Mogwai Young Team

Overview

Mogwai Young Team was recorded in Summer 1997 at MCM Studios (now known as Gargleblast Studios) in Hamilton, Scotland, and was produced by Paul Savage and Andy Miller. It is largely instrumental, with one notable exception ("R U Still in 2 It", which features vocals from Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap), although many songs feature recordings of various individuals speaking, whether over the phone ("Tracy"), reading ("Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home"), or just rambling ("Katrien"). It features limited instrumentation, consisting mainly of guitar, bass and drums, although other instruments can sometimes be heard throughout the album, such as glockenspiel ("Tracy"), piano ("Radar Maker", "With Portfolio", "A Cheery Wave from Stranded Youngsters") and flute ("Mogwai Fear Satan"). The band had only written three of the songs before they entered the studio.

Mogwai Young Team was listed at #97 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1990s. The album sold more than 30,000 copies in the UK.

The "MYT" logo found inside the cover was created by Adam Piggot. The MYT logo is based on a popular mark used by young gangs in Glasgow, Scotland. A "Young Team" is specific to an area: "Sighthill Young Team", for example.

The cover, a photo taken and inverted by Brendan O'Hare, is of a Fuji Bank branch (since acquired by Mizuho Financial Group) located in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

The band took up pseudonyms for the liner notes on the album. Stuart Braithwaite was dubbed pLasmatroN. John Cummings took the nickname Cpt. Meat after his obsession for eating chops. Martin Bulloch adopted the alias bionic because of his heart pacemaker. Dominic Aitchison chose the name DEMONIC because of his childhood fear and nightmares of Lucifer, which would also inspire the album's end song Mogwai Fear Satan. Brendan O'Hare, who was the oldest of the group by six years at 27 and had already been in several recording bands, was named +the relic+.

Track listing

All tracks written by Stuart Braithwaite, Dominic Aitchison, Martin Bulloch, and John Cummings, except "R U Still in 2 It", lyrics by Aidan Moffat.

Re-release

Mogwai Young Team was re-released in May 2008 on the Chemikal Underground label, packaged as a remaster of the original album with a second disc containing rare tracks from the Young Team sessions and live recordings. Of the second disc, only "Young Face Gone Wrong" was previously unreleased, the following three tracks had earlier appeared on various compilation albums and other releases.

1. "Young Face Gone Wrong" – 2:58 [outtake from 'Young Team' recording sessions]
2. "I Don't Know What to Say" – 1:15 [outtake from 'Young Team' recording sessions, originally released on NME's 'Radio 1 Sound City' CD 1998]
3. "I Can't Remember" – 3:14 [originally released on 'Glasgow EP' compilation 7" on 'Plastic Cowboy' label 1998]
4. "Honey" – 4:18 [cover, originally released on 'A Tribute To Spacemen 3' CD on 'Rocket Girl' label 1998]
5. "Katrien" (Live) – 5:31
6. "R U Still in 2 It" (Live) – 8:01
7. "Like Herod" (Live) – 7:53
8. "Summer (Priority)" (Live) – 2:59
9. "Mogwai Fear Satan" (Live) – 10:26

Personnel

Mogwai

Additional musicians

Production