Is it because I'm an auto-pirate?

December 9, 2008 3:26 AM

In the 1980s, songwriter, artist and cultural critic Momus recorded a number of albums for the legendary indie label Creation Records, combining influences as diverse as Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg, Pet Shop Boys-style synthpop and Balearic acid-house. These have largely languished in Sony Music's vaults over the past few years, occasionally fetching hefty prices on eBay. Now, Momus has taken the step to commit auto-piracy and release his Creation albums online, for free; over December, he will post MP3s of all six albums to his LiveJournal blog, each with freshly written liner notes. The first one, 1987's The Poison Boyfriend, is here.

Momus explains his decision: "Six Momus albums -- the ones I recorded for Alan McGee's Creation label between 1987 and 1993 -- are out of print. Creation doesn't exist any more, and in theory Sony owns the rights to these albums, but isn't doing anything with them and probably never will. In the meantime, only Russian pirates are profiting, charging punters for illegal downloads.

"So, during the rest of December, I've decided to release mp3s of my six Creation albums here on Click Opera, for free. Think of it as a sort of Creation Advent Calendar, with a new old Momus album every couple of days. If you're the sort of person who likes to donate to the artist when you download, do it here. But it's not really necessary; these albums paid for themselves long ago. Think of this as a Christmas present. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!"

posted by acb (15 comments total)

Wow! That's fantastic.

And I always felt Momus wrote the world's best love song.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:49 AM on December 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

I wonder how long it will be before someone links to a photograph on his schlong. That seems to be how most Momus threads go here. Also, Momus is good.
posted by chunking express at 6:23 AM on December 9, 2008 [2 favorites]

In 2001 I was somehow hanging out in the same place as Momus three times within a week or so. These weren't even cool places, either. I was like, what gives?
posted by snofoam at 6:39 AM on December 9, 2008

Oh, and I also had friends who made a record so bad I swear people were condemning Momus just for releasing it.
posted by snofoam at 6:44 AM on December 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

This is probably as good a time as any to say hey guys, take a look at Momus's cock. [NSFW]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:44 AM on December 9, 2008

What do I win?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:45 AM on December 9, 2008

Only my undying respect.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:53 AM on December 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

snofoam, Kahimi Karie's album cancels out any crap album your friends might have put out. Also, the Shoestrings album is great as well. There is a lot of good stuff on Le Grand Magistery.
posted by chunking express at 7:14 AM on December 9, 2008

Momus is one of those artists that always seemed better on paper than actually listening to, but the songs I just checked out were better than I expected. Maybe I had just been listening to the wrong Momus records at the time.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 7:25 AM on December 9, 2008

Was Momus involved in the running of Le Grand Magistery? I thought that they were just a label who used to put his records out in the US (though don't any more).
posted by acb at 7:29 AM on December 9, 2008

Was Momus involved in the running of Le Grand Magistery? I thought that they were just a label who used to put his records out in the US (though don't any more).


No he wasn't. It was just the label that brought his stuff stateside. I think the misconception comes from the fact that much of the funds from 'Stars Forever' was used to keep the label afloat after being sued to oblivion by Wendy Carlos.
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:25 AM on December 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

oh, the Push Kings. they used to be like the Beatles to us when I was in college. I think all the love I ever had for them dropped stone cold dead when I saw them play "I Was Born Stoned" at Don Hill's. Feel No Fade was a complete tragedy. in any case, legal issues aside, LGM always had a lot of problems getting stuff done in a timely fashion, from what I can recall. I remember waiting ages for any announced release - some stuff never saw the light of day at all (like the El Records tribute?). nothing against Matt Jacobsen, who had more or less impeccable taste in music. he just never struck me as a great businessman.

early Momus is still so freaking good and The Poison Boyfriend has always been one of my favorites. the liner notes for each song are the best part of this "rerelease" - glad to know he favors "Closer To You", too! that was one my ex always made fun of me for enjoying.
posted by dropkick queen at 1:00 PM on December 9, 2008

Oh heck yeah, Momus has been one of my favorite artists for years. Stars Forever is really really good.
posted by flipyourwig at 1:18 PM on December 9, 2008

This is probably as good a time as any to say hey guys, take a look at Momus's cock. [NSFW]

Uh, wow.
posted by flipyourwig at 1:20 PM on December 9, 2008

128 kbps. This somehow makes me feel vindicated in my non-audiophilia.
posted by roll truck roll at 1:29 PM on December 9, 2008 [1 favorite]