The Mekons

Exciting opener "Enter the Lists" suggests an overdue return to form for everyone's favorite Adorno-quoting post-punks, and this is indeed the best Mekons record in several years. But that's not the same thing as a great Mekons record, is it? There's clearly a theme here, and it has something to do with narcissism, advertising and pornography. Maybe if they'd picked one, it would feel more urgent. All that said, "Come and Have a Go" is plenty of fun, and "Gin and It" is even better than the first song.

Now that Chumbawamba have made the pop charts safe for quasi-anarchist British drinking
songs, maybe the Mekons can finally get a hit – after all, these resilient socialist punks from
Leeds have been getting knocked down and getting up again for more than twenty years
now. The Mekons' art achieved its pinnacle on the brilliantly wasted, deracinated roots
music of 1985's Fear and Whiskey and 1989's blistering Rock and Roll; since then... More >