I know I don’t normally do this as 1537 is a retrospective gig but I just wanted to share my excitement over getting a copy of Endless Boogie Long Island with y’all and so here I am firmly in 2013 territory. As I have set down my love for this band elsewhere* I shan’t repeat myself, except to say that Long Island is no disappointment at all, although the fact that they are only playing one UK gig, in London, is – a nice man at their record company, No Quarter, emailed me to say sorry but there might be a full UK tour later in the year.
But I digress, beyond the beautiful double vinyl in it’s Skogstroll cover art are some truly righteous tracks. The 13-minute opener ‘The Savagist’ is just far out and gone, built up by layers upon layers of twining, twinning, snaking guitars and vocals which sound an awful lot to these ears like a misanthropic troll pleasuring himself under a bridge – in a good way, obviously. Just like the way ‘Endless Eye’ on Full House Head was such a great opener it dominated the LP, ‘The Savagist’ is of similar stature but after a couple of listens storming tracks like ‘Imprecations’ and the gentler ‘The Artemus Ward’ also shine through. The 14-minute closer ‘The Montgomery Manuscript’ welds Allman Bros guitars onto a krautrock motorik chassis, which sets my pulse racing dangerously.
Anyway that’s all I have to say for now because I’m still in the process of living with this one. I did just want to let you know how excited I am by this!
(Still) 92 Down.
P.S – I quite enjoyed looking at a new LP for a change.
* Here, in fact – http://jatstorey.com/2013/01/03/blame-it-on-the-endless-boogie/
Hmmm. Sounds interesting but… if only there were some sample or YouTube or something to click on so I could be arsed. Oh well.
If only someone had had the foresight to do that! Darn it all.
Agreed, I can’t recommend this highly enough at the moment. Early days yet but this is looking like a shoo-in for a coveted 1537 award come the end of the year, I fully expect shares in No Quarter records to treble in value following the release of this comment!
When you open a record with a 13 minute song, that’s telling the world you mean business. You’re making a statement.