Published on Jun 8, 2005
Take a small music pub straddling a city’s main drag and local
university, leave it open for twenty years, and the thought of
producing a CD anthology with twenty local bands performing an
individual track would normally have all the appeal of drinking
flat beer from that same pub’s taps.
Move the venue to Oslo, Norway’s
Last Train
pub and the thought becomes remarkably more appealing when you
consider the club itself only holds 100 people, serves no food, and
has hosted performances by nearly every Scandinavian rock band of
any significance during this time. It’s truly a rock bar that is
serious about its business and considering its credentials, such a
tribute project becomes even more interesting.
Fast forward to 2004 when this tiny pub found itself in the
throes of celebrating its 20th anniversary (which is no small feat
in this day and age) and any European rock fan should really
appreciate the anthology the Last Train put out with its
No Music Requests offering. Even when considering that this
release limits its showcase to 20 Norwegian bands (as a
Scandinavian limitation), it still includes widely acclaimed groups
such as Turbonegro and Gluecifer in addition to a slate of more
regionally visual bands such as 2004’s Norwegian Grammy winners,
We, as well as Madrugada , the Wonderfools, Amulet, and the
Euroboys. Additionally, it’s an added bonus for us music collectors
to know that
No Music Requests offers previously unreleased material from
the majority of the 20 bands represented, despite the pub’s Web
site declaring otherwise.
As for the music found on the disc, the tracks are quite
eclectic, with Amulet brilliantly covering the hardcore punk genre
with a track from Bad Brains in “Rock for Light.” Similarly, Die
Die Die performs a scorching original with “Damage” that borders
dangerously close to covering off on death metal. On the other end
of the spectrum, the sugary pop anthem from the Time Lodgers, “Here
We Go Again” provides the faux-happiness message pop tracks tended
to give us back in the 70’s with its hybrid, folk-pop effort from
the Tables, “Chase the Rainbow,” being performed admirably as well.
For such a variety of musical genres being represented on No Music
Requests, they strangely merry up to one another in smooth
fashion.
Where I actually discovered the error in this album being
advertised on the Last Train’s website as one of nothing but
unreleased material, I found that Bonk’s “Hello Mummy” is really
just the hard rock driver, “Ni Hao Mama” from 2004’s
Western Soul album packaged under a different title. Small
details but I challenge you to find documentation of this small
fact elsewhere.
The standout tracks for me on
No Music Requests naturally gravitate to the no nonsense
rock tracks including the Team Spirit covering Cleveland’s Rocket
from the Tombs (later, the Dead Boys), “Ain’t It Fun,” Tubonegro’s
acerbic rendition of Agent Orange’s “Bloodstains,” the Wonderfools
offering a decidedly upbeat “Closing Time” salvo, Madrugada
settling beautifully into a nine-minute rendition of Roky Erikson’s
“Slip Inside This House” while making me think Michael Stipe is
commanding the vocals, We giving a cosmic space rock salute to yet
another Roky Erikson cover, “Cold Night for Alligators,” and Big
Bang showing obvious Neil Young influences in performing their
“Carousel” track.
By presenting such a long list of intriguing tracks, I’m trying
to point out the fact that
No Music Requests has legitimately turned me on to many new
bands – both with those artists performing on this disc as well as
the bands they choose to cover. In reviewing the actual list of
elder statesmen these Norwegian bands choose to tribute, I’m left
cast in a relatively somber mood as I feel as if I have been
totally remiss in my own past listening patterns. Now, I’ll just
tell you readers to beware as you’ll surely see reviews from many
of these bands in the months ahead.
In conclusion,
No Music Requests was purchased by me largely as a strange
curiosity for not only the Norwegian bands featured, but more for
the yield of what the past 20 years actually provided this small
rock venue. I sit here today leafing through a splendid 40-page CD
jacket looking at live photos of these and other non-Norwegian acts
gracing the Last Train’s stage during the past 20 years in an
excitedly pensive state. For me, I now convincingly know that rock
will never die — it’s just the beer you need to watch out for.