Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
Last Heaven's Bootleg
Universal Music (2003)
I was all set with a brand new release this week, when a bit of news brought everything to a stop today - Abe Futoshi, former guitarist of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant died at the young age of 43. Now, I know I unload a lot of wacky Japanese stuff onto this blog, but trust me; when you talk about TMGE, everything else is kids stuff. This isn't hyperbole - they were one of the greatest punk bands on the planet. No jokes, no gimmicks; just loud dangerous rock & roll.
Frontman, Chiba Yusuke, gets a lot of well deserved attention; but try out your ears on the rest of the band and you'll quickly realize Abe and co give it their all on every song. No member of that band was replaceable.
I'm not sure if this was their final release, but Last Heaven's Bootleg (which is a live album, if you can't infer from the title) feels like a good retrospective album for newcomers, and a memorial for any of us looking to blast some TMGE all week.
No comments:
Post a Comment