Acid Mothers Temple
April 20th, 2017
Strange Matter
Richmond, VA


Source: Roland Edirol R-09 (onboard mics, low-cut on, AGC off) > WaveLab (Puncher (high density, 75% effect, 0% output gain) + SL-1 StereoExpander (75%) + Q (slight adjustments made to high end and bottom end for maximum clarity/punch and minimum shrillness/distortion) > Audacity (levels normalized, DC offset (if present) corrected) > CDWAV (tracks split and saved as .FLAC level 8 ) > foobar2000 (ReplayGain + tags)

Location:
House center-rear, next to soundboard


SOUND QUALITY: B+ - Fuzz on the bottom end, but not overwhelming, stereo field was kept a little more narrow than usual to minimize the impact of the fuzz

Taper: ZaPenguin (zappa.penguin(AT)gmail.com or
http://db.etree.org/ZappaPenguin)


SOUND QUALITY: B+ - Fuzz on the bottom end, but not overwhelming, stereo field was kept a little more narrow than usual to minimize the impact of the fuzz

THE BAND:
Kawabata Makoto : guitar, synthesizer, speed guru
Higashi Hiroshi : synthesizer, noodle king
Tabata MItasuru : guitar, guitar-synthesizer, maratab
Satoshima Nani : drums, another dimension
S/T : bass, space & time

NO LONGER WITH THE BAND BUT WE WON'T FORGET THEM:
Shimura Koji : drums, latino cool
Tsuyama Atsushi : monster bass, voice, cosmic joker

PRESENT WITH THE BAND THIS NIGHT ONLY:
Cotton Casino : Synth, exotic ducking and dancing


TRACK LIST:
01. Entrance of the Mothers [0:51]
02. Anthem of the Inner Space [18:51]
03. The Wizard [11:44]
04. changing the monitor cable [1:05]
05. Kawabata's Grey Reflections [4:31]
06. The Flying Teapot [13:12]
07. Pink Lady Lemonade [16:28]
08. Nanique: Another Dimension [9:41]
09. Cometary Orbital Drive > Speed Guru [10:57]

Notes:
Track 02 is also referred to as "Anthem of the Space" on the album of the same name. Possibly intercut with another song, or possibly the extra movements are what distinguish this as "Inner Space". It bears similarities to Dark Star(s in the Dazzling Sky / Blues), but is a wholly separate musical extravaganza.
Track 05 is a solo guitar improvisation, played while the sound technician changed a monitor cable. While Kawabata played an abbreviated acapella guitar introduction to Flying Teapot the next night, this one runs much longer. Obviously, since this leads in to Flying Teapot and not Pink Lady, these Reflections are not a pearly pink, but rather an early grey.
Track 08 was previously referred to as "Another Nanique Dimension" but is titled "Nanique Another Dimension" on the recent official live release, "Last Concert of the First Chapter". Whether this is due to idiosyncrasies in Japanese SOV word order versus English SVO is left open to discussion. I have taken the bold liberty of adding a colon, barring direct instruction from Kawabata to the contrary.


MINI BIO:
"Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (and subsequent offshoots) is a Japanese psychedelic band founded in 1995 by members of the Acid Mothers Temple soul-collective. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career featured many musicians but by 2004 the line-up had coalesced with 4 core members and frequent vocal guests.

The band have a reputation for phenomenal live shows, and releasing frequent albums on a number of international record labels, as well as the Acid Mothers Temple family record label which was established in 1998 to document the activities of the whole collective."
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which every 14 year old has edited.


BAND PAGE:
http://www.acidmothers.com


SHOW NOTES:
It's about time the band got back to Richmond again - Strange Matter is always a fun gig, and tonight's show is no exception. Let's cut through the fluff and get to what is obviously the heart of discussion as it pertains to 2017 Acid Mothers Temple: I find the revamped Pink Lady Lemonade an amusing and even refreshing break from the ordinary, and wish it a happy and inspiring tour, after which it will hopefully be put back on the shelf to allow for the return of the full-blown romantic warhorse extravaganza we all know and love. And while I'm it, when the full-blown romantic warhorse extravaganza comes back, it will have the shiver-inducing reprise as heard on the original 2001 (You're So Sweet) version and again in the seminal 2011 (You're from Inner Space) recording, there listed as "Part III", but so infrequently played live. And I'll ride to the shows on a unicorn-driven chariot.

Anyway, the rest of the set was great fun - mostly a reprise of the 2016 setlist, which, for someone who only managed to see a scant single show in 2016, is welcome. We get Anthem of the Inner Space to lead us off (similar to Dark Star Blues / Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky, but a different and distinct number), which seems to be intercut with another song - whether this is to be considered merely an alternately-titled version of 2005's "Anthem of the Space" with interludes of another song, or a new composition, blending elements from Anthem of the Space with a vocal section that hitherto distinguishes it as "Anthem of the Inner Space", is as-yet unknown. Tabata vamps through the Wizard to great effect, and the highlight of the night, without a doubt, is the four-plus minutes of acapella guitar Kawabata treats us to while the soundman sorts through some technical difficulties. And of course, "the" Cotton Casino plays throughout the night, though it takes clever ears (or a soundboard recording - unfortunately not available) to separate her contributions from those of Higashi.

All in all, absolutely worth braving the blinding thunderstorms along I-95 on the way down, and a brief overnight repose in an only-moderately-seedy Motel 8, where the room only vaguely reeked of a dead hooker and one of the two sets of bedclothes was almost not marked by cigarette burns at all.

CREDITS:
Richmond Rockers - Rambunctious Revelry

Torrented by the taper: ZaPenguin

email - zappa.penguin(AT)gmail.com
web - http://db.etree.org/zappapenguin (always woefully out of date)

Band page: http://www.acidmothers.com