche (I love both), and I Chose Horses is a beautifully understated track - I was in hospital for a couple of weeks last December and I made a playlist of low-key/ambient music to listen to when I couldn’t sleep, and this was perfect on it.

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#437

Haven’t listened to it for a while and I haven’t listened for this yet but this is bollocks innit

Some really nice tracks on there though from memory

1 Like
#438

Stuart said in a recent interview (can’t remember where) that McGee was just trying to wind Kevin Shields up with that. We can trace a direct line from that to this:

Shields is expected to react to these comments around the next passing of Halley’s comet.

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#439

Think Mr. Beast is one of those albums that’s always going to be stuck in that “listening to this to finally figure out how much I like it” zone.

It has some great moments but it never really lives up to the potential of its opening sequence. Love how Glassgow Mega-Snake comes roaring in and Travel Is Dangerous is one of their best, but afterwards it’s kind of just there (Emergency Trap aside, that one’s beautiful and a standout) and/or doing the mid-tempo plodding thing which is my least favorite version of them.

Kind of feels like a promising EP with some added bonus material. The songs don’t really elevate each other into something greater like the prior albums do, to me at least.

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#440

I think I lost interest in Mogwai at Mr Beast. Came out around the time of a breakup, so I think I associated it with that a bit. And it just didn’t grab me like Happy Songs or Rock Action did. Looking forward to seeing if I like it more now.

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#441

Despite my avatar, I think I also lost interest about this time for a while, and it’s actually the only mogwai studio album that I don’t own. Felt at the time that each of the previous albums was expanding my musical horizons and this one maybe didn’t. But looking forward to re-visiting it anyway to see how it comes across now.

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