The Music MachineTurn On The Music Machine
Released 1966 on Original Sound
Reviewed by ysbeidiau, 16/02/2008ce
You can see where The Doors got their ideas, (once they'd looted Love's material) in the moody,organ led sound and verbose lyrics-only The Doors had the iconic alcoholic up front and added a whole new dimension in pseudo-poetic pomposity. Apparently, Morrison had been seen intently watching Bonniwell,leather pants and all,at MM's hometown gigs in LA .
The self-penned material is delivered with raging intensity at times- tracks like their only hit "Talk Talk", "Trouble" "The People in Me","Masculine Intuition" and "Wrong" being awesome on first listen- highly charged blasts of intellectual angst. In fact, these five are worth the cover price alone. These are nicely balanced by the slower material, "Come On In" showing in particular how intently Morrison must have been listening.There are echoes of Love, but instead of the endearing amateurishness of that band's debut,there is the sound of a super-tight, proficient unit, (hence the "Machine" tag) which manages to keep its raw edge and avoid toppling over into slickness.
The MM sleepwalk through the obligatory covers, though,only "Hey Joe"- a fuzz-drenched, slowed down treatment predating Hendrix's- warranting more than a couple of listens. Bonniwell still had a host of innovative,well-crafted compositions up his sleeve,so it must have been galling to see listless renditions of the likes "96 Tears" compromising what should have been a 100% killer album.Still, even as two thirds of an album,it still knocks the shite out the vast majority of contemporary releases.