MOTU is an acronym standing for Music Of The Universe, the project – and also stage name – of Dr. Richard Michelson. The new album, Awareness Or Illusion, as with previous releases, finds Michelson playing a variety of instruments, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro, pedal steel, bass, mandolin, keyboards and harmonica. He also wrote all the material, arranged it, recorded it, and mastered it. Still, he does get some help. As on earlier releases, he is joined by Dee Michelson on vocals and by Ed Modzel on drums. The music here is roots rock, featuring some excellent guitar work and raw and impassioned vocal work. There is certainly a good deal of the blues heard on these tracks. The blues might very well be the music of the universe these days. It is certainly the music of our nation in these troubled and unsettling times. How did we get here? And will music be the thing to pull us out?
The album kicks off with “Just Shut Up, Stop Talking To Me,” a good blues rock number, and one I expect people will find easy to latch onto. After all, who these days doesn’t want to tell at least a certain group of people to shut up? “Don’t need to hear, to hear you speak/No opinions, no critique/No small talk, no child’s play/Don’t make me wait, baby, I ain’t got all day.” The older I get, the more I think about the brevity of life, and how I don’t want to waste any time. And I certainly don’t want to have my time wasted for me by others. I just can’t abide that sort of thing, not any longer. This song features some really nice work on electric guitar, particularly in the second half during the instrumental section. Then “Something Has Changed” kind of creeps in, eases in, carrying a weight of darkness on its shoulders as it enters. Here the guitar has quite a bit to say up front, and it is that instrument that sets the tone before Dee Michelson comes in on vocals. She delivers the lead vocal performance on this track, and her voice is somewhat in contrast to the opening, and so we immediately align ourselves with her, assuming, or at least hoping, she’ll be able to take us through the darkness. “Something has changed/Feels like I’ve been rearranged/Feels very strange/Something has changed/It don’t feel right.” With those opening lines, it turns out that she has aligned herself with us. Right? Or at least is speaking for us. It might be undefinable, but something has changed, and we are all aware of it, beyond the obvious things. “Feels like I’ve been had/Something has changed.” Maybe the darkness has conquered us. Perhaps there is no way out. This track also contains some excellent guitar work in the second half.
MOTU switches gears then with “There’s Only Us,” which has more of a country flavor, though still with a good rock beat. “I’m not trying to start a fight/Just thought the facts could shed some light/The truth don’t need no rewrite/Don’t need no grift to be all right.” Ah yes, remember facts? Those were the things that we used to have in common, because they were true. They were not a matter of opinion, they were not up for debate. But now it seems everything is a matter of opinion. Truth and definitions go out the window. I suppose that began with the inexcusable and unpardonable Kellyanne “Bowling Green Massacre” Conway and her so-called “alternative facts.” Sadly, that creature’s babble marked only the beginning of this descent into doltishness and division. “All right, you have a different view/In America, that’s what we do/Love will show you what’s true/Love is the knife that cuts through.” Yes, there is an optimistic bent here, which I appreciate. And that is heard also in the guitar work toward the end. That’s followed by “For Jeff,” an instrumental track featuring some wonderfully expressive guitar work right from the start. The Jeff of the title is Jeff Beck, who died in early 2023. And though this track has a good, solid rhythm, it is really all about the guitar work.
“Too Much Bullshit To Normalize” is certainly a title that speaks to me, as I expect it will to many others. This one has a seriously cool blues sound. Dee Michelson is again on lead vocals, this time with more of an edge to her delivery. Here are the opening lines: “How can we ever get along/In a world that’s gone so wrong/So many disguise, so many lie/Too much bullshit to normalize.” The question of getting along is a legitimate one. These days, people don’t even share a reality, at least not in this country, so it seems an impossibility to get along. I don’t think we’ll be able to get along until a certain segment of the population comes back to recognizing facts and truth. This track features some kind of wild, raw, piercing harmonica work that seems to bemoan the current state of things. “What will we tell our youth/More hate or the truth/Will we apologize/For telling lies.” I don’t believe there will be any apologies. People have been groomed by their criminal leader to believe that admitting an error is a terrible sign of weakness, rather than one of strength. I think we’re going to be stuck in this situation until certain people are dead. I hope I’m wrong. Then in “You Always Got Something To Say,” the guitar certainly has something to say, and says it straight away, which is great. I love that guitar lead that opens this track. But much more is said in the actual lyrics. “Ain’t got no common sense/Got no point of reference/But you’ve always got something to say.” Those are perfect lyrics for our time, especially in relation to social media, where people voice opinions on every damn thing, when their knowledge is scant if existent at all. “You got a strong point of view/When you ain’t got a clue/Don’t know what is true/But you’ve always got something to say.” Again, those lines describe a large segment of the population. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon either, for people are too stubborn to be embarrassed by their ignorance, and too stupid to recognize it. This blues song is blues for the nation.
“I Look To The East” has a country flavor, featuring some nice work on pedal steel. Dee Michelson delivers a good vocal performance, helping to give this one a sweeter aspect and an introspective bent. “I see my past, and decisions I’ve made/I know my failures and what I’ve paid/Yet another morning here, I’m thankful I’m still around.” And later she sings, “I’ve seen a world where no one could agree.” We are experiencing that world now. And even though things are ugly, we are largely still thankful to be here, as we look hopefully to the future, the near future, for some change. There is hope within the beauty of this track. That’s followed by “Horizon,” a short instrumental track delivered on guitar. And here too we hear some of that hope. There is something bright just around the corner, this music seems to say. And then we get the album’s title track, “Awareness Or Illusion,” which begins with guitar. It sounds like a blues engine warming up. This is a slow number, the pace in line with the song’s opening lyrics, “Give us one more chance/We can take it slow/Is it awareness or illusion?”
“Easier To Be Blind” has more of a rock vibe, with some raw, powerful harmonica work adding to the great flavor of the song. This one also touches on the subject of truth, something that is on our minds these days, something that seems to be considered up for grabs by certain people: “Maybe you feel guilty, maybe you feel mad/Lying to yourself is what makes you sad/Not everyone is good, not everyone is kind.” I used to believe that most people were good. I no longer do, not after the election in 2016, and especially not after the debacle of the 2024 election. Now I believe approximately half the people are good, and the others are just terrible. And that is what makes me sad. “The truth is so hard, but the truth is what’s real/The truth is mankind isn’t ideal.” MOTU then wraps up the album with a good blues rock number titled “A Company Man,” in which he sings, “Selling your soul to be a company man.” I’m not sure people put much value in the idea of a soul anymore. It seems to me that people are eager to sell out. Am I wrong? I hope so. I’m afraid that because of what people choose to praise these days and the way the election went, I’ve lost much of my faith in humanity. “Don’t agree with no conman.” Yet it seems that people enjoy being conned. How else do you explain their fealty to the least honest man in this country? “Won’t be a part of your selfish plan.” And that’s what a lot of us are deciding, to step away, to tune out the noise, and find other things to focus on. The game is over, we’ve learned.
CD Track List
- Just Shut Up, Stop Talking To Me
- Something Has Changed
- There’s Only Us
- For Jeff
- Too Much Bullshit To Normalize
- You Always Got Something To Say
- I Look To The East
- Horizon
- Awareness Or Illusion
- Easier To Be Blind
- A Company Man
Awareness Or Illusion is scheduled to be released on March 10, 2025.
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