Date: Mon, 28 Aug 1995 05:44:19 -0700 From: einexile the meek (einexile@NETCOM.COM) Subject: and to make up for that last note Nothing gets me truckin like a little guilt. :) Mojave - Ask Me Tomorrow ------------------------ 1. Love Songs on the Radio 2. Sarah 3. Tomorrow's Taken 4. Candle Song 3 5. You're Beautiful 6. Where Is the Love 7. After All 8. Pictures 9. Mercy It may be true that nothing can beat Pygmalion--in fact I'll give it away and confirm that fact: nothing can beat Pygmalion. But this is one hell of a country and western album. We start with the infamous track everyone wanted the new comp for, even though you all pretended you cared about Scheer and Tarnation. Love Songs on the Radio's intoxicating quality does not suffer with age from diminishing returns. It remains the closest thing to sex in a bottle this side of the 5ep, those strums carrying you along, Rachel more prominent than ever before, the bendy guitar like nothing you have ever heard before. It is bore beautiful than any Simon Bonney, Nick Cave, Red House Painters, or The Moon Seven Times (well, there are some DAMNED good M7x songs on 7=49) that come to mind. The songs lingers and lingers and then ends, and we start slowly into Sarah. Now we have piano, generous and full but not stealing the show. The percussion on this album is largely brushed snare, very nice with classy cymbals all over, the beats commanding some but not all of your attention. jOHN unfortunately will HATE this album since I am about to compare it to the brilliant DARKLANDS. Not really, but it has some of those same nice qualities. Sarah is soft and sweet and innocent and short, a sad little Neil lament, before begins Tomorrow's Taken, a fucking work of art. It is SO goddam great. Rachel again, her voice deeper, full and sexy. Rhythmic piano and more of those gorgeous bendy guitars. The harmonies come in and the song is just heaven. We are moving fast now, faster than you might expect. The singing becomes sadder, more pensive, and the song cuts off, slowing to a long epilogue with a stunning, subdued cello melody. Here as in other places on the album, we hear Neil singing near the back of the room as if was not meant to show up on the recording, or even is a ghost. The epilogue goes further and then winds down. I think this may be the best song on the album. No, this is. Candle Song 3. Gentler than the previous tracks, and a genuine duet between Neil and Rachel. Ivo Lorelei's disinterest in the harmonies on this album are, I'm sorry, DEAD WRONG. The vocal harmonies on this album blow the M7x and their rubber duck out of the bathtub. This is the best duet I can remember. We are moving slowly through this genuinely heartbreaking song with a sweet guitar melody plucking back and forth. Then the harmonies pick up, the percussion becomes more interesting, and the song goes full rhapsody. Still slow, but so rich and with such power. There is nothing like this album anywhere. Neil and Rachel are out in full force, hiding nothing. We begin You're Beautiful, just Neil with delicate, complex picking. This record has an amazing flow to it. The cello comes in. Rachel comes in. The song retains its modest tone, dipping into interludes and back out, then ends peacefully. Where Is the Love starts in another full duet, piano and strum. The songs on this album are so basic and simple, so frequently returning to the tonic, but so original and pretty and pure, traveling between sections with such confidence. The chemistry between Neil and Rachel is different here; more anguished, they resonate strangely. The effect throws you off; the song seems almost carelessly put together, but it is at the same time lively and healthy. After All has Neil almost alone again with his guitar, the piano winding behind secretively, then full instrumentation comes in, including the cello. Neil is becoming more emotional as we near the end of the album. Guitar picking drops through like a subtler Sundays moment. Rachel again accompanies him, though Neil continues to dominate the song. I feel for him on this track. He is very convincing, all the more so because he seems not only to be speaking for himself, but for us all. When he has said his piece the song vanishes. Pictures begins with another very pretty picked melodies. Some of you may be shocked but I saw it coming: Neil Halstead has turned into James Taylor! He really kind of sounds like him here. The harmonies are gorgeous on this track, the pickings tricking us to stumble into unexpected chords. This song is also unique in that he is harmonizing with himself--something he does quite beautifully and should probably do more often. The song draws to a slow close, as classy as ever, then bangs in Mercy, slow and quiet at first, but this is the make no mistake about it end of the album song, as it should be. Already it vibrates with some kind of power. It is the harder edge to the snare, perhaps. And to the strum. it is more raw. Neil sings alone and is joined by Rachel. Blammo, anthem time. Tonic, tonic, tonic. We even have some distorted guitar here. It's goddam great. It's so simple and so perfect and it just sweeps you away with it...but wait, chill, we have some business to take care of. Nice slow bits here and there. This is one heck of a little story they're hinting at. Always hinting. The power of the song is unleashed, all class and restraint but such power and passion. As perfect an ending as was the beginning. I apologize for the plodding song-by-song rundown of the album but thought as much specific information as possible might interest a lot of people as this record seems to be the source of a lot of anxiousness, as it should be. :) Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed, and if you are, then you are HOPELESS! The album comes out October 17. Sorry if the track listings annoy anyone but I like it when people post that stuff. :) Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 12:23:33 -0700 From: Ivo Lorelei (beswick@chaph.usc.edu) Subject: ok, this is the pops.... CAD 5013: Mojave, Ask Me Tomorrow Ok, well there's been many many posts about this already, let me just say that I think it's beautiful music. A really nice Mazzy Star/Moon Seven Times type of music (and yes, Slowdive's wall of sound has been shattered). Love Songs on the Radio is still the prettiest song. This is a promo, no artwork... Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 10:02:05 +0100 From: Andrew Norman (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) Subject: Air Miami, Tarnation & Mojave Mojave 3 - "Ask Me Tomorrow". A bit of a throw-back - the experimental tinkering about of "Pygmalion" or parts of "Souvlaki" has gone, this is stripped-down guitar, piano and drums. Neil does a pretty good job of singing in tune, Rachel's voice is as wonderful as ever, the songs are fine, but it is a leap sideways rather than forward. I'll listen to it a lot, but it hasn't surprised me in the way "Pygmalion" did.