Mogwai
Young Team – Deluxe Edition

May 27th on Chemikal Underground

Lovingly augmented, sonically enhanced reissue of the Glasgow outfit’s coruscating 1997 debut…

After a brace of critically acclaimed singles and a host of incendiary live shows, there was a palpable sense of anticipation over the release of Mogwai’s debut long player.  Arriving over 10 years ago, little has happened since to diminish its impact: stylistically at odds with what was rapidly becoming the fag-end of Britpop, Young Team was an obstreperous exercise in dynamics and fury – the unapologetically avant-garde nestled alongside tracks of poignant, delicate beauty. 

Recorded in what was soon to become Chemikal Underground’s Chem19 studios by label owner and Delgados drummer Paul Savage for the princely sum of £2,000, the sessions were (by the bands own admission) turbulent, disorganised and hastily mixed.  With Mogwai’s ranks having been recently swollen with the addition of Teenage Fanclub, Telstar Ponies and Macrocosmica alumni Brendan O’ Hare, the band recorded the album in a chaotic whirl of creativity, shaven heads, adopted pseudonyms, gang tattoos and distortion pedals.  Young Team was met by a breathless wave of critical superlatives: its lack of conventional lyrics did nothing to dilute the power of the album, its emotional articulacy lay in its use of melody, the genuinely transcendent dynamics and its abstract use of vocals (essentially eavesdropped conversations).  What could easily have become a case study in po-faced self-importance and post-rock musical snobbery was irrevocably rescued by Mogwai’s dark sense of humour and their generosity with a sarcastically choleric soundbite.
 
It seems to be de rigueur at the moment to rehash and reissue all manner of tenuously heralded ‘classics’ however with Young Team, the decision was grounded in the desire for genuine sonic improvement: there has always been a shared acknowledgement between the band and label that the mastering could have been better; compressions applied more adeptly; graphics tweaked more thoughtfully.  With the new, remastered version of Young Team you’re much closer to how the album should have sounded were the main protagonists (label included) not so naïve or impatient.  It sounds bigger.  And louder.  And much, much, better… 

With the second CD (which will now become a permanent feature of the album), the aim was to compile what tracks were floating around from the time of the Young Team sessions and subsequent promotion.  As a result, we have blistering live recordings of Like Herod at T In The Park; Katrien performed at Lounge Ax in Chicago and Mogwai Fear Satan from Chemikal Underground’s 5th Anniversary Party at The Garage in Glasgow.  There are session tracks too: R U Still In 2 It (featuring vocals by Aidan Moffat) on the Mary Anne Hobbs show (Stuart Braithwaite’s on-air accusation that Mary Anne ‘fancied’ Aidan has been excised to protect the innocent) and Summer performed live on NYU’s student radio station WNYU.  Other rarities include a version of Honey by Spacemen 3; I Don’t Know What To Say (from an NME covermount CD); I Can’t Remember (from an extremely rare ‘Glasgow’ 7” by Plastic Cowboy) and the previously unreleased opener on Disc 2, Young Face Gone Wrong. 

All in all this new, deluxe incarnation of Young Team has now become its definitive version: available in 2CD and limited edition, quadruple vinyl box-set formats, featuring new liner notes by journalist and writer, Keith Cameron, it’s an added value replacement for those owning the original and a tooled-up, double-dunting jaw-dropper for those fortunate enough to be hearing this album for the very first time.