Mogwai – Young Team Deluxe Edition (Chemikal Underground)
June 10, 2008
For all that quiet/LOUD is a generic contrivance, ‘Young Team’ sounded pretty vital eleven years ago and still does. It wasn’t the first record to fashion these elements together, it’s not even the best record that this band have made, but it was the first chance for Mogwai to construct the rock album of their dreams and that makes it noteworthy.
In this re-issued anniversary deluxe bonanza edition, the contents are not a surprise. Yet, at the same time, they retain their power to shock. The album has been remastered for extra volume, with the teetering riffs and crashing drums of ‘Like Herod’ being the most obvious beneficiary. Finally, the track has some of the sheer gravity that it achieves when they play it live, as can be heard on disc Two’s live version (recorded at T In The Park). At the tail end of the album, another anthem ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ launches itself on a mazy run of rolling drumbeats, flute and hazy distortion, and again benefits from the louder mix. The version of ‘Fear Satan’ recorded at Chemikal Underground’s fifth birthday bash sounds like a rocket taking off, and the crowd held it’s collective breath as if it was on the ground at Cape Canaveral.
As well as various then-contemporary live recordings, disc two features four rare studio tracks, at least three of which are strong enough for inclusion on the album. The best of these is ‘Honey’, their superb version of the opening track on Spacemen 3’s ‘Playing With Fire’ which was one of the most ambitious recordings of their early phase.
So, the contents are not a surprise. Layered melody, menace, threat, beauty, noise. And soul. That’s important.