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"Mezcal Head" second album by Swervedriver is like a glider in flight that can't land. It's been flying since 1993 but is still up there, always driven by new favorable winds. It's music I still listen to today, thanks to the absolute beauty of their best tracks.
The most attentive followers consider this their best work, to the detriment of the first "Raise" (still exceptional). "Mezcal Head" comes out in the same years as the debut of Catherine Wheel and therefore feels the hard contamination of shoegaze that the Catherine Wheel brought, effectively closing the first phase of shoegaze and changing it forever (for the better). The work of hard contamination of shoegaze was done in parallel by the two bands. In this work, Swervedriver paid a higher tribute to sixties sounds, while the Catherine Wheel remained more tied to more orthodox metal sounds. Both groups are nonetheless fundamental to interpret today.
And now to the album: it opens with "For seeking heat" which is the calling card of the new shoe. Definitely hard, although the rest of the album will betray this first impression as Mezcal's flight is much broader and overlooks various musical lands. Second comes "Duel", a true cult piece for those who love shoegaze, here the sixties sounds explode in all their evidence but stretched and elongated to the extreme, the moog gives it a touch of class, a masterpiece. Third "Blowin Cool" and the band returns to the sounds of Raise, certain that the ideas are much clearer, the atmosphere is less improvised, and the guitar riffs are once again harder, beautiful. Fourth "MM Abduction" and the band takes a break before the final ride, it's the piece where the use of the lead guitar directly connects Sweverdriver and "Catherine Wheel". Fifth "Last Train to Satanville", another recognized masterpiece, and the race towards the end of the album begins, a race that will not be interrupted. Long piece and again stretched to the incredible, walls of guitars more hard than shoe.
The band intuits the need to lengthen the pieces and makes it their own. And prepares us for the grand finale. Sixth "Harry and Maggie", a fearsome guitar attack, then again sixties stretched. It remains among their best pieces. Pausing for reflection, but could it be that this sixties recall also brings another name? Of course, Swervedriver is psychedelic! There are strong sixties echoes, of course, but of the psychedelic period 1968/1970. Seventh, and we are at the collector's items, "A change is gonna come", the Swerve become the prophets of themselves and announce the change. Here psychedelia is at its highest levels, sixties and hard embrace. Another masterpiece. Eighth "Girl on a Motorbike" and you start thinking about miracles. The album remains at very high levels, and the piece becomes another classic of the group. Three pieces are missing, and on the ninth "Duress" the Swerve teaches us what psychedelia applied to music is. Very long piece and 40% instrumental with the wah-wah hinting at the melody. Pure psychedelia and then comes Franklin's voice, and I hope you are all still there to listen. It's Wah-wah along with Franklin's lament. Here Swervedriver flies in the true sense of the word, and I with them. Ten "You find it Everywhere", is the Swerve's feint before the final KO. Eleven and "Never lose that Feeling" arrives, an authentic manifesto, a very long piece with several phases, almost progressive, it is the final synthesis. After the first phase, incredible but true, the instrumental part arrives, and here the perception of the miracle really becomes strong. The sax comes in (damn how I like it), and I find myself in lo-fi. Syncopated rhythm with the sax that literally flies. Hard guitars that come in. Franklin's voice will no longer return. He has already said everything, "So deceiving, Never lose that feeling".
So deceiving, never lose that feeling. Friend Franklin, you can be sure I won't lose it. And have you lost it?
Alex
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 For Seeking Heat (03:47)
You seem to circle miles above me
Never hearing any word that I say
Eyes reeling from deadly pleasure
The last second don't count anyway
Without the safety net you're freed
To find serene pleasure of speed
A blur of beauty, intoxicating
Existence outstripped, outshined
Head clear cold chassis shaking
Encounter of body and mind
Erupting violent machine
Precise exultance so serene
Poised between risk and calculation
In a kind of wide-awake alert daze
Pretty pirouette accelerating
Beyond living in so many ways
Without the safety net you're freed
To find serene pleasure of speed
Erupting violent machine
Precise exultance so serene
02 Duel (06:19)
You've been away for so long
You can't ask why
You've been away
You can't ask why
You can't ask why
A million stars out tonight
Could spark neon from candlelight
One million stars
Could spark neon from candlelight
Could spark neon from candlelight
I'm goin' down, down to the market place
Goin' to learn to give
I'm goin' down, down by the sea market side
Goin' to learn to live
The tightropes wound around
Just one slip and you tumble down
The ropes wrapped around
Just one slip and you tumble down
One slip and you tumble down
I'm goin' down, down to the market place
Goin' to learn to give
I'm goin' down, down by the sea market side
Goin' to learn to live
03 Blowin' Cool (03:57)
White hot morning
The blinding light of day holds sway
Barefoot yawning wipe the night out from my eyes
It's slowly dawning
This summer town's a merry-go-round
The stakes get risen daily
In every way there's more to pay
And I'm not searching for these changes
They just slip by me everyday
And everything needs rearranging
And you're the one to make it stay
Glass clear morning
It's blowin' cool outside today
Without warning the crowds all meet across the street
Payphone calling, down the square the people stare
This daily planet's beauty lies behind untutored eyes
And I'm not searching for these changes
They just slip by me everyday
And everything needs rearranging
And you're the one to make it stay
Cool morning
Cool morning
White hot morning
The blinding light of day holds sway
Barefoot yawning, wipe the night out from my eyes
It's slowly dawning
This summer town's a merry-go-round
Without a watch you get to know
The time is right for crime
And I'm not searching for these changes
They just slip by me everyday
And everything needs rearranging
And you're the one to make it stay
Cool morning
Cool morning
04 MM Abduction (02:50)
The day I drove you to the fair
Undying love was born down there
This ultra-love is what I feel
Those darker forces just ain't real
You're safe alone in here with me
You're safe in here alone with me
You're safe alone in here with me
Alone in here with me you're safe
07 A Change Is Gonna Come (04:00)
I keep on thinkin' it's wrong
So I'm chiding you in a song
It's comin' your way
You shouldn't feel this way
And yeah you think it's a sin
I ain't your color of skin
It's comin' your way
You shouldn't feel this way
I keep on losin' my feet
When I walk down the street
I keep on thinkin' it's you
Guess it makes me feel blue
You say it's broken your dreams
They fall apart at the seams
It's comin' our way
You shouldn't feel this way
You shouldn't feel this way
I shouldn't feel this way
You shouldn't feel this way
We shouldn't feel this way
08 Girl on a Motorbike (04:08)
Take a walk through the city
Turn right at Potzdamer Platz
To see a girl on a motorbike
Expression carved on her face
Saw a man in a cafe downtown
Who says it fucks with your head
When you're tryin' to sleep at night
With a gun across your bed
Don't wanna be down at heel
Don't wanna be down at heel
You've shown disgrace on my place
You've gotta know how it feels
Sometimes at night when it's cold outside
It would be easier and sweet
To hack a road through the jungle
Than clear a path down the street
Too many folk in the middle lane
Who don't wanna swerve 'gainst the rails
Apathy balanced with disdain
Dogs chasin' their own tails
Don't wanna be down at heel
Don't wanna be down at heel
You come breakin' down my front door
You've gotta know how it feels
Followed the girl on a motorbike
Saw her enter a bar
It's dark inside with candles burn and
To liberate her scars
She Spanish-dance on the table
With butterflies that burn
It's like an incessant fox-hunt
Too many lessons learned
09 Duress (08:03)
And when the dawn begins to creep
Sunlight finds you in a heap
And how you wish that you could sleep
Forget the lies that you've been told
You think you're settin' free your soul
But you're really gettin' old
You've dreamt of divin' in the sea
Your outstretched arms in front of me
And how you wished that you could breathe
In the grip of ecstasy
When the shadows follow me
And the night won't set me free
You wish someone could love you less
Longing for that one caress
I see you sink under Duress
And when you wanna kill it dead
You let it throttle you instead
10 You Find It Everywhere (04:09)
You find it here
You find it everywhere
It's always there
I'm drivin' everywhere
Beyond the glare
There's burnin' everywhere
We stop and stare
I'm falling every stair
So take me there
I really just don't care
Down at the fair
We'll find them everywhere
The clothes you wear
You find them everywhere
The profit's there
They're buyin' every share
You find it here
You find it everywhere
It's always there
I'm striving every stair
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