It was July 2016 in a Wolverhampton venue that no longer exists when I first watched Massive Wagons do their considerable thing. They were opening for Ginger Wildheart (anyone who knows me would know that up against Ginger only Ricky Warwick and maybe The Hold Steady would have a chance of competing) but Massive Wagons, man. They had something. They were brilliant.
That night I wrote these words: “Here, given the chance to make some new fans they don’t disappoint and are very much the unstoppable force.”
That phrase: “new fans”. That’s what they did. No band has ever worked harder. Ever. To do what they’ve done. They emerged from Lancaster and took on the fucking world.
Three years after I saw them with Ginger they were in arenas. They opened for Sknyrd and Quo. I remember getting there early just to see my boys do it. You were bursting with pride, you were full of happiness for them that they’d done it. You wanted to tell everyone that you knew them before they were famous.
Listening to “Welcome to The World” here you feel the same.
Second song in comes “Tokyo”. In the chorus Baz – their frontman cum dervish – sings this:
“They won’t play us on the radio
Oh, no, no, no, no, oh
Don’t know who I gotta sleep with
What the fucking deal is
No, they won’t put us on the road to Tokyo”
They do now.
My god. They do now.
Which brings us to this re-release. “Welcome To The World” was the album they had out when I saw them. It, in many ways, was the breakthrough record. But the band apparently didn’t like the way it sounded, so they have re-recorded it.
There’s some they play to this day: “Nails” – a big, dumb statement of punky intent – the aforementioned “Tokyo” “Fee Fi Fo Fum” and best of all “Ratio” (and I dare anyone to hear the thing once and not fall in love with it).
That they’ve all been given the MW 2023 (as it was when they recorded them again) treatment is perfect. The confidence now flows and they sound, well, massive (sorry for the awful pun).
Then there’s the ones you haven’t heard for ages. The title track, the slide guitar-heavy “Shit Sweat Death” or the superb “Jodie”. All of whom underline that however good Massive Wagons are now, they’ve always been.
They are, sometimes heavier than you think, too. As on the last one “Everybody Dies”. Live for the moment, it basically insists. You’d best do what they say.
Except that’s not the last one here. There are three bonus tracks. Alternate versions of the gorgeous “Aeroplane” – a real moment of reflection, it perhaps sounds more so here as it is stripped of its bombast.
Then there’s “Fighting Jack” done with a different solo. Pretty cool too. Finally, there’s a take on “Mr Crowley” which had only been available as part of the Pledge Music thing (whatever happened to them …..?) for the album.
They make it their own.
That’s what Massive Wagons do. Whether “Welcome To The World” needed re-doing is a moot point, given that the band decided it was going to be, and moreover it just gave us all a chance to re-visit some wonderful songs.
It’s Massive Wagons world now, anyway.
Rating 9/10
