This double album contains all the songs recorded by The Monochrome Set for Marc Riley's show on BBC 6 Music between 2011 and 2022, when they were very regular guests managing to record 32 songs from across the bands career that stretches back to 1978. The Line-up for these sessions included Bid (Ganesh Seshadri) on vocals, Lester Square on Guitar, John Paul Moran on Keyboards, Andy Warren On Bass, Mike Urban, Jennifer Denitto, Steve Brummel on Drums, Helena Johannsen on Violin.
The album opens with Eine Symphonie Des Grauens a typical organ led, angular pop love song that in this version zips along as everything revolves around that organ line and the almost stream of consciousness vocals.
The Mouse Trap takes us to that most long running play, as Agatha Christie gets dissected in the whip smart lyrics and super snappy drums.
Alphaville takes us to the noir settings of the film as the bands own re-working of the plot unfolds among keyboard and guitar stabs.
They re-work the bands classic Jet Set Junta in super speedy style, while looking at the lives of the super-rich and infamous, this version has more cowbell, as all sorts of terrible stuff happens, to allow the Jet Set Junta to carry on oblivious of everyone else.
Hip Kitten Spinning Chrome is a drug drenched ode to all the needles and the dreams they create, as you hallucinate you have a kitten in your veins etc.
Streams is far slower more reflective with mournful violin set against the acoustic guitar; this is the band at its most stripped back with stark beauty shining through.
They Call Me Silence has the swirling strings adding a Spanish/Irish element that isn't that far from Bid's other band of the time Scarlets Wells sound, as we find out why they call him Silence.
Cauchemar is a French Demon whose giving them nightmares as that organ does all sorts of weird things against the spry guitar lines.
Super Plastic City feels more down at heart as this tale of being surrounded by all the plastic gets to them.
The time I've Spent Doing Nothing is a clarion call for many touring musicians who spent hours sitting around waiting to sound check or go on stage etc, even if this is more about another relationship that's on the rocks, her hopes are about to be dashed.
Lefty seems to be a love letter to a kid who needs to do their homework alongside other everyday melodramas, in places the band seems to be meandering trying to find the tune, then suddenly the guitar lets rip and everything is back in focus once more.
Strange Young Alien is about teenage messed up feeling and outsider status over chiming guitars as you dream of drinking cherry soda as this gets jauntier the feelings become more intense.
The Z Train rumbles into view like it wants Train Kept A Rollin to be on permanent rotation as that bassline evolves and they add their own sonic twists we find out what makes you get on the Z Train with them and sing a song or two.
Iceman is speedy catchy insistent keyboard led questioning song asking are you one of us, well if not get the hell out, as they have odd guitar stylings to intersperse with the surging keyboards.
Fantasy Creatures sounds like they want to be The Jazz Butcher, I almost expect Southern Mark Smith to put in an appearance, as the jangly guitars suddenly go haywire as they go down in the basement once more.
Rain Check has them avoiding all sorts, while making excuses as the keyboards almost go music hall on us like they are in a piano bar in Dean Street looking to avoid the real world again.
Cosmonaut takes us back to the days when you didn't need to be a multi-billionaire to go into space, as they pay tribute to the early space pioneers like Valentina Terescheva as the fairground organ appears to be holding the Sputnik spacecraft together as they float endlessly in space.
Reach for Your Gun opens with frantic Spanish guitar as this duel gets going, with both sides squaring up ready to see who's the bigger pussy and who will back down, will they both pull the trigger, as yet another relationship implodes among the nursery rhyme couplets woven into the ever more imperious keyboard lines.
Stick Our Hand Up if You're Louche should get us all waving our hands in the air as the odd time signatures weave about, like they are well oiled lounge lizards in need of further lubrication, as we try to figure out just where to stick our hands.
Fele is another magnificent organ led poppy tune for whoever Fele was, as they try your patience once more, unlike the music that certainly doesn't hang around long enough to be trying.
I Feel Fine is a plea for some anti-depressants or is it just the hope that they really do feel just fine, no matter what's been going on.
Maisieworld is all clicking drumsticks on this pop love song that is just slightly off kilter, it also has a rare guitar solo. Mrs Robot is an anthem for your very own computerized blow-up doll, love robot, do they think this is a good idea, well they certainly want to talk to her while figuring out which Jimmy Smith tune they've stolen the organ solo from.
Oh Yes I'm Going To Be In Your Dreams Tonight, that will for me probably involve flashbacks to seeing Scarlett's Well live at the Luminaire, that or I'll have Bid jousting with Pat Fish as they trade bon mots endlessly.
Rest, Unquiet Spirit takes fervent guitar galloping against the super swift drums, with a far less prominent organ tossing and turning unable to get any rest at all. Summer Of The Demon has a western showdown feel in a Lee Hazelwood style, something is going on but can we figure it out as the song breaks down into an odd passage of brushed percussion.
I Can't Sleep keeps the insomniac feel of several songs going, as they are in turmoil, unable to find peace among everything going on around them. How do they silence the voices, well dislocating your own shoulder won't work, so what will.
La Chanson De La Pucelle is almost a torch song for more nocturnal goings on as the almost jangly guitar impinges on the sorrowful tale Bid is carefully enunciating.
AllHallowtide takes the title song of the bands 2022 album and strips it back a good bit, this version is more reflective, with some very delicate piano as they try to get back to times of joy once more.
Hello, Save Me is obviously played live in the studio, as this recent classic gets going, this is slightly faster than the album version, with slightly sparser drums, this is one of The Monochrome set's songs that always gets stuck in my head, no doubt this version will also have that effect.
Really In The Wrong Time is another very familiar tune from Alhallowtide that works brilliantly with this stripped back form, I love the jangling noises that come and go, even if the pauses aren't quite as dramatic as on the album version.
The album closes with Resplendent In A Darkness is almost acoustic a gorgeous take on the song making it feel even more personal and heartfelt.
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