Mojobone – Crossroad Message & Tales From The Bone

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Following the warm reception 2010′s brand new Cowboy Mode album received, Mojobone mastermind Per Wiberg decided the time was right to give debut album EP Tales From The Bone (1999) and follow-up album Crossroad Message (2002) a proper release as the EP was out of the print and only ever released on vinyl, and the album was only issued in Japan. Intended for release in November 2010 this double CD remaster slipped to January 2011, but the wait was worthwhile. Crossroad Message, already an album every bit as good as Cowboy Mode, is augmented by the previously unreleased 10-minute heavy psych-rock work-out For The Weak on disc one, while Tales From The Bone, with different versions of three tracks from the album and three exclusive tracks, is followed up by ten bonus tracks on disc two. These are comprised of another three unreleased finished songs, and seven unreleased demos, including one further track which didn’t make the album. Across the two discs there are 28 tracks here; 19 original songs and nine alternate versions (Walking Level appears three times in total, seven others appear twice). The quality is flawless throughout. The demos don’t really sound like demos in the stereotypical poor sonic clarity sense at all, and all of the songs which for some reason didn’t make the cut at the time all beg the question ‘why not?’ The sound and feel of this older material is just the same as Cowboy Mode, so anyone who became a fan last year through that record really needs this one as well. This release finally makes Mojobone’s outstanding music available to a wider audience and deserves equal praise alongside last year’s new album. With the wealth of bonus tracks, and the fact that the EP has never been available on CD before at any price, even people who paid import prices for the original releases will get value for money from this.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Hard Rock, Quick.Play Reviews, Re-release, Mojobone