Mother Superior. More Like Superior Muthers, Baby! (Moanin' - Mother Superior)

Member Name: Farting Weasel

Product:	Moanin' - Mother Superior
Date:	17/02/06 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Their day job is backing Henry Rollins, apparently. Why?

Disadvantages: Nothing that I can think of.

Mother Superior – Moanin’
Released 2005 on Bad Reputation.
070268325-2 – PS 813
£12.99 from play.com


Ooooh now, what’s this that has just graced the death deck? Out of all the Christmas pressies Farting Weasel received, this little item threw up the best track of the season. Yessiree Bob.

Devil Wind. Track 6. Awesome! The investment is worth it just for this track alone.

A galloping acoustic underpinned with a rolling bass and rumbling drums. The chorus kicks in big time with a sub – Sabbath riff, only to return to the acoustic/bass/drums again. This is what a very heavy Doobie Bros would sound like at full tilt. It’s got a lyric and vocal delivery that the Eagles would kill for. And when the slide guitar drifts in, it becomes a haunting classic.

Picture this. You’re driving through the desert, alone, in an open top convertible. The sun is dipping toward the cloudless horizon and the warm breeze is kicking your hair all over. It’s hot and dusty. You know the pin-straight road leads to a certain hotel where you can always book out but can never leave. You just haven’t got there yet. And while you are enjoying the drive, Devil Wind is playing over and over again on the stereo.

The rest? Well, what can I say?

This lot are Henry Rollins backing band apparently. But don’t let that put you off. This is, I think, their seventh album as Mother Superior. And it’s one that wouldn’t sit out of place in Zakk Wyldes back catalogue. And it’s the only one I’ve got. Oops, looks like Farting has missed another trick (or several). Seems like I’ve got some more remedying to do.

This album is shit hot, maaaaan. And I ain’t messing on this one. Oh no.

If you like yer blues heavy, bikerish, noisy, rocky and with a touch of yer good ol’ southern about it, get this. There seems to be a plethora of young and hungry bands coming out of the States at the moment that are kicking ass, and giving the blues/rock old guard a run for their money. And they are, in my mind, winning hands-down at it too. Are you listening Walter? No? Oh dear. And Mother Superior, though not the youngest, are certainly holding their own amongst the young bucks.

Stand out tracks? To begin with, we’ve got the aforementioned Devil Wind. Then there is Meltdown, So Over You and This Song Reminds Me Of You. Forkintheroad reminds me of something, but I can’t remember what (Five Horse Johnson?). Little Motor Sister is just plain mean. And that’s just for starters. If the rest don’t get you the first time, they will the second. There are no ballads on this disc, which is just how I like it. Tough, loud and raw. They’ve plucked ideas from all over, like A Hole for instance. It’s not a million miles from classic Aerosmith. The good thing is, they’ve bent the whole thing to meet their own ends. You know it’s a Mother Superior record, not any one else’s.

This is album should be bought together with a bottle of Jack or Jim. Then, when you get home, lock the doors, crack the bottle, slip the disc on the death decks, crank them up to ten, sit back and enjoy.

Downsides are few, well, there is only one actually. My usual bee-in-the-bonnet; 44 minutes and 15 seconds of bees to be precise. Only half discs’ worth. Again! Listen; I know I harp on about this a lot, but I wish record companies, and bands for that matter, would pull their fingers out and at least give us an hours worth of entertainment. Our cash is hard earned. Like six nights a week in a damned factory hard earned. The cash doesn’t grow on bloody trees y’know. So c’mon somebody, how about a bit more of a bang for our bucks.

This album is called Moanin’, apparently. I say apparently because there is nothing on the sleeve to suggest it. I only know it’s called Moanin’ because Classic Rock magazine said so. Are they right? Debatable. Why is this?

Anyway, the sleeve is incidental to the music, and to be honest it’s first rate, class A1 rock.

Get it.

Recommended.

Summary: Get it.