lambchops's Full Review: Come on Die Young by Mogwai
After hearing numerous interesting things about Scottish experimental rockers Mogwai it was finally time to pick up an album.
Upon forming in 1996, the band was rewarded with tons of critical and fan support on the basis of debut single Tuner. Other singles, compilations, and rarities followed until the band finally released their first full-length effort Young Team in 1997. The album was everything that fans and critics could have hoped for and expected. A nearly complete vision, the album was dark, complicated, thick, and brooding.
More years passed and more singles and remix albums followed. Finally, in 1999, Mogwai finally released their eagerly anticipated sophomore effort. Unfortunately for listeners it wasn’t nearly as fascinating as their debut. Not only that, it was a relatively disappointing introduction for me to this formerly (still?) acclaimed band.
The four-man outfit consisting of Stuart Braithwaite (vocals/guitar), Dominic Aitchison (guitar), Martin Bulloch (drums), and John Cummings (guitar), even managed to recruit The Stooges’ Iggy Pop in a guest spot on Come On Die Young. But the anticipated album suffered from sameness and thus lacked the originality and fervor of Young Team. Is it a complete failure of an album? Not quite. There are worse things to spend your cash on, but it is not an album to buy at full price. If you see it in the bargain bin for less than $5 buy it. Otherwise, forget it.
Come On Die Young consists of twelve sometimes overly long and at other times rather brief tracks. Produced by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Dot Allison, Jane’s Addiction, Mercury Rev), the album really could have been more exciting for listeners. From the first uneasy notes of Punk Rock it is clear that Mogwai has lost the magic present on that debut. Bland, boring, and seemingly pointless the song is a good representation of much of the rest of the album.
Cody continues down this lackluster road with excruciatingly slow chords and unnecessarily breathy, pensive vocals. Mogwai tries too hard to record a creative, atmospheric piece and in turn comes off sounding cliché and formulaic. This same formula unfortunately persists even as Come On Die Young drones on. If feels like the band wants to break free of self-imposed reigns.
Not one of these songs stands out. Morgwai pushes themselves to be purposefully dreamy and trippy. And in doing so each song is similarly inflected and each equally mind numbing. The band sounds as though they’ve taken one too many downers. No song is easy to point to as being the best or worse. Come On Die Young is one sweeping, convoluted, sad mess of an album. Rarely if ever does Mogwai do anything of interest.
Kappa has some promise with the heavy percussion and more truthful, evocative guitars. But the ebbs and flows soon lose their appeal. Mogwai also briefly shines on both Chocky and Christmas Steps. Both songs are mildly more fascinating than the other ten but again it proves a major challenge to delineate one from the next from the next. Chocky is a thick, noisy, mostly piano-driven song that soon devolves into mere noise. It would have been a good bridge between songs but standing alone it loses way and at over nine minutes it could have been cut in a third for better effect. Much the same thing applies to the promising Christmas Steps. Clocking in at in excess of ten minutes the track literally takes minutes to do anything and then when it finally closes in on making sense with gripping drums and guitars it once again devolves into rather pointless drivel.
Mogwai had promise. They really did. Based on the acclaim granted to Young Ones, the band should have had a long career. But subsequent efforts did nothing to help their career. In fact, both 1999’s Come On Die Young and 2001’s Rock Action hurt any career the band may have had. It will be hard for them in the future to once again wipe the slate clean. One can only hope that they will resurface with something as equally creative—or even half as creative—as their debut. As with all other things, time will of course tell.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Punk Rock
02. Cody
03. Helps Both Ways
04. Year 2000 Non-Compliant Cardia
05. Kappa
06. Waltz for Aidan
07. May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door
08. Oh! How the Dogs Stack Up
09. Ex-Cowboy
10. Chocky
11. Christmas Steps
12. Punk Rock/Puff Daddy/An Chris
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