Milking the Stars: A Re-Imagining of Last Patrol offers up an alternate universe version of the group's tenth studio album that dials up its psychedelic tendencies considerably, resulting in something that has more in common with early
Pink Floyd (opener "Let the Circus Burn" owes more than a cursory nod to "Careful with That Axe, Eugene") than it does the swampy groove/stoner metal that's come to define
Monster Magnet over the years. After finishing the final mixes for 2013's
Last Patrol, frontman
Dave Wyndorf asked himself "What if these songs were recorded in 1968?" and began remixing, re-recording, and laying down entirely new cuts. The resulting 12-track set offers up six reworked songs from
Last Patrol, four brand new tracks, and two live cuts (considerably extended versions of "Last Patrol" and the band's trippy cover of
Donovan's "Three Kingfishers"), the latter of which were captured live at the AB Club in Belgium.
Monster Magnet fans, especially those who prefer the band's spacier moments, will revel in the aptly bracketed re-recordings of ("Hallelujah [Fuzz and Swamp]," "Duke [Full-on Drums 'N Wah]," "I Live Behind the Clouds [Roughed Up and Slightly Spaced]," and "Stay Tuned [Even Sadder]," all of which would be standouts even without knowledge of their previous iterations). As far as fan fiction goes,
Milking the Stars makes good on its promise and delivers a parallel (and reliably skewed) view of its source material, and the fact that the fan in question is the project's creator, just makes it weirder. ~ James Christopher Monger