Search - Mops :: 2001 Millennium Best

A hard disc to review!

David Goodwin | Westchester, NY United States | 05/07/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...mostly because there are NO liner notes in English; thus, I'm a bit unsure as to exactly what some of these tracks are. I'll do my best, though.This is one of the current batch of EMI Japan's "Millennium Best" series, some of which feature other Japanese rock bands (Golden Cups, for example). Presumably, these are intended as "Best Of"s of the respective artists, although they're a bit skimpy on the track selection (this one has 15 tracks, for example).Anyway, onto the music. Strangely, this disc compiles NOTHING from the Psychedelic Sounds in Japan album, usually regarded as the Mops' absolute best; however, that's a blessing in disguise, as that material's usually all that's easily availible on CD. So instead we get...well, other songs.Therein lies the problem: I don't know exactly what these songs are, or where they're from. I'm presuming mid seventies for most of the stuff, but there's a version of House of the Rising Sun that sounds pre-Psychedelic Sounds.That said, the songs are mostly excellent, with a few ballads thrown in for good measure; these guys didn't get any more unimaginative as time went on, although obviously the generic 70s hard rock trend affected them as well. Ohh, and something I forgot...while there aren't any "real" Psychedelic Sounds tracks here, there ARE two remakes! Asamade Matenai can't touch the original, but it's done well, with two oppositely-panned drum tracks. And Kinei Omoi is done in a rather bizarre soft ballad style, but is still very interesting.So, to sum up: it'a hard to say anything about an album as, err, hard to understand as this, but its' musically very worthwhile, and definately a decent purchase if you're interested in exploring the Mops' very-unavailible career further.-------A slight addendum to my original review. Apparently, this just comps (for whatever reason) the stuff post-Psychedelic Sounds, starting from 1970's "Rock and Roll" album (that's where House comes from). A few tracks are from the "Ijanika" album (showing up in Japanese here, while they're in English on the album...maybe these are single versions?) and the other tracks come from slightly later albums. All in all, a very decent late-period sampler, but try to grab Psych Sounds first."