Various - Late Night Tales-MGMT

  by Andy Cassidy

published: 12 / 10 / 2011

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Review

I remember one Saturday afternoon about five years ago when my wife and I went out for lunch at the now sadly gone Grassroots café in Glasgow. As well as great food, they always had great music playing, and this day was no exception. I thought what I was hearing was some hitherto unheard Flaming Lips album, but it turned out to be 'Oracular Spectacular' by MGMT. Deeply impressed, we stopped off at a local record shop on the way home and picked up a copy. I’ve been a fan of MGMT ever since, and when I heard that they were curating a Late Night Tales collection, I was extremely excited. I’ve been a fan of the series ever since I was introduced to Belle and Sebastian’s excellent collection a few years ago (any “mix tape” which has Johnny Cash, Donovan, Ramsey Lewis and J. S. Bach on it is a winner as far as I’m concerned!), and I’ve found the vast majority of them to be great collections. Not surprisingly, MGMT’s collection is a thing of beauty – a terrific mix of old and new, familiar and obscure. The mix begins with 'Can’t See Through It' by Disco Inferno, a gentle, almost trance-like piece of dreamy pop which sets the mood perfectly for the delights to come. The song is all sweeping, spiralling, hypnotic loops and laconic vocals, before it segues, via a vocal introduction to the album, to 'Love You Girl' by the Great Society. Normally with compilations of this nature there is at least one song which doesn’t fit well and spoils the mood of the collection, but with this mix, that is not the case. Each song is perfectly suited to the Late Night vibe, and the sequencing is excellent – it’s everything a good mix tape should be! The two highlights for me are MGMT’s sublime cover of Bauhaus’ 'All We Ever Wanted Was Everything' and Pauline Anna Storm’s Morning Splendor, a song which I had never heard before. For me, the beauty of collections like these is that one is likely to come across nuggets like these which one would ordinarily never hear. The mix ends with a spoken word piece by Paul Morley – an adult bedtime story, if you will. Is it a bit cheesy? Well, yes, but it adds a certain charm to the collection (previous mixes have had spoken pieces by Brian Blessed among others). The Late NightTtales series is a wonderful collection of mixes by some great artists, and they are terrific fun. They’re a great source of previously unheard remixes and otherwise unavailable cover versions (The Flaming Lips’ cover of 'Seven Nation Army' was a particular stand-out from their selection). I love the Late Night Tales series, and, of the ten or so editions that I’ve heard so far, this is definitely one of the best. This is an understated collection that exudes class and impeccable taste, and I would highly recommend it to everyone with an ear for good music.

Track Listing:-

1 Can't See Through It
2 Love You Girl
3 Cheree
4 Stop & Smell The Roses
5 Ocean
6 Red Indians
7 Laughing Boy
8 For Belgian Friends
9 Mound Of Clay
10 Song For Wilde
11 All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
12 Troubled Mind
13 Drug Song
14 Hearts Are Like Flowers
15 Pink Frost
16 Sparks
17 Melancholy Man
18 Lord Can You Hear Me Now?
19 Morning Splendor
20 Lost For Words Part 2