MECHANICAL ANIMALS is proof that everyone has at least one good record in them.
It is a depraved glam rock concept album in which Marilyn takes on dual character roles. The first is Omega the andogynous alien on the cover who's fallen to earth and made the lead singer of a fictional band, The Mechanical Animals. Manufactured and turned into musical product he survives in a numb state of semi-comatose, living up in the high Hollywood hills loaded on narcotics. The other character is Alpha, a version of Manson who's recounting experiences inspired by those Manson experienced during the previous years of touring. The fourteen tracks are split equally between both roles though to be honest I'd never have known that unless I'd just ripped all that guff off Wiki. All of them sound like Mazza Manson to me.
On the basis of the cover Manson clearly aspires to be a 21st century glam Bowie (circa Aladdin Sane or Diamond Dogs) but this is musically closer to Slade with a massive dollop of Nine Inch Nails tossed in. Huge glam rock chunky power chords an impressive industrial nastiness. It's definintely Manson's most accessible and 'pop' record and compared to the other records the self-styled 'AntiChrist Superstar' has released they are quite, well, lightweight.
There's the sleazy stomp of 'The Dope Shop', the thunderous charge of 'Rock Is Dead' and the metallic funk of the decadent 'I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)' which is vaguely reminiscent of Bowie's 'Fame'. There's some great slower numbers too like 'The Speed of Pain'.
Perhaps still one I the best things about the album though is the brilliant cover artwork which is because it is so convincing as a real photograph still manages simultaneously unnerving and compelling. The image is of Manson's Omega alter-ego. An androgynous alien with breasts, six fingers in each hand and airbrushed genitals. He looks like a naked Barbie gone very, very wrong. Contrary to the rumours about Manson at the time it was not achieved by plastic surgery (can you imagine!?!) but by prosthetics courtesy of George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic effects house. Apparently Manson's chum Johnny Depp now owns the boobs.
I'm not sure Manson has much value or relevance these days. I think he's ruined his mystique and cheapened his worth as an artist with bad cover versions for the soundtracks to equally lousy films ('Tainted Love' and 'Personal Jesus') but MECHANICAL ANIMALS is without a doubt worth going back to check out.
ROCK IS DEAD
SPEED OF PAIN
I DON'T LIKE THE DRUGS (BUT THE DRUGS LIKE ME)
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