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Amazon.co.uk Review
The fifth album from Mogwai should satisfy those fans who’ve feared their heroes might be losing their sharp-taloned gremlin edge. Mr Beast, you see, is a significant jerk of the volume knob--a record that finds these Scots avant-rockers sporadically reaching again for the same skull-crushing levels of sound that lent earlier albums like 1997’s Young Team such noise-freak notoriety.
The lessons in songcraft learnt on more recent works like Happy Songs For Happy People, however, have stuck: for every dials-in-the-red rocker like "Glasgow Mega-Snake" or "We’re No Here", there’s a more sedate moment like the Barry Burns-sung "Acid Food" or piano-accompanied "Friend Of The Night" to give the album a nice peaks-and-troughs feel. There’s a special guest too, in the shape of Tetsuya Fukagawa of Japan’s Envy, a hardcore outfit with clear similarities to Mogwai’s cacophonic sturm und drang. The surprise being, however, that the track in question, "I Chose Horses" is a soft, lilting keyboard number that’s possibly this band’s plain loveliest moment to date. --Louis Pattison
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I never got Mogwai until I bought this and then I immediately got hold of everything else I could and immersed myself in what has been described as "the last truly punk band in the world".
Mogwai are as unique as Bjork, Sigur Ros and Joy Division. They create aural soundscapes of immense beauty and horror often combining the two to leave you shellshocked. While people lazily focus on the "blistering feedback - yah de dah" it is usually the delicate touches which seal the band's musical identity.
In the mix there are elements of every form of music ranging from the darkest heaviest roar to melodies which seem to hark from traditional Scottish folk - honest it's all there if you let go and listen.
I recently saw the gow live and they are a formidable machine capable of lifting the roof of venues while making grown men weep.
If you don't get it then go away and come back again because some day it will just click and all fall into place and you'll wondeer what you have been doing for the past ten years.
By the way I only gave it four stars cos it's not the best Mogwai album for me - that would be Happy Songs For Happy People followed by Young Team.
Mogwai are as unique as Bjork, Sigur Ros and Joy Division. They create aural soundscapes of immense beauty and horror often combining the two to leave you shellshocked. While people lazily focus on the "blistering feedback - yah de dah" it is usually the delicate touches which seal the band's musical identity.
In the mix there are elements of every form of music ranging from the darkest heaviest roar to melodies which seem to hark from traditional Scottish folk - honest it's all there if you let go and listen.
I recently saw the gow live and they are a formidable machine capable of lifting the roof of venues while making grown men weep.
If you don't get it then go away and come back again because some day it will just click and all fall into place and you'll wondeer what you have been doing for the past ten years.
By the way I only gave it four stars cos it's not the best Mogwai album for me - that would be Happy Songs For Happy People followed by Young Team.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
My dad heard this on the radio once and imediatly went out and bought it. I for one am glad he did because I LOVE this album. You have to play it really loud and all the tracks are brilliant. My favorite is 'friend of the night' which I could play over and over again, it's that good. This is real music.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Mr. Beast is Mogwai's fifth full length LP, and their first in three years. The album basically brings together everything that the band have achieved with their previous works, and delivers it in 10 nice manageable chunks of no more than 5 and a half minutes or so (relatively short by their standards). It's this restraint which proves to be both the album's greatest strength and its greatest weakness.
There's plenty of fine songs here to add to Mogwai's already impressive catalogue. The uber-riffing Glasgow Mega Snake is as direct as the band's ever been in the rock stakes, and offers a welcome shift in pace from their standard relaxed tempo. Album closer We're No Here is better still, as the guitars slowly layer on top of one another to deliver a dense and searing finale. Opening track Auto Rock builds up steadily in classic Mogwai style, its rudimentary drum beat getting ever louder as the track progresses.
The greater emphasis on vocals is welcome as well, although the vocals remain pleasantly understated, so as not to detract from the music. It's a trick which works beautifully on both Travel Is Dangerous and Acid Food. The spoken words of Tetsuya Fukagawa on the serene I Chose Horses are also an inspired touch.
But during the midway stage, the album seems to lose steam. Both Team Handed and Emergency Trap, whilst perfectly listenable, are instantly forgettable. First single, the piano-led Friend Of The Night is pleasant, but the shimmering guitars which lift it to another level when performed live are curiously low in the mix here. Whilst such songs would have worked fine on earlier albums such as Young Team as a means of bringing together the more substantial, more sprawling songs, here it just doesn't work as the songs are of such similar length.
The truth is that Mogwai are one of the few bands that can justify the extra playing time of a 7, 10 or even 16 minute song (see the glorious Mogwai Fear Satan). By limiting the length of these songs, Mogwai have stymied their creativity somewhat. That's not to say that this isn't another fine album. In fact, Mr. Beast probably stands as the band's most accessible work, and an ideal introduction to one of Britain's most talented bands. But to hear the band in full flow, Young Team remains the one to go for.
There's plenty of fine songs here to add to Mogwai's already impressive catalogue. The uber-riffing Glasgow Mega Snake is as direct as the band's ever been in the rock stakes, and offers a welcome shift in pace from their standard relaxed tempo. Album closer We're No Here is better still, as the guitars slowly layer on top of one another to deliver a dense and searing finale. Opening track Auto Rock builds up steadily in classic Mogwai style, its rudimentary drum beat getting ever louder as the track progresses.
The greater emphasis on vocals is welcome as well, although the vocals remain pleasantly understated, so as not to detract from the music. It's a trick which works beautifully on both Travel Is Dangerous and Acid Food. The spoken words of Tetsuya Fukagawa on the serene I Chose Horses are also an inspired touch.
But during the midway stage, the album seems to lose steam. Both Team Handed and Emergency Trap, whilst perfectly listenable, are instantly forgettable. First single, the piano-led Friend Of The Night is pleasant, but the shimmering guitars which lift it to another level when performed live are curiously low in the mix here. Whilst such songs would have worked fine on earlier albums such as Young Team as a means of bringing together the more substantial, more sprawling songs, here it just doesn't work as the songs are of such similar length.
The truth is that Mogwai are one of the few bands that can justify the extra playing time of a 7, 10 or even 16 minute song (see the glorious Mogwai Fear Satan). By limiting the length of these songs, Mogwai have stymied their creativity somewhat. That's not to say that this isn't another fine album. In fact, Mr. Beast probably stands as the band's most accessible work, and an ideal introduction to one of Britain's most talented bands. But to hear the band in full flow, Young Team remains the one to go for.
Key Tracks: Glasgow Mega Snake, Travel Is Dangerous, We're No Here
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Accessible but still great album from Mogwai
Writing about Mogwai rarely does justice to the music contained within. Or maybe it's my chronic inability to write about (mostly) instrumental music. Read more
Published 21 months ago by klaher
Amazing
The first two tracks alone are worth buying the album for. Outside of Pink Floyd and other Mogwai tracks these two tunes are untouchable. Keep it up guys.
Published on 3 July 2008 by Ken Hickey
not up to their usual grade
Mr beast is the fifth album from mogwai and a certain fall in form is noticed here,a minor drop,yes,but noticable all the same but this has power and is expressive enough when... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2007 by sean paul mccann
Not their best
Mogwai move into the "wanky old-man music" phase of their lives. This album isn't rubbish but then it isn't stellar, either. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2007 by C. Collins
Best Album Ever
You must get this album its mogwai's finest album,its brilliant all the way throughfrom beginning to end .........
Published on 9 July 2007 by N. Oakley-Smith
Diverse yet cohesive fifth offering from Scottish rockers
Mr. Beast marks the long-awaited return of much-loved Scottish band Mogwai. On this, their, fifth album, the band display their mastery of both epic, skyscraper-razing post-rock... Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2007 by M. J. Pucci
The purest instrumental sensibility
yeah that's what mogwai realized in their new album Mr Beast.. as their last album Happy songs for happy people Mogwai combines like nobody else on planet earth hardcore furiosity... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2006 by Patrizia Mariani
Turgid
Bought Beast after a recommendation from a friend and having bought tickets to see them live in Liverpool and what a waste of money. Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2006 by C. Emmas
Here come the mogwai hordes....
Mr Beast is the first mogwai album to give me a sense of real deja vu, yet at the same time leaving me feeling fullfilled. Read more
Published on 9 April 2006 by kid bloc
Fantastic Album
Mogwai don't respond well to bad criticism. Luckily, they won't be receiving much for this new album. It is stunning, epic, melodic, it's wonderful. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2006 by Mr. J. Milton
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