MOTORPSYCHO PRESENTS THE INTERNATIONAL TUSSLER SOCIETY

Back in the 90's, when Motorpsycho was experimenting with it's sound, the main members of the band decided to try their hands at alt-country-rock and did it in the guise of another band performing music for a soundtrack to an imaginary western. It ended up getting a completely separate life of it's own in Europe, so much so, that the band decided to do another album in 2004. That is what this particular album is: "The International Tussler Society". This time around, Motorpsycho and friends is even more convincing than the previous attempt, and what they ended up with is this very respectable southern rock style album that pays homage to bands like The Byrds, The Allman Brothers and Gram Parsons just to name a few. This time around, they hit the style right on the nose and could have easily continued playing incognito and earned quite a decent amount of respect in the Americas.

This is a very fun album and quite an excellent bunch of songs that will make you almost swear you are listening to new music from the aforementioned bands and artists. A word of warning, however. This is not progressive music in the least, so you need to go into this album with that in mind. It is straightforward country rock at it's best. If this wasn't a progressive site, I would have given this album 5 stars easily. There are some really great tracks here, especially when they allow the guitars to run wild with southern-style jamming, which happens quite often here. "September" and "Satan's Favorite Son" are excellent multi-textured tracks that will bring back memories of earlier and more exploratory country rock, "That Ol' White Line" and "When We Were One" will remind you of Gram Parson's era The Byrds and also Buffalo Springfield, and best of all, "The Skies Are Full of....Wine?", "The West Ain't What it Used to Be" and "Cassie (Call on Me" would easily pass as music The Allman Brothers would perform.

It may seem strange that a psych/stoner/prog band like Motorpsycho would be able to convincingly pull this off, especially since they don't even come from anywhere in the Americas, and since this is so far away from the music they normally play under their usual moniker, but they do pull it off quite well, enough to give this a four star rating even on a prog site. Of course, Motorpsycho fans will still rant and rave about it because it is so well done, but if more people would expand their music tastes beyond their own borders, there would be a lot more fans out there. This is a very fun album, and also a very entertaining one too. Besides, prog giant Devin Townsend also did this and also did it quite well with his side band "Casualties of Cool", so why can't a great band as Motopsycho be able to do it too? (They actually did it before Hevy Devy). Anyway, this one is a lot of fun and is easily a four star album, even in a prog site.

By technicality, this is not a Motorpsycho album but rather The International Tussler Society album, but make no mistake, this album is 100% the same Motorpsycho that created Timothy's Monster or Phanerothyme. This album came about as a sequel to their original soundtrack for the 1994 film of The Tussler. Unlike their first strokes in the whole country genre, this album would turn out a lot more baked in the oven prior, and thus after 10 years later, the band managed to not only refine their old country blues sound from The Tussler, but also get way more creative in their output.

If you want to compare the original Tussler to The International Tussler Society, you get the textbook example of comparing a rice grain to a full sized meal. This album honestly improves so much on The Tussler's original sound that for me this is the definitive country album Motorpsycho has written. My problems with The Tussler was that it wasn't as ambitious with its display of sound, and that the re-recordings of older tracks from Demon Box. Safe to say that Motorpsycho definitely stretched their reach more on this output.

Creatively, we get some stellar original alt country tracks that feel like the band harnessing their old energy from the 90s. I always liked when bands look back on their sounds for a release to move forward, and I think this album really does show off what made Motorpsycho themselves in the 90s. These songs are jamming, ambitious, and really fun, so much so that even if you don't like the country, you can still probably get enjoyment out of this release.

I must say though that this album was kinda hard to really get into since I do not like country music all that much, but I do admit with a gradual listening experience I soon found some fondness for the album, especially tracks like Satan's Favorite Song and September. Though, some tracks don't hit as hard. Back in your Bed, Laila Lou, and Cassie (Call on Me) just never really popped out for me, and not to say they are bad but those tracks just never got the same amount of excitement for me as other tracks. It is a fairly dense album, so it wouldn't be too surprising to find a few duds in an otherwise good album.

Motorpsycho didn't just present, they gave this album its own theater. This album showcases what The Tussler should've been, a clear, zealous album with its own original songs and a cool flavor of alternative rock and alternative country, creating this sense of nostalgia for the 90s days of the band's career. It is an admirable piece of art that showcases the wild west in all its glory.