Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Live in Occident
(Detector)
"A freak-out group for the 21st century founded in 1996 by members of the Acid
Mothers Temple soul-collective. Led by Kawabata Makoto." Thus begins the
story of a band of Japanese hippie-worshippers who have made a name for
themselves trudging up the psychedelic sounds of the past and making them new
again, I think.
Kawabata Makoto has made a name for himself in the loud and heavy
Japanese psychedelia genre by participating in such near legendary acts as
Musica Transonic and Mainliner, among others. The group itself has become
sort of an umbrella, as they've set up a label and have a collective "family"
of collaborators now working with and around them.
This live record, which was recorded in various spots around the US
and Europe, is a pretty swell document of the kind of retro-psych powerhouse
these gents have become. Though the lineup is stipped down from their earlier
recording lineups ("just" five people), Acid Mothers Temple deliver the goods.
The music here, takes off from the very beginning and doesn't really come down
until the end, sometimes with straight heavy jams that wouldn't sound
completely out of place on a High Rise record, sometimes Moog-feuled free-form
freakouts, and in some places they even bring in the melody and make this
stuff just beautiful.
The reference points are somewhat obvious, a lot of the song titles
echo Barrett-Pink Floyd tunes ("Astrological Overdrive," "Pink Lady Lemonade"),
and the music definitely rings of early Ash Ra Temple, Hawkwind, and even a
less heavy High Rise at times (though I swear "Pink Lady Lemonade" steals a bit
from Rush's Entrez Nous--of course, I also thought Meisha stole material from
Rush as well, so I'm obviously fucked and a closet Rush fan).
My only real complaint about this great record is that it for the most
part audience recordings using mini-discs or similar technology. A great way
to capture a moment, to be sure, but at times the recording is a little thin
and you get the feeling that live this stuff would've peeled the crust away
from your third eye. Now it just kind of tries to shake it off, and a decent
job it does. Fidelity, though, is not something to be ashamed of, so
hopefully at some point there will arrive a good multi-tracked recording of
the kind of great psych this group is putting out.
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