''The Hogyssey'' is the third album from

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Spacehog Spacehog are an English rock band formed in 1994 in New York City. Their music is heavily influenced by David Bowie, Queen (band), Queen, and T.Rex (band), T. Rex. The band's best known single is In the Meantime (Spacehog song), "In the Meantim ...

. The album was released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

Artemis Records Artemis Records was a New York-based independent record label, founded in July 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as President, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. Artemis had a leading share of the U.S. i ...

on 10 April 2001. The title track is a rock arrangement of

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

's ''

Also Sprach Zarathustra ', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.Eumir Deodato Eumir Deodato de Almeida (; born 22 June 1942) is a Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger and record producer, primarily in jazz but who has been known for his eclectic melding of genres, such as pop, rock, disco, rhythm and blues, classical, ...

's "

Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" is an instrumental by Brazilian musician Eumir Deodato, from his 1973 album '' Prelude''.DESOUTEIRO, Arnaldo40 Years of Eumir Deodato's iconic "Prelude" Publicado em Jazz Station – Arnaldo DeSouteiro’s Blog (j ...

". The album was recorded at

Ardent Studios Ardent Studios is an American recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. History Ardent Studios was founded by John Fry and were initially a studio in his family's garage, where he recorded his first 45s for the Arden ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. ''The Hogyssey'' went through several name changes. The original name was ''This Is America'' and later named ''2001: A Space Hogyssey'' after the title track. Then, after a lawsuit threat, the album was renamed again as ''The Hogyssey''.

Critical reception

John Duffy of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

commended the attempt to recapture the ''

Resident Alien In law, an alien is any person (including an organization) who is not a citizenship, citizen or a nationality, national of a specific country, although definitions and terminology differ to some degree depending upon the continent or region. ...

'' sound through impactful and inspired riffs but was critical of the band copying themselves and their "Zarathustra" reworking being "downright ill-advised", concluding that: "Crunchy guitars aside, perhaps ''Hogyssey'' is a misstep for Langdon and company." ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' contributor

Devon Powers Devon Powers (born 1977 or 1978) is an American communication studies professor, author, and former music journalist. Biography Powers was born in 1977 or 1978. Her father, Lee R. Powers, is an engineer and her mother, Mandy Powers, is a nurse. ...

also noted the band's return to the intergalactic soundscape of their first record but felt it was outdated, calling it competently made but unconvincing, despite the tracks emitting a charm and wit to them from even the weaker cuts, saying "they spend too little time taking alternative rock – which, arguably, they're one of the few purveyors of these days – to a place where it's doing something new." Mac Randall of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' felt the band's penchant for loud and catchy melodies had diminished when songs like "This Is America" and the title track "go beyond camp into the realm of the truly embarrassing", but highlighted "Jupiter's Moon", "Perpetual Drag" and "At Least I Got Laid" for being able to "justify the bombast with irresistible choruses, indicating that given the right material, the 'Hog can still snort with the best of 'em."

Track listing

;Notes * The song "The Horror" ends at 4:47. After 11 minutes of silence (4:47 - 15:47), begins the hidden track "I Can't Hear You".

Personnel

*Royston Langdon -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Antony Langdon -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, vocals *Jonny Cragg -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Richard Steel -

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

References

Spacehog albums 2001 albums Albums produced by Paul Q. Kolderie Albums produced by Sean Slade Artemis Records albums {{2001-rock-album-stub