Dave Wyndorf was born too late. Throughout the career of Monster Magnet, every album owes a lot to psychedelic rock. After releasing "Last Patrol" last year, Wyndorf decided to "re-imagine" the album as if it had been recorded in the late '60s. Many albums are getting remastered and remixed, but not many get revamped. Katatonia did a stripped-down version of their album "Dead End Kings" and "Milking the Stars" is similar in goal. Wyndorf took the most of the songs from "Last Patrol" and added vintage instruments and sounds reminiscent of the late '60s.
The bottom line is that if you wrote a good song, there's no bad way to arrange it...or rearrange it. The sequencing is different on "Milking the Stars," which I think works better than on the original album. The album has four new songs, in addition to the revamped songs. "Let the Circus Burn" works better as a bombastic instrumental intro than "I Live Behind the Clouds," which is pushed back on this release.
The addition of more keyboards really gives the songs their psychedelic vibe. "Mindless Ones 68" has a vintage organ in one speaker and a guitar in the other, which again is very '60s. Mellotrons, B-3 and odd synths give the album that Hawkwind/Status Quo sound. For the most part the new versions are at least on par with the original versions, but "Stay Tuned (Even Sadder)" might not have needed all the added touches, since the song is about the lyric and is melodic. Having a bunch of odd synth sounds is just distracting.
Overall, I think "Milking the Stars" is an excellent companion piece to "Last Patrol." It won't get Monster Magnet any new fans but it should please existing fans who love Wyndorf and his penchant for psychedelic rock.
