When the RMR crew picked up the video Let Us Begin, we expected Goodnight My Children to be a superfast 70’s rock piece. One that would blow us straight into space to join all that miscellaneous junk floating about the outer reaches of our (still) blue planet. High-octane Sunset Strip fare, some – thing hurtling in like a hurricane over the Pacific. But to our surprise, this was not so, or at least not quite.
Of course, the aforementioned high-velocity intro was a good one. Even if – strangely – the track always felt like some tailor-made placeholder to wake up the masses and entice them to flock to the record. But already for track numba two The Neptune Power Federation will seriously move into Hard Rock and Heavy Metal territory with a penchant for colorful psych delights. And whom are we kidding, right? We should have looked at the pseudo-occult album art first. Jumping to conclusions never was a good thing after all.
That said, Goodnight My Children indeed projects the full monty of psych-laden rough-hewn, scratchy, deliciously fuzzy rock, and some early Heavy Metal from the ’70s and beyond. Boy, the old geezers over at the review desk pretty much danced to its tune. So, this magical and wondrous soundscape must have some good ol’ gee-whiz energy to spare. Joan Jett on steroids, who finally hooked up with the folks over at AC/DC. With a puzzled Ozzy peeking around the corner just after Black Sabbath struck the vinyl with their first hit piece.
In other words, Goodnight My Children is shrill, annoyingly in yer face, and – at the same time – damn good. Screaming Loz Sutch‘s1 vocal Ju-Jutsu truly fuses all that gallivanting about that uneven territory of early Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Sometimes soothing and sensual (Goodnight My Children, the title track) and – at times – soaring to the highest levels (Let us Begin). That’s one singer in fine form. And – I daresay – without her, the band would not exist at that level. But don’t get me wrong, this ain’t no single attempt beefing up some Hard Rock piece by shaming Dickinson into oblivion or something. Instead, the band added multi-layered main lyrics with some pretty snazzy backing vocals adding to the fray. Varied, light, and free-wheeling on the outside, complex under the hood.
And it’s funky how TNPF took to adopting riffs that reminisce some of those age-old bands. Such as the hint to AC/DC in Bethrothed to The Serpent. Or Lock & Key that could have somehow sprung from the creative loins of Rainbow. And – suddenly – some stellar solo or gritty add-on riff will break up the navel-gazing into the past. This truly keeps the material fresh, even if the mix seems a bit cluttered at times. That’s not to say there ain’t no bad tracks on this record. The mushy, sugary, and wavy Woe Be Father’s Troubled Mind, for instance, requires some serious attention to avoid boring us to tears. And whilst all of the tracks shine with some snazzy variation, this elusive copycat thing never moves very far out of the way.
In the end, Goodnight My Children took us some serious time to get into. What sounded like an easy listen and an even easier review, turned into a bunch of prolonged sessions. Theme and funky outfits apart, the seemingly lighthearted way of screaming oldish rock ‘n’ roll out to the audience is only surface dressing. The more you dive into the record, the more details, nuggets, and easter eggs you discover. And that’s an interesting approach. One can just glance over everything and enjoy some meager impression of the record. Or – in contrast – you take a deep dive and start finding all sorts of pretty neat twists and turns wafting over from times when rock was still young and exciting.
The Neptune Power Federation truly is one of the more outstanding inhabitants of psych rock weirdo country. A band that hides serious songwriting and multi-faceted arrangements underneath a thin layer of crazed and slightly scary banter. And that’s an art by and in itself. Cool record.
Ed’s note: Fancy more of that feel of the ’70s, but this time of the proggy kind? If so, try Tarot.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Cruz Del Sur Music | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 8 March 2024
- A reference to the infamous Screaming Lord Sutch? Perhaps.-↩