Cleopatra 2024
Former UFO frontman publishes a creepshow songbook to stake out and stalk a series of life-affirming issues.
Moggs Motel
Aging gracefully is rarely an option for movers and shakers operating in the field of hard rock due to the very nature of music they perform, and Phil Mogg knew it too well, planning to retire back in 2019 – to paraphrase the singer, he had the strain and couldn’t take any more. Then, Covid struck and the veteran suffered a heart attack in 2022, and these two events transformed his agenda. Not that Phil felt the need to address the matters of mortality – quite conversely, he wanted to praise the immortality of art – yet Mogg enjoyed the idea of exorcising a few specters one’s psyche’s apt to amass over the decades, by presenting a fresh, film-noir-like affair. Factor in the unfinished business of an individual outing which he, standing at the fore of UFO, didn’t get around to delivering, even with $IGN OF 4, and the arrival of MOGGS MOTEL – another collaborative endeavor where the titular man nominally calls the shots – seemed imminent.
Only “another” wouldn’t be an appropriate word here, on the platter where dozen pieces – a devil’s dozen, if you count “Taylors Wood”: the record’s dramatic, faux-orchestral finale, the second instrumental on the chanteur’s album, emphasizing its ensemble character and, therefore, feeling important enough but strangely assigned a bonus track status – find Phil, infamous for his last-minute approach to lyric-writing, put a lot of literary effort the context and concept require. So while he never was a stranger to cinematic stanzas, Mogg’s come a long way from “Prince Kajuku” to “The Princess Bride” that’s wondrously dark and enigmatic without referring to the movie of the same title but offering instead Tommy Gentry’s serrated guitar riffs and producer Tony Newton’s bass rumble, propelled drummer Joe Lazarus’s drums, all of which ground the leader’s deliberately gloomy voice. On top form throughout, Phil pipes shine from the start, once the sinister single “Apple Pie” reflects his lust for life and “Sunny Side Of Heaven” defines him as eternal optimist who’ll refuse to recognize clichés and who’ll feed on the contrast between shadow and light. These two cuts – the former opening proceedings with insistent, deliciously relentless, electric pulse, and the latter, given a female support, echoing the “Gimme Shelter” infectious menace – that feature twangy six-string solos from Mogg’s old colleague Neil Carter see the belter shift emotional weight from the obvious to the unknown – thus, boulder on his back is bound to become a monkey on the table as opposed to monkey on his back and not let hard rock on display turn into Sisyphean stone – yet there’s also immense warmth in shouldering and sharing such a heft.
That’s what the protagonists of Phil’s poems – sung in first person or depicting different personages – thrive on, and “Other People’s Lives” shows him shed the negativity observed over the course of his working fifty years and care about lesser mortals, those not likely to dare face the onslaught of “The Wrong House” or at least go past the flute-flaunting “Harry’s Place” that precedes this intimidating locale. Of course, it’s a case of make-believe, and not for nothing there are several occurrences of “story” in his lines – up to the unhurried, piano-dotted “Storyville” summarizing his bookish angle – but not believing Mogg is hardly an option when the bluesy “I Thought I Knew You” streams sincerity and “Face Of An Angel” – one placed on the spot where the covers of "The Salentino Cuts" left off, and the other set right around the bend from “Sunny Side Of Heaven” – struts with grave swagger amid effects-drenched soundscapes which sometime link the songs. Proudly riding the piledriver groove of “Tinker Tailor” that bares his soul, Phil’s vocals demonstrate their rich depth, before the opulently arranged “Weather” and the flaming dynamics of “Shane” paint them in demonic colors.
Filled with intrigue, “Moggs Motel” is an establishment you can check out any time you like but may not want to leave, and Phil is still a force to be reckoned with.
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