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The Holy Modal Rounders - The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders Audio CD

A fair review of the The Holy Modal Rounders "The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Holy Modal Rounders reviews here, or go back to the The Holy Modal Rounders tabs.

The Holy Modal Rounders Band: The Holy Modal Rounders
Title: The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders
Rating:
Release Date: 2002-09-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Bird Song 2: One Will Do For Now 3: Take-Off Artist Song 4: Werewolf 5: Interlude 6: Dame Fortune 7: Mobile Line 8: The Duji Song 9: My Mind Capsized 10: The STP Song 11: Interlude 2 12: Half A Mind 13: The Pledge

Nonessential & Unexceptional
I love the Holy Modal Rounders. . . they may be the best in "acid folk", original and playful (all other music can seem pretentious in comparison), but this recording isn't that great, (and surely not in the league of Zappa's WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY, a Great! 5 star and important composition - satiric, amazingly well produced masterpiece), this is merely a piece of the era, not well produced or very flattering for the Rounders crew. . . . It is fun and unpretentious (Take-off Artist and The STP songs are okay), but you'd do better sticking with HMR 1&2, HAVE MOICY!, TOO MUCH FUN, or I MAKE A WISH FOR A POTATO - or, for a more in-depth and revealing documentary, the 2007 DVD BOUND TO LOSE.


Good listen
That's probably what is responsible for most of the good things and also a few of the lesser good things about this album :)

It's a fantastic listen, but it loses it's excitement after the first few times, quite quickly. This album is a very quickly put together album, whilst on a few psychedelic drugs as well. .


Holy Moly
Now I do know quite a bit about psychedelic music & man-o-man this is intense stuff here!

The group is called The Holy Modal Rounders and apparently they were getting eaten by The Moray Eels. I don't know much about folk music, but a friend turned me onto this album a few years back. I think it had something to do with the band changing their name to The Moray Eels, but I could be mistaken. It's probably in the liner notes. Anyway, I know two of these guys were in The Fugs. They kind of sound like the backwoods moonshine drinkin, duji inhalin cousins of The Fugs.

Most of the songs here are more like snippets of songs, and there are no gaps between them. Songs cut each other off and jump suddenly to the next one. The acoustic guitar and fiddle that provide most of the music sound lazy and out of tune, but they're doing some really interesting and creative stuff. Sometimes the voices are slightly (and not so slightlyly) sped up creating an uneasy but funny effect. It's kind of like blacking in and out of a trip. The whole thing lasts about a half hour but it seems much longer (to me) because so much happens.

There's the bird song (most people know it from Easy Rider), dirty revenge on a Take Off artist, a werewolf, a guy losin' half his mind and taking someone else's, the evilest bullfrog stomper in Alabam, etc. All sung by a couple of cartoon characters who sound like they're high as a mofo. One of them is on the verge of losing his voice throughout the record. Like, "we gotta finish before his voice is totally gone!"

One of the strangest albums ever, and one of my favorites. I heard they just released a documentary on these guys. I'll have to check that out. .


Are You normal,? this is nothing for You
The upspeeded combination of amphetamin and LSD makes the music going crazy. If You're not prepared before listening this could be a mental schock. This kind of hippie-hallucination shows how sounds from inside a brain can wind up in recorded tracks. How they do it I can't understand. But I love it and realize that even music can be a drug. A healthy one.


sound sound
A couple years later, I got this one. First I got, "good taste is timeless" and it was ok, but not as wacky as the album cover promised. This is the album I was looking for and immediately understood my dissapointment in "good taste is timeless" The producer of this album started with the name Barry Friedman, and by the end went by Frazier Mohawk. That should give you some inkling of what you are getting into. Although "The STP Song" (actually titled August, 1967) is cut in half, the destruction of the singular song contributes to the overall aesthetic (I don't really think there is a concept here, aside from lets get these guys in the studio before they forget these songs). The brevity facilitates listening to the album straight through, creating a streaming experience instead of a collection of compositions. Even at 29 minutes Meethmr takes it time, from the ethereal nasal voyage of bird song to the frantic panic of getting a F on your report card, this album is a must.


You can see a complete list of all The Holy Modal Rounders discography, or go back to the The Holy Modal Rounders tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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