Search - Moonriders :: Dire Morons Tribute

Anarchronistic, eccentric...but pretty good

David Goodwin | Westchester, NY United States | 03/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"By the time of 1991's "Christ, Who's Gonna Die First," the Moonriders had discovered the secret to longevity: do whatever the heck you want. Never a mainstream band, the group seems to have since that point embraced their image as eccentric geezer-rockers, dipping into trance, arena rock...even making an album of Euro-style remakes of past songs (1995's "Le Cafe de la Plage"). "Dire Morons TRIBUNE," their most current album to date ('tho there're intimations of a followup on the horizon), continues that contrary streak, and features the band doing whatever it damn well wants to do on its 16 tracks.



And, as in the past, it's a surprising success. While new albums by groups that began in the 1970s usually get written off as a matter of course, the Moonriders seem to be pretty aware of what they can do, and more importantly what they cannot do without devolving into self-parody. There aren't any fierce rockers here. Instead, most of "Dire Morons TRIBUNE" consists of mid-tempo, intelligently arranged tracks; drummer Tetsuroh Kashibuchi isn't going to convince anyone he's 25, but that doesn't seem to be the point. More importantly, vocalist Keiichi Suzuki--who, as C. Browne accurately points out, never had the best voice to begin with--realizes that his voice is pretty far gone, and tends to bury it under layers of electronic effects.



As I mentioned earlier, this approach generally works. Standouts include "Bawm Bawm Phenomenon"--a surprisingly Can-like, wild instrumental that seems to continue the theme established by the song "Pissism" on an earlier single--"Tenbatsu no Ame," and several others. Even the album's conclusion, a lengthly techno track called "Yellow Sumbarine ga Yatte Kuru Yaa! Yaa! Yaa," is a quirky, interesting song.



Verdict? If you can get past the import price-barrier somehow, "Dire Morons TRIBUNE" is a worthwhile purchase indeed. It isn't a band in its prime, but it isn't a band past its prime trying to pretend, either. If only everyone could age this gracefully."