Track Listing

1. Sine Wave
2. Take Me Somewhere Nice
3. O I Sleep
4. Dial: Revenge
5. You Don't Know Jesus
6. Robot Chant
7. 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
8. Secret Pint

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26424 in Music
• Released on: 2001-04-30
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rock Action, the third full-length album from experimental noise outfit Mogwai, is a sort of compromise; it's out with harsh walls of feedback and allusions to Glaswegian gang warfare, and in with banjos, trombones, electronics, and--for the first significant time on a Mogwai release proper--vocals, from the band's Stuart Braithwaite. At 38 minutes, Rock Action is surprisingly brief--it boasts a mere eight songs, two of which are pretty perfunctory bursts of noise: the Kid 606-style electronic distortion of "Sine Wave" and the molten industrial racket of "Robot Chant". But what's here is likeable; "Take Me Somewhere Nice" features guitar and backing vocals from ex-Slint guitarist and Papa M man David Pajo, while Gruff Rhys of Welsh psychedelists Super Furry Animals turns in a haunted Welsh-language lyric on "Dial: Revenge". While Mogwai's razor edge is sorely missed, Rock Action is a compromise only to the inevitable effects of musical evolution. They haven't lost a thing. -- Louis Pattison

CD Description
Mogwai's 3rd album, following on from 1999's critically acclaimed 'Come On Die Young'.The album features guest appearances from the Super Furries' Gruff Rhys and ex-Slint guitarist Dave Pajo.

Customer Reviews

Take Me Somewhere Nice...
A change of pace from the earlier post-rock Mogwai sound of Young Team and Come On - Die Young; Rock Action finds the Glaswegian noisemakers tuning down the amplifiers, stripping away the feedback and generally putting more emphasis on tight instrumental structures, immediate melodies and even the incorporation of vocals. The band is still able to create those wondrous eerie textures, with that sound of fragmenting detachment always present beneath the slew of instrumentation. However, the effect here is less immediate, with the album provoking a leisurely, creeping, though ultimately emotional and nostalgic feeling through these evocative passages of sound... which entrap the listener like nothing else imaginable.

The emphasis here on ballads remains a welcome change of tempo for the band, though does belie the hardedge implications of the title. That said, opening track Sine Wave takes on elements of perverse distortion, tribal drums and shimmering electronic textures to meld together aspects of space-rock and post-punk (very Radiohead), though this attention to unmitigated aggression soon gives way to the blistering emotions of tracks like Take Me Somewhere Nice, Dial: Revenge and 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong. Here we find some of the most exemplary arrangements this side of Godspeed You Black Emperor, with the groundwork of Television-style guitar weaving, overlaid with wilting female backing vocals... all coming together to highlight the already staggering use of instrumental arrangement.

Many of the songs rely on such varied instruments as banjos, violins, trombone, tuba, Hammond organ, cello, or accordion, which results in a wavering sound that is half mournful funeral-dirge, half screaming knees up... often within the same composition. Whilst the use of guest contributors, such as producer Dave Fridman (Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips) and Super Furry Animals vocalist Gruff Rhys ensure that this sounds like no other Mogwai record before, or since. A stunning, albeit, somewhat short collection of songs, which deal in emotional textures and lugubrious restraint, unlike the majority or their rock contemporaries, who seem to be in it for the money!

Soothing stuff
This is a really melodic and, at times, spine tingling album. The added instrument of the voice makes it sound like poetry written to music. Although it's not all fantastic, it seems to fade away after 5 songs (personally), but the first half of the CD is a gem. The gentle melodies makes you want to drift off to sleep, especially in 'Take Me Somewhere Nice', where the track would sound bare without the quiet voice. 'Dial:Revenge'(by the way Dial means revenge in welsh, it's not Dial in the english phone meaning - sorry if it's obvious to most of you) is another great track with the guitar playing a steady, yet strangely dark song. A great album

Mogwai keep on rocking
Before the album came out I was worried that it was going to be Mogwai selling out. Luckily I was wrong. This is probably the biggest promotion Mogwai have made about there music and we have the introduction of famous voices from bands like the Super Furry Animals. However Mogwai do what they do best they takes these well knoqwn voices and distort them into strange but compelling vocals. It is the next stage on from CODY but if u have never heard of Mogwai this isn't the album for u. It is only 38 minutes long which I think is a dissapointment. Qaulity is more important than qauntity but Mogwai have shown us they can do both with there previous albums.Mogwai is rock taken back to its bare bones and playing with the basics. They are complexed and have depth well worth a purchase. If you are new to Mogwai buy Come On Die Young, to everyone who already has previous stuff add this to your collection.