Acid Mothers Temple, Redux

(scott) from long-timer Narcosislab comes a tireless effort to clear up the Acid Mothers Temple picture (see other day's post).......I haven't listened to any of these yet, so we'll find out together, but this one took a bit of work, so enjoy, and thanks to Narcosislab.
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Psychedelic monsters Acid Mothers Temple have been around for over twenty years and have somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 official LPs when you add up all the various aliases and splinter projects. Probably twice that many bootlegs of live shows floating around as well.  While definitely heavy on the freakout psych, there are threads of noise rock, improv, progressive rock, space rock, krautrock and experimental rock that weave through their work. As you would expect for a group so prolific, it’s feast or famine - when they’re good they are untouchable but  some of the releases aren’t anything you’ll play more than once, assuming you get through it once.

AMT revolves around guitarist Kawabata Makoto and lineup of ever-changing contributors - I count about 40. They’ve recorded mostly as Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso but also as AMT and the Cosmic Inferno, AMT SRW, AMT and the Pink Ladies Blues, Acid Mothers Gong (w/ members of Gong),  Acid Mothers Guru Guru (with the great drummer Mani Neumeier from krautrock legends Guru Guru),  Acid Mothers Guru Guru Gong (….guess…) , Acid Maso Temple and a few others I can’t remember.  While the different names of the band are sometimes indicative of what’s on the LP, it’s still not easy to know what to expect on any given release.  Here are what I would say are the 10 you need to start with.  I’m in no way an expert so maybe someone else will add to this with their picks for essential AMT that are deeper into the catalog.

Acid Mother’s Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (1997) is their first official LP release and if I understand correctly it’s really a compilation of a number of cassettes they produced in the previous couple of years. One 53 minute track with 12 songs, it pretty much lays out the template for their catalog. The first 1/3 of the track is relentless, ear ripping feedback psych and the last 2/3 are almost like a radio being dialed between every genre from Stockhausen to free jazz to ambient. Two years later they put out Wild Gals a Go-Go (1999),  a fake soundtrack to an imagined Russian porn film and it’s quite a bit more restrained than most of their stuff, like a good soundtrack would be.  But it’s still chock full of LSD and thick on the opium haze.

La Novia (2000) is a more “traditional psych” album and probably one of their all-time best. A good place to start. Univers Zen ou de Zero a Zero (2002) is a barn-burner more on the psych/space rock spectrum and full of ear-shredding jams. 

Speaking of bleeding ears, Electric Heavyland (2002) is an unrelenting 50 minutes of psychedelic chaos. Not much else to say here but test your meddle and give it a listen.

More full blown space rock can be found in their Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic Inferno releases of which IAO CHANT from the Cosmic Inferno (2005) is probably one of the best. It’s apparently a long version of a Gong song.  Another great Cosmic Inferno release is the Starless and Bible Black Sabbath (2006) BigScott posted earlier — it’s also my favorite of their many great album/song titles.

They’ve done two (that I know of) “tributes” to minimalist composer Terry Riley.  The first is In C (2001), which is sorta-kinda a version of that landmark composition. This one is full of shimmery drones and a lot more understated (i.e. quieter) playing. In 0 to ∞ (2010) is the second Riley-influenced release and it’s more or less a continuation of In C. Both are highly recommended.

Next is a noise tour-de-force: their third team-up with the Boredoms guitarist Yamamoto Seiichi, Giga Psychedelia (2012). It’s a live outing that has them roaring though the AMT discography and it’s everything you’d hope for from such a pairing.

Rounding out the even dozen: one of my personal faves - For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Goofy Funk? and one of their not so good ones but but the one everyone wants to hear because of the cover design, Sgt. Captain Freakout & The Magic Bamboo Request. 

Acid Mother’s Temple & The Melting Paraiso

Acid Mother’s Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - 1) AMT Prayer/Speed Guru/From The Melting Paraiso U.F.O 1/The Top Head Pixies/Zen Feedback/Coloradoughnut/From the Melting Paraiso U.F.O 2/Amphetamine Go-go/Pink Lady Lemonade/Sartori LSD/Hawaiian Brownie/Acid Mothers Temple for All

Wild Gals a Go-Go - 1) Reverse Of The Universe 1, 2) Space Bambino/Interstellar Over Dope, 3) Sweet Juicy Lucy, 4) Mammary Intercourse, 5) Hare Hare Hallelujah/Blow Out Sugar High, 6) Good-Bye Ice Cream/Stone Blind Blue Heaven, 7) Reverse Of The Universe 2

La Novia - 1) La Novia, 2) Bois-tu de le biere?, 3) Bon Voyage au LSD

Electric Heavyland - 1) Atomic Rotary Grinding God/Quicksilver Machine Head, 2) Loved and Confused, 3) Phantom of Galactic Magnum

In C - 1) In C, 2) In E, 3) In D

Univers Zen ou de Zero a Zero - 1) Electric Love Machine, 2) Ange mechanique de Saturne, 3) Blues pour bible noire, 4) Trinte orphique, 5) Soleil de cristal et lune d’argent, 6) God Bless AMT

In 0 to ∞ - 1) In 0, 2) In A, 3) In Z

Sgt. Captain Freakout & The Magic Bamboo Request - 1) I am St. Captain Freak Out,  2) Planet Pussy Virgo, 3) Cosmic Magic of Love Part 1, 4) Dead Man is Smoking, 5) Porks' Bomb in Aztec Part 0, 6) Hi Twiggy Cheesecake, 7) A Bamboo is as Close as Miss Trout to Marshmallows 8) Sir Satanic Magic Bamboo Jerks Off, 9) Maggot Head Cheese, 10) Man on the Holy Mountain, 11) Sweet Lucille or Lick My Milk Off, Baby, 12) Cosmic Magic of Love Part 2

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno

IAO Chant From The Cosmic Inferno - 1) Om Riff from the Cosmic Inferno

Starless And Bible Black Sabbath - 1) Starless And Bible Black Sabbath, 2) Woman From A Hell

For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Goofy Funk? - 1) Space Hurricane Funky Night, 2) Sick Of Heaven Or Hell, 3) For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Goofy Funk?, 4) Force Of Obsession

Yamamoto Seiichi & Acid Mothers Temple

Giga Psychedelia - 1) Shine On You Crazy Dynamite, 2) Back Door Man Of Ghost Rails In/ La Novia, 3) Pink Lady Lemonade including Grandson Of A Bitches Brew

LINKS: 

Acid Mother’s Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/egDuzB3D/file.html>

Wild Gals a Go-Go

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/ZZyZrJbl/file.html>

La Novia

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/J8foiTTU/file.html>

Electric Heavyland

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/hInDXVhJ/file.html>

In C

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/ky9NO0BG/file.html>

Univers Zen ou de Zero a Zero

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/qugOcSJk/file.html>

In 0 to ∞

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/hKKnH9k8/file.html>

Sgt. Captain Freakout & The Magic Bamboo Request

<http://www43.zippyshare.com/v/8osUK6ez/file.html>

IAO Chant From The Cosmic Inferno

<<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/WZyMWkAb/file.html>

Starless And Bible Black Sabbath

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/HcXbfeIE/file.html>

For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Goofy Funk?

<http://www43.zippyshare.com/v/jfU4zFrk/file.html>

Giga Psychedelia

<http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/RWTTIhBt/file.html>