Hot on the heels of the 2020 MOTU album, Blues For The Beach, guitarist Dr. Richard Michelson and company returns in style for the 2022 Motu album, the 21st official MOTU release, called Back To The Garage. Slated for release in late April 2022, Back To The Garage features the core MOTU lineup of MOTU (vocals, acoustic / electric guitars), Dee Michelson (vocals), Rich Fry (vocals, guitars), Bob Rush (keys, harmonica), Ed Modzel (drums) and Mark Loebl (bass). With guitarists MOTU and Rich Fry laying down some tasty guitar licks and leads, the sound of Back To The Garage is totally rocking in the spirit of Neil Young's harder-edged albums. Track 5, "Ghost In The Guitar" is an atmospheric electric guitar instrumental played by MOTU and is reminiscent of his 2017 all-instrumental album called Distant Guitar Whispers In The Wind.

MOTU is at his best on the album's socially conscious tracks case in point being track 6, "The World Is Broken". With lyrics like "When you're so damn tired of fighting with your friends, You need to take a pause, let yourself be cleansed," the album tackles some of the thorniest topics of today’s world circa 2022. That track also features some scorching solo harmonica from keyboardist Bob Rush. "Factory Farms" examines the plight of the small, independent farmers, while the lyrics of "School Was Never The Place For A Gun", takes a hard look at school shootings such as the tragedy of 15 deaths at Columbine. The thorny topic of alcoholism is highlighted on another of the album’s socially conscious tracks with the song, “Maybe it’s Just The Drink that I Had”. The song’s subtle lyrics and Delta Blues presentation highlight the behavioral, social, and perception distortion aspects of this disease.

Another highlight “If I Listen Will You Call?”, like much of the rest of the album, features a 3-way vocal showcase for Motu, Dee and Rich Fry. Noteworthy is Bob Rush’s harmonica solo which is an amazing musical crescendo in this song’s performance. Dee brings it home with her chilling, and haunting, dramatic screams of “I tried to swim but I’m starting to drown.” Regarding “If I Listen Will You Call?”, it is about a toxic relationship presented in a fashion that is dark, disturbing, and breathtaking.   

Then there’s the title song, “Back To The Garage”, which criticizes the music business for promoting synthetic pop. Motu further explains, “It says out loud what many in the business believe but quietly keep to themselves”. This point is further expressed by the minimalistic presentation of this song with only the two voices of MOTU and Dee backed up by just MOTU on guitar. 

Overall, Back To The Garage is a solid rock showcase for Dr. Richard Michelson and his MOTU band. Dee Michelson continues to shine as a lead singer, demonstrating her incredible vocal talents by bringing MOTU’s lyrics to life with intense style and emotion. As the CD booklet mentions, Back To The Garage was recorded live in the studio “without over-dubs, with all anomalies and errors to keep it real”. All in all, Back To The Garage is a stunning and worthy follow up to the 2020 MOTU album Blues For The Beach.