Fear and Whiskey

Never heard of these guys or anything off this album, and I think the jury is still out on what to make of it. I enjoy the energy but the vocals are tiresome. Not sure if I'll be coming back to this one or not.

Ei

2,7/5

Fun album, it's like a blend of the Pogues and Sonic Youth. It brings a pretty unique sound with it. Some good songs on here, normal songs with some weirder sounds and feedback loops combined in here. There's a hint of Country music in there too. Unique blend of styles for sure, kind of hard to define itself.

I don't know... Wanted to like this more than I did. Has some interesting moments, but kind of dull throughout otherwise. 2/5.

Never heard of this band ever. Strikingly amazing loved it very real raw and powerful overall.

There were a few unique redeeming qualities that *slightly* differentiate this album from being just another boring British rock album, namely, the inclusion of violin and folk-inspired elements. They also try their hand at a handful of experimental composition and production techniques: some samples and poetry, if I recall. I like how they invoke a 6/4 feel on the first track by mixing in measures of 2/4 (the main pattern was like 4-4-2-4-2). The other track I liked was "Last Dance," because I thought it had the strongest violin part. I still don't care for the singing; I am sick of these nasally British male vocalists. Also, as I was listening, it sounded like this album was produced in the 60s, but maybe the lo-fi rustic sound is what they were going for. I might've preferred them to make better use of the technology available to them.

Aw, man, I kinda want to like this one more than I do. For one thing, a couple of Mekons (founding member Jon Langford, and Sally Timms, who joined right after this album) have probably been in Chicago almost as long as I have (they're from Leeds, UK; most in the group were art students at the University of Leeds), and I've seen them perform in various settings over the years. But, musically, there's no way I could give this a 5, and a 4 would be a stretch (although compensating factors *might* support it). This is probably one where my inability to focus on lyrics hurts my perception of them, since it's probably one of their strong points (but I wouldn't know, lol). I'm now listening to it a second time, and liking it a bit better, so I'm thinking maybe I could round it up to a 4. ;) Musically, they're kinda amateurish (but that's also part of their appeal, maybe? better art students making music, than theater students?), and it's hard for me to love a group where I'm not very fond of the singer, so, yeah, 4 is a bit of a stretch. Also, I just realized I own this CD (lol) - I thought I had at least one Mekons CD, but didn't remember that it was this one. Ok, now it's later, and I'm having doubts about whether I can actually, in good faith, give this a 4. And this also kind of gets back to what do the ratings mean: is it compared to the other 1000 albums on this list (which are supposed to be the best albums)? Or is more some kind of universal rating of the music (in which case, presumably -- since these are supposedly the *best* albums, there will be a lot more 4s and 5s than 1s and 2s)? Or maybe some subjective, slippery combo of the 2? Anyway, on further reflection, I don't think I can give this a 4, even though I'd like to (too many flaws, too . . . lacking in compelling musical quality? But, because of all the solid positive compensatory factors, it's a solid 3 stars for me (probably would've done 3.5).

is the most interesting thing about this album the presence of fiddle?

Under normal circumstances I am all in when it comes to crossing different styles over. But this here is just plain boring. Not a fan Country Music, and the way it is finalised on this Album is just…meh.

264/1001 Mekons - Fear and Whiskey Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❓ I must admit, I didn't know if this blend of alt-country and post punk would work and if I'm honest, I'm still undecided. Not sure I'm still intrigued enough to go back for more.

Yeah not as good as I thought it might be, not the biggest fan of that violin celtic/country punky sound but fine enough ⭐⭐⭐

I liked this a lot more than I expected!

Not for me.

++: Hard to Be Human Again, Darkness and Doubt, Psychocupid (Danceband on the Edge of Time), Flitcraft, Abernant 1984/5, Lost Highway +: Trouble Down South, Country, Last Dance +-: Chivalry 7,9/10

Quite fun, but not that good

I didn’t really know what to expect with this album but it was a good time

Strange

very British

Incoherent

I think i liked this but I listened yesterday and by the time I'm reviewing today I have not thoughts so that's an iffy sign

Grating in too many facets

Really disliked the first song, enjoyed second and the third. Grew on me as it went along. Ended up enjoying it. A bit cacophonous.

Ooooh. Interesting. A bit like The Pogues. Seems a weird amount of hate here in the reviews - I enjoyed it (whilst conceding that maybe I didn't *need* to hear it)

Not a memorable record.

This is going to be a short review for me. Not my style. Really hard for me to get through with the singing though I hate to complain about that kind of thing. This reminds me of a really drunk bar band singing their hearts out, which is much better in person and also really, really drunk. It doesn't make a good album for me. And I love the fiddle and vibe with some country! Song added to playlist: Flitcraft. This was the most listenable to me out of the bunch and one that was mostly in tune.

Chivalry - 3.5/5 Trouble Down South - 3/5 Hard to Be Human Again - 3/5 Darkness and Doubt - 4/5 Psycho Cupid - Danceband On the Edge of Time - 2.5/5 Flitcraft - 3/5 Country - 3/5 Abernant 1984/5 - 3.5/5 Last Dance - 3/5 Lost Highway - 4/5

Finally

хидден гем, очень понравилось там много песен, интересное звучание как будто не типичное для английского альт рока, я б рекомендовал

Terrible album

I found it mostly enjoyable enough, but I'm not totally convinced yet. I most certainly would have included *Tales of the New West* by The Beat Farmers over this album in terms of showcasing 80's cowpunk. 3.5/5

ele tenta ser algo diferente, mas é só um rock meio country batido, bem qualquer coisa.

Idk why but all of this was just slightly off-putting? I think this was just bad.

An odd country infused rock album. The Lost Highway song at the end really brings it together well but a lot of the other songs don’t do it for me.

Afwisselend

Aangenaam om naar te luisteren

Lubię takie dziwaczne brytyjskie rockowe albumy. Nie jest to nic niezwykłego, ale ma w sobie ten pierwiastek magii, który do mnie dociera. Nie jest to idealne, dlatego jest wyjątkowe. Przyjemna płyta, może do niej wrócę. 7.5/10

It was a fun mix of country inspired punk/rock sounds. I didn't vibe with it 100% of the time, but for the most part, I enjoyed the listen.

Has the feeling of an 80s pop-celtic bar band. Some decent tunes on here, but nothing I need to revisit. Highlights: "Hard to Be Human Again" and "Last Dance"

Tone-deaf, sad cowboy noises

Did this REALLY need to be on the list…

decent. not very memorable

Just ok

honestly do not know how to rate this album. Is it good? Is it bad? It is certainly an album. I know I was entirely too sober to listen to it.

its ok

A few songs I enjoyed. 2.5

6.0/10 Liked some songs.. other stuff is pretty weird

Yeah, this isn't good. If The Smiths decided they want to try their hand at country. With a worse singer than Morrissey (Somehow, but at least sometimes Morrissey can be a halfway decent singer). And the music in general is not good enough to make up for that either. I'll give them some credit for being one of the first bands to make alternative country and being influential in that regard, and that's spawned some good stuff (REM and Radiohead delved a little bit into that sound, and then you got other great stuff like the Silver Jews), but this album is just not good. I have very few 1* albums so far out of 415 (Only 6). I don't think this is quite bad enough to be introduced to that list, but holy shit is this damn close. If the music was just a tad worse, it'd easily make that list. As it stands, the music is just good and competent enough of the time (Last Dance is actually a pretty decent song overall, singing is fine in that one) to avoid that.

izrazito mi je teško ocijeniti. neke stvari jednostavnu idu jako. ali vokal je objektivno jako loš, iako ne mogu reći da ne paše. ovdje kao da sve ne paše a opet nekako funkcionira? kakvoćom vrludavo u pičku materinu. istovremeno sam očaran i pomalo razočaran. šta ćemo? četvorka, ko ga jebe, svakako je zanimljivije od dosta dosadnih sranja koje sam slušao u sklopu ovog izazova

never heard of this band or this album, and loved it. Definitely essential listening! Very unique record

No idea why this is on the list, annoying vocals and badly written songs. Not surprising I had never heard of them before this

I could be wrong... But I'm pretty sure this band either read the book; "The 7 and a half steps to making a mediocre album", or "How to create a mediocre album for dummies". Either way they didn't pay attention and didn't even create something that good.

so much potential; yet so much disappointment

Some good listenable stuff on here, and its clear these guys were pioneers and influential, but theres a bit too much experimental weird stuff that makes me zone out.

Wat een gek album, best leuk eerlijk gezegd

Ik vond het niet zo boeiend helaas

Wat een bizarre plaat. Het is een soort uitloper van Britse punk maar dan met allemaal toeters en bellen en de meest uiteenlopende stijlen. In ieder geval boeiend.

Has it's moments, but is ultimately mediocre. 5/10

Why is this on here

I don't like it, some sounds are just noice

☑️

Rounded up

A tad too much essence of bagpipes for me

Biweekly midrange Britpop obligation

Neither here nor there

This felt more like a manifesto of which I was not interested

huh. great title!

Eh...it's almost ok sometimes. Not something I found myself getting particularly excited over.

If I read this correctly, the Mekons were an early “Alt-Country” band. I don’t even understand what I’m listening to. 80’s punk/new wave with hints of country music? Not for me, but not completely unlistenable. Vocals get lost in the mix, but that may be a blessing. It gets better for me with Flitcraft, which sounds a little like the Pogues before the drinking starts. Country sounds like a surf guitar crossed with Waylon Jennnings’ Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way. 3 stars

This was just a mess. Stated off somewhat interesting but by the time it got to the second track I was just too annoyed with it and it didn’t get much better from there.

A fun punk/new wave album.

The premise was much better than the actual result. Favorite track: Country

Country punk. Good variation in style and songwriting but just underwhelming.

Nope

just weird

Man, I am so confused on what to do with this album. When I first started listening to it, the rating was going to be in negative numbers. Like, what the heck is this? The more that I got into it, the more that I began to appreciate it and then I started replaying the album again for my family, saying, "Listen to how bad this is." On that listen through I actually began enjoying it. My ratings on this could be anywhere from 1, being absolutely horrible (which the singer does have a horrible voice and horrible singing), all the way up to a 4 because it's great. I see this album as being like the album version of the movie The Room, that in some ways is just so bad that it's masterful. I think I'm going to split the difference and just go with 3 stars on this but man, we will see at some point if I don't increase this to a 4.

I liked the first track, but (maybe I am influnced by the title) the rest sounded like the recordings of a drunk group of friends in a roadside pub.

Its pretty solid

Weird weird album, it's not bad but just not particularly for me

need to finish but fun lil alt twang

Not bad - some of the songs had a bit of a Pogues feel to them

Just ok

It sounds like other people

Not sure what I’m listening to, punk, alternative???? Don’t mind the female singer, the male singer, all songs sound the same.

Weird

the thing about this is that i actually like a fiddle in the right context. i kind of expected this to be completely unlistenable because of how bad the production is and how bad of a concept this album is ("punk rock country" jfc), but somehow the instrumentation isn't the problem. it's almost good at points even for strangled everything sounds, except for one tiny glaring issue: the vocals. i'm convinced they just recorded the audio from whichever piss drunk blokes they found at their local pub that were bellowing nonsense. genuinely headache inducing. incredible work.

Well it's unique, I guess. The singing sounds like a open mic towards the end of a pub crawl and the whole thing did give me a migraine. Gotta admit I don't really hear the "post punk" unless they mean post-punk as in that the production is shit and the singing is off key. The country elements in here really clash against everything else in an off putting way that doesn't quite work and the talk-over songs like "psycho cupid" just straight up suck. The idea of a country infused post-punk alt rock album is not inherently a bad one, but the issue is everything else in execution. I liked Flitcraft and Last Dance I think? I am glad I listened to this album before I died, but that doesn't make it a good album. I am giving this the most generous 2 in the world for being interesting and actually picking up towards the end.

This could be an album I could really get into with repeated listening. I like the interplay of the instruments, particularly the traditional sounds.

A punk and country and western mashup that somehow doesn't involve serious amounts of rockabilly. A very interesting listen if you are looking for something new, not sure this is a daily driver for me, but a nice occasional treat. Darkness and Doubt is a particularly fun ride, especially peppy considering the theme is surviving hard times and war.

2.5

3.5

I can kind of see this as Proto No Depression/ALT Country/Uncle Tupelo/yatta yatta, with definitely a British flair. In fact I can even hear a little bit of Scottish and Irish influence in there. I wasn't really high on this, though it would seem like I would be considering how I described the music. I guess I can get the influence, but quite frankly sonically it wasn't there. I think part of it is the kind of slacker loose groove vibe it has. It just doesn't punch. But it's not bad. I semi like it but not that much 6.85 ★★★

Interesting soundscape, but I don't think the songwriting is strong enough. 3 stars

I thought the Mekons album was pretty rad. They kind of remind me of a cross between the Fall and Camper Van Beetoven. Post punk with a hint of Americana. Highlights for me were "Hard to Be Human Again", "Flitcraft", "Last Dance", and "Abernant 1984/1985", but really not a bad song here. 4.5 stars.

A bit manky this one. I like whiskey but I don’t like fear so much and there was just too much fear along with a bundle of other pongy scabby elements. 2 stars out of 5. You’re twisting my Mekons, man!

Some cool sounds and themes here. I enjoyed some but not all. I like the Buzzcocks alot and this reminds me of them. Unusual punk/new wave. Feels good. I gotta ding it a star for failing to br cohesive. Each track doesn't seem to lend to any greater theme, and I don't mean concept. But it floats around kinda aimlessly. Immediately after on autoplay an incredible song came on not from this album so. They got good tunes, might not be their best album example.

Track 1 was ok, very listenable, and I thought I might enjoy this album. Then the dross started, which quickly morphed into unlistenable shite, so much so that I had to turn it off during track 5.

Atonal. Couldn't get into a single song, even the one mostly with talking. Folk at times was nice but then they'd go and ruin it.

I think this is pretty good and ahead of its time. Helped by it’s brevity, I’m not sure I’d replay but rounding up to a 4.

Ei

Lähtökohtaisesti hommat menee persiilleen jos countrya ruvetaan laumaan brittimongerruksella. Jos olisi ollut pelkkää instrumentaalina niin olisin tykännyt enemmän. ⭐️⭐️

Lähtökohdista olisi voinut saada jotain siistiä mutta ei tämä kyhäelmä kyllä juuri miellyttänyt.

Just a really strange album, and not in a good way. There were a couple songs I didn't hate.

properly weird, in a good way. its got this folksy punksy dropkick murphies appeal but its british people cosplaying the american south. i might have mekon fever? favorite song is Hard to Be Human Again

Rating: 4/10 I like modern alt country but I found this to be a mediocre release that is most notable for being a niche sound at this time. Crazy that a British band tried to do this. And of course that means the arbiters of this book thought it meant that I should listen to it. The alt country sound really develops into the 90's, in the US, and those records are not ones with a punk edge. I will forget this one exists for sure

Weird and confusing but almost interesting and not that bad. Even though it's kind of pleasant, I'm glad fiddle rock didn't stick around in the mainstream 4.7/10

Decent start Lovely Midlands angst Nice variety and ideal length

all a bit weird...an Irish country / something else-but not really punk- mash up. Would go down ok in the stereotypical Irish bars found everywhere. but top 1001 albums, really?

Relaxing, some experimental rock elements. Short listen and easy going.

A mixed bag for me; parts of this album sound like a high school garage band, you’d like them at a local bar or restaurant but would hardly rate them as a band you must see or listen to. Other tracks on this album are more refined. I’ve settled on 3 stars with the intent that this is barely a 2.9.

Enjoyable listen on the whole

***An ok album, some tracks are easy listening

Pioneering but others have done it better.

Based on my research, here is an in-depth review of **Fear and Whiskey** (1985) by the Mekons. --- ## Overview **Fear and Whiskey** is the 1985 album by the Mekons, a band formed in 1977 by art students at the University of Leeds (alongside contemporaries like Gang of Four and Delta 5). After being signed and dropped by Virgin Records, the band underwent a radical reinvention, emerging with what many consider the first true **alt-country** album—though it's more accurately described as a collision between British post-punk and American roots music. The album was recorded in fragmented sessions between 1983-1985, using drum machines, fiddles, and a revolving cast of collaborators. --- ## Lyrics & Themes The album operates on two parallel tracks: **political/social commentary** and **personal desolation**. **War and Labor Unrest:** The album is deeply shaped by the **1984-85 UK Miners' Strike**, which inspired the band to reform specifically to support the miners. "Darkness and Doubt" explicitly addresses labor unrest, while "Abernant 1984/5" is among the bleakest tracks, with lyrics like *"Vengeance is not ours, it belongs to those / Who seek to destroy us / How much more is there left to lose?"* The Cold War hangs heavy over the record—it's been described as a "Cold War album" where violence and destruction punctuate the narrative . **Existential Drift and Human Connection:** Beyond the political, the album explores stasis and missed connections. "Chivalry" opens with a drunken encounter in a bar, but its lasting image is of a lone man walking down the street, unable to remember anything except *"the rain and the tears on your face"* . "Last Dance" contains the devastating line *"So beautiful, you were waltzing / Little frozen rivers all covered with snow"*—poetic imagery contrasted with the narrator's inability to express his affections . **Psychological Horror:** "Psycho Cupid (Danceband on the Edge of Time)" stands out as a spoken-word nightmare where a woman describes a violent incident in monotone, witness-report style. It's described as "like nothing you would find on a Rascal Flatts record"—a moment of genuine avant-garde experimentation . The title itself—**Fear and Whiskey**—captures the album's emotional engine: alcohol as both fuel and anesthesia against dread. As Rico Bell croaks in the opening track: *"Fear and whiskey kept me going"* . --- ## Music & Production The production is **intentionally shambolic**—a "gloriously shambolic" document that owes as much to The Clash's *Sandinista!* as to Johnny Cash . **Instrumentation:** The band employs a bizarre fusion of: - **Synthetic and acoustic drums** (including customized Roland 606 and Sequential Circuits drum machines nicknamed "Hugo") - **Susie Honeyman's violin**, which "swirls the atmosphere like the doleful wail of a traincar piercing an otherwise silent night" - **Heavy bass, electric guitar, harmonica, and "warbling, high-lonesome (oft off-key) wails"** **Recording Process:** The album was assembled from multiple fragmented sessions: - Side 1 tracks ("Chivalry," "Darkness and Doubt," "Hard to Be Human," "Psycho Cupid") were recorded at Lion Studios in Leeds using drum machines - Side 2 was recorded in a single afternoon at a "secret location" in London - "Trouble Down South" was a reworking of a minimalist electronic track featuring contributions from Dutch band The Ex and Delta Five vocalist Jacqui Callis The result is a **lo-fi, beer-sodden aesthetic** that sounds like it was recorded in a pub basement after closing time. The vocals are frequently off-key, the yodels in "Chivalry" are deliberately out of tune, and the mix has been criticized as "flimsy" and "muted" . --- ## Influence & Legacy **Fear and Whiskey** is widely cited as a foundational document of **alt-country** and **cowpunk**, though the band's relationship to these genres is complicated. - **Spin magazine** named it one of the **50 Most Essential Punk Albums** - The Guardian called the Mekons **"the godfathers of alt-country"** in 2004 - It predates and influenced the 1990s alt-country scene (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, etc.) The album's influence extends to its **methodology**: treating Hank Williams and Johnny Cash as "major religious prophets" to be channeled rather than imitated . This approach—respectful but irreverent, academic but drunken—created a template for how punk musicians could engage with traditional American roots music without becoming reactionary or nostalgic. --- ## Pros ✅ **Innovative Genre Fusion:** Successfully merges British post-punk with country, folk, and Cajun influences in a way that still sounds unique today ✅ **Authenticity of Vision:** The shambolic production isn't incompetence—it's aesthetic coherence. The album sounds exactly like what it is: art-school punks discovering country music while the UK collapses around them ✅ **Lyrical Depth:** Manages to address both macro issues (war, labor strikes) and micro tragedies (drunken regrets, failed connections) without preaching ✅ **Historical Significance:** As a document of 1980s Britain—the Miners' Strike, Thatcherism, Cold War anxiety—it captures a specific cultural moment ✅ **Second Half Strength:** Many listeners find Side 2 ("Flitcraft," "Country," "Abernant 1984/5," "Last Dance," "Lost Highway") more cohesive and traditionally satisfying than the experimental Side 1 --- ## Cons ❌ **Vocal Performances:** The singing is divisive—described as "atrocious," "shitfaced drunk," or "your milquetoast colleague who always wants to go to karaoke" . Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh's vocals are an acquired taste at best ❌ **Inconsistent Quality:** The album is genuinely uneven. "Psycho Cupid" and "Trouble Down South" are experimental to the point of alienation for some listeners ❌ **Production Limitations:** The 1985 production values sound dated and "flat" to modern ears. Some tracks suffer from the drum machine's mechanical stiffness ❌ **Accessibility:** This is not an easy entry point. As one reviewer noted: "Sometimes you hear an album and you have no idea if it's genius or madness" ❌ **Fake American Accents:** Some listeners find the occasional affected Southern drawl grating or inauthentic --- ## Verdict **Fear and Whiskey** is a **flawed masterpiece**—or perhaps a masterpiece *because* of its flaws. It's an album that "might never make the Country Music Hall of Fame" but remains "one of the most unique albums in rock history" . The Mekons didn't create a polished fusion of punk and country; they created something stranger: a document of British working-class despair filtered through American roots music, recorded with drum machines and fiddles, fueled by whiskey and political rage. It's not for everyone—the vocals will alienate many, the production is dated, and the experimental tracks require patience. But for those willing to meet it on its own terms, it's a singular achievement that genuinely expanded the possibilities of what rock music could absorb and express. **Essential Tracks:** "Chivalry," "Hard to Be Human Again," "Darkness and Doubt," "Last Dance," "Lost Highway"

This was quite enjoyable. It has a very folk feel, very unique. I was tempted to give this a 4 but it just about doesn't make it for me.

Definitely interesting. Didn’t totally vibe with it, but I still appreciate what I heard.

I wanted to like this. I've heard a few Mekons songs and they were good, but they must be on different albums. This was a drag and I got pretty tired of the spoken work vocals.

Side b: 3 stars, side a: 1 star

I am liking this! Lots of hate in other reviews but I am enjoying it !! Maybe alt country / punk country is my fav genre ???

Bastante meh para tener cosas punk. Pensé iba a interesarme más. Fue medio decepcionante. Esa mezcla de country con punk queda pésima (al menos en ellos). Y en el resto, para ser un album del 85, no parece ofrecer nada demasiado nuevo. 3/10

This was really not good at all. That’s kind of all I have to say about this.

Fear and Whiskey is a genuinely fun record and an easy, rewarding listen. I love the way spoken-word passages sit over scrappy punk rhythms and that wonderfully wild violin—it gives the album a character all of its own. The subject matter is quirky and unexpected, but the storytelling is sharp and engaging throughout, carried by music that never feels lazy or predictable. This is the kind of album you finish and immediately think, yeah, I’ll happily come back to that. Favourite tracks: Psycho Cupid really stands out its odd, inventive and brilliantly, with spoken words that pull you straight into its world. Filcraft and Chivalry are also highlights, especially for that brilliant violin-driven punk sound. Least favourite tracks: None. Every track earns its place. Album artwork: Love the cover it perfectly suits the album’s off-kilter spirit.

3/10… 80s alternative / cowpunk / *1985

This sounds just a little bit like The Pogues, but if they couldn't write decent songs, and the vocals were a lot worse. After a terrible opening track, it started to pick up a little, before devolving into boring punk/ country nothingness. Two stars.

Although it improved a bit along the way, in the first song the singer sounds like me in the shower (i cant sing)

I tried - but couldn't make it through.

Не очень понял альбом при прослушивании, может еще попробую.

2026.01.31

honest to god one of the worst albums ive heard

This is a strange one… felt myself really liking the second half, but that first half was something else. I had heard of them before and I remember liking a few songs. Maybe they’re just not really an album band for me. Hence the score…

👎🏻

A drunk English band pretending to be Irish with a Scottish musical touch... I don't know, some reviews compare them to The Pogues and others, but in no universe or dimension would that be true! Anyway, I enjoyed listening to a few tracks, so it wasn't a total waste of time. I give it a 3 because, in my opinion, there are much worse things on this list

The word ‘country’ filled me with trepidation but it wasn’t too bad, but not too good either. I can hear that it has been influential but I found it a little boring.

Dreadful

Discordant and half baked. Unpleasant, but doesn't feel like it's really challenging anything or trying to push boundaries. Most like an inferior attempt at Velvet Underground or Talking Heads.

Oof. I am not close to the punk (and what immediately followed) vibe, I am learning

This just felt cacophonous to me. Maybe I'd appreciate it more if I was sitting in a bar, completely wasted. Which is annoying, because seeing critics rate it so high makes me feel like I'm missing something? Maybe it's the difference between casual and active/professional listening.

Great Songs: Good Songs: Chivalry, Trouble Down South, Hard to Be Human Again, Flitcraft, Country, Abernant 1984/5, Last Dance, Lost Highway Mid Songs: Darkness and Doubt, Psycho Cupid - Danceband on the Edge of Time Bad Songs:

6/10 There were bits I liked - the tunefulness of some of the tracks, all with a rough edge. Some of it was trying, mostly the spoken word tracks. Started listening a second time, but found I was skipping large chunks, so knocked it back to a 3.

I tried to have an open mind but bad music unfortunately shuts my mind right up.

I want to like this but it’s kind of annoying.

Noisy and fun….

Ok, but not my cup of tea. ★★★

Un peu folk, ça change du rock habituel j'ai bien aimé !

Sympa ! Ça sort du lot par rapport à ce qu’on a pu entendre

Bof

Mekons have 921 fans on Deezer as I write this review. That places them firmly into niche territory, so let's have a listen to find out why this album has been deemed essential. Ah, founding a new genre by melding two existing ones, I see. Yeah this is weird. It rules, added to my digital library. Another of the delightful discoveries this generator brings us!

This is meant to be punk meets alt country? I didn't pick up on that at all at first, but we get there... it is, safe to say, one of the most unique sounding records I've listened to on here. There are folk instruments in the mix, and the production value is high. Lots of spoken vocals. I like the first song quite a bit. The next one, Trouble Down South, gets a little stranger (OK, maybe a lot stranger). It's quite dissonant, but I still like the drumming and the shuffling rhythm. There's a backing chorus. We get bits of melody, and it's enough somehow. The third track is more approachable, but still with a really interesting rhythm. Steel guitar in the second half and a unique breakdown. It's very 80s sounding, especially the reverb on the drums. Sure. I really struggle to describe this stuff. I like all the random sounds and ambient touches. I actually wish they leaned more into the weirdness, but the back half is a bit more standard rock, a bit more punk. Suddenly, it sounds Celtic. I do really like Last Dance. The poppiest song by far, the main riff makes me want to dance a jig, but the backbone is alt rock. The vocal hooks is great. Hard to rate this, but one to revisit.

1.9

Great sound, songs and production.

I like punk, I like country. I can't really say I like this.

2 - some was ok but what was with that horrible out of tune wailing on some songs

Meh. Its okay, but not memorable.

Fun enough.

No. It's terrible, untalented rock, punk music. Waste of my time 1/5 —————————————— No liked songs

Bruh how do some of these albums get on this list

Fun little album, I probably won‘t return to it but I‘m happy to have listened to it

I never heard of them before and I actually really like this. It has a nice quirky vibe about. It which appeals to me. This was a fun listen

Huh. Kinda like light British punk? Not great though.

I might sound pretentious, but the opening track, Chivalry, was a bad first impression. It sounds like the singer is fighting with the instruments to see who gets to dictate the beat. Trouble Down South was better, but Hard To Be Human Again makes it hard to be interested again. Darkness And Doubt and other tracks like Country have some of the most obnoxious violin playing I've ever heard, which has to be intentional, but after the previous tracks I wasn't in the mood to appreciate that. On a side note, the screams in Flitcraft reminded me of the YouTube video of that one goat (or sheep?) screaming, which almost made me chuckle. I've seen many cases where the vocalists' shortcomings add to the music, but this is not one of them for me. And add to that this irritating violin playing. I'm not necessarily a hater of country music, but I despised the country influence in this particular instance. I think the album is listenable, but I didn't enjoy it. I hate to be right now one of those people who say certain music is bad; so I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. This is labeled as post-punk in the generator, so it's upsetting to give a low score to an album of the genre that has been my favourite so far in this journey.

Folk punk, maritime rock, some interesting vibes here. Definitely feels folksy, maritime pub rock. “Country” probably the pick of the lot, but an album that definitely grew on me as I went along. 3/5.

Good, but definitely not the first alt country album, as the description mentions. Hallowed ground was the year before (also definitely not the first), and many more before

Meh

More punk and folk then country, with a more than striking resemblance to the Pogues, in musical style at least. Funny thing is, I like the Pogues, and on paper I should like ‘Fear And Whiskey’ too… except that I don’t, aside from ‘Last Dance’, which is a cracking track. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is largely forgettable in my opinion.

Every time I draw an album that I've never heard of from an artist I've never heard of, I want to like it so bad. The name was cool, the cover art is interesting... But the album falls so short. It feels like it's almost close to being good, but it really isn't. Everything is about 50% wrong. The vocal melodies are unintelligible, the guitar parts don't compliment each other very well, the drum samples are distracting, the violin is just kinda there, the mix is okay at best, and the arrangements on their own aren't conducive to high quality music. The best thing about this record is the idea of it. It seems like it would have been something I'd really enjoy if any of it was done well. It doesn't even conclude with something that feels like an end. I feel like the car just ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Also the drummer literally counts only himself in on one of these songs? Usually I can at least find a couple things redeeming about an album I don't like, but it isn't even performed super well. The guitar is regularly out of tune. The vocal performance is... unfortunate. The instrumental sections often aren't very good on their own either. Maybe I can say that the lyrics aren't too cheesy. But man... it's just a bad record. At least it's only 35 minutes. The worst part is that I think it's all done on purpose. Maybe I just don't get it, but I don't think I want to. 1.1/5

It was really interesting and novel. I feel like Mekon walked so Blues Traveler and Dave Matthew’s band could run.

This is really unique but also familiar? I feel like I'll definitely be returning to listen to this album. I really liked it. The fiddle goes hard. Or is it a violin? Is there a difference? From a more analytical standpoint, this album gets really close to absolute genius a few times without going all the way. I think some later 90s bands filled in the missing pieces. But that keeps it feeling weird and unexpected in a way that hit very well for me, even if not "perfect."

This shit is glorious. It’s like a bar fight broke out at a hoedown, and someone recorded the aftermath. Feels like the musical equivalent of a really good hangover, if such a hangover exists. Spins: 3 Playlist Additions - Chivalry - Trouble Down South - Hard to Be Human Again - Flitcraft - Lost Highway

Not sure about the genre, but enjoyable

Good mix of samples - feels like it could've been released in the 00s.

This was a fun one! The "cowpunk" style is very much for me, I think - the song "Abernant 1984/5" sounded like a song I'd want to sing in a crowded bar while sloshed drunk. I did deduct a star, however, because there were definitely points where the album blended a bit for me, and also it just kind of stopped, instead of wrapping up properly.

Man what the hell was this

There is nothing I need less of in my life than "cowpunk". That's not to say I instantly hated the album, if anything the novelty of these two genres coming together was well-executed and sort of cool to hear. But what's up with punk singers always putting as little effort as possible to sing well? The lead guy here sounds straight sloshed the whole time. It's so frequent in these punk entries that it might as well be a staple for the genre, and the appeal totally eludes me. Yet another reason Mekons will not make it to my rotation anytime soon.

Really interesting album and I did not realize i had an interest in punk, but with fiddles. Didn't stick around enough to convert me and ends super abruptly but I could see myself listening again.

It sounds like dexys midnight runners but somehow even worse.

Una onda The Clash y Talking Heads No gustó mucho

This feels like an album we are told we should like by pompous critics because reasons, but I just couldn't get into it.

This is like if you took a punk band, gave them some violins and said pretend you’re from Ireland and make a folk album. Pretty bad.

Better than the last album to heard. Kind of dated, but still decent, would play if nothing else was on.

Dreadful stuff. Album Art 3/5

At least it's only half an hour long.

This album is described as blending punk with country. There are plenty of elements of both genres in there, but the result is really neither of them. It sounds more like 80s new wave but with fiddle, steel guitar, and harmonica instead of synthesizers. And that works surprisingly well. Some songs are a bit rough around the edges, but generally I enjoyed this album.

ts sucks 🥀

This is what I imagine when your uncle says he was in a rock band back in high school.

This did not hit for me

I quite enjoyed some of this, shades of Band Of Holy Joy about it.

An odd mix of songs and styles and I can’t quite work out if this is a parody or not? Anyway I actually quite liked it in places and suspect it would improve with more listens.

I once bought a Mekons album in the early 90s, which was money wasted. 30yrs later this isn’t going to convince me to buy another one. I don’t mind the more spoken word stuff with melancholy folk backing, feels very proto post rock. The rest of the celtic/folk/country stuff really is never gonna my bag.

Enjoyed. Odd kind of blend of styles here.

It was OK, though it certainly didn't overly impress me.

Sound a bit like a the Cure to me

Shite

I genuinely don’t have any bad intend when I say this, but what the fuck did I just hear? Country punk?? How is that a thing that actually exists? And why don’t I hate it?

Revisiting this album for the first time in decades, I was struck by how little it sounds like what we came to know as alt-country. Given it's a Leeds punk band's take on Americana, that makes sense. But 40 years later this strikes me as much more of an experimental album with twinges of country, punk, and folk than anything that would fit neatly in a genre. That's the Mekons' way, of course. But I appreciate its impact and legacy more than I actually like listening to it.

So I've come to learn this was a seminal album for the alt-country folks. I love alt-country, or at least I loved it, and that does not make a ton of sense to me. Mostly because this was not good. They seem like an admirable band full of admirable people but this is rock n roll baby.

At the start I didn't really feel it, even though this should be right up my alley. Yet, towards the end of the album I was fully in. Listened to it again and have to say, this is an underrated classic. Even if you don't like this album in particular, a lot of the indie scene of the 90's early 2000's and even current acts (with bands like Geese), feel very much in line with the experimentation this album provides.

Interesting sound, country themes really kicked in towards the end

Great variety in this record, great listen

Mekons usual mixture of punk, rockabilly, and atypical vocals. I was disappointed in this, it just wasn't that great except for a few of the more popular tracks. I don't think this warranted inclusion in the list, though I'm glad they are representing less popular artists.

Neinspirisana nasumično povezana gomila zvukova i stilova.

Sitä irkkumeininkiä jota kyllä kuuntelee kun sille on paikkansa

Funky and good drums but dont like the vocals much ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ragged, dust-kicked grooves built from scrappy guitars, shambling bass lines, twanging violin streaks, and loose, punk-tinged drumming, with vocals delivered in a weary, half-sung, half-shouted drawl folded straight into the ramshackle mix move this alternative country album like stumbling into a bar where the band sounds half falling apart, chaotic, soulful, and strangely stirring in its battered sway.

I could tell straight away this album wasn’t really gonna be for me. I got the impression it was a punk-band “experimenting” or “trying something new” but i’m not sure what it was they were going. A lot of the songs felt void of any hooks and I found a lot of the lyrics/vocals fairly insufferable. There was a run of songs in the middle of the album that I thought were decent, my favourite being ‘Flitcraft’. Overall, it felt pretty lacking and nothing really stuck with me. 1.5 stars.

Solid, never really tried punk much but this was kind of fun. Last song was like folk punk with the alternating bass and walk ups.

2.4 2x catch up 2/10

Child: Can we listen to the Pogues? Mom: We have Pogues at home. Musically fine but the vocals weren't strong or catchy and the spoken word shit got old fast.

It was fine. Very British. Too much talking over music rather than singing though. Never heard of this band before.

Denna skiva har också pendlat upp och ned för varje lyssning. Jag är lite svag för detta sound (med fiolen/folk som element). Någon enstaka låt som sticker ut, nedåt. Men de flesta håller rätt bra nivå. Men saknar, som många gånger förr, en riktigt banger. Blir en fyra ändå. Pga helhet/sound.

Nej, det här tycker jag inte var någon höjdare, framförallt för att sångaren sjunger illa. Lyssnat flera gånger och det har inte hjälpt. I övrigt är det ju rätt experimentellt med några ljusglimtar här och där, men också mycket som fungerar mindre bra. Men sången som sagt, fy farao. Kan omöjligt bli mer än en tvåa och då är jag generös.

Dreadful

I think I could have survived never listening to that album

7/10 The best terrible album on the list. Sounds like a parody of something but it was different and interesting and I enjoyed it. Highlights: Trouble Down South Psycho Cupid Last Dance Chivalry

This was a garbage mess of an album. The vocals are easy to liken to a drunk British man rambling karaoke, the country sounds and instruments were funny at best, atrocious at worst, and everything else was inconsistent and chaotic. I have absolutely no idea why this utter dumpster fire of an album is even on this list. Like what the hell did I even just listen to?

I would swear I had never heard of this band, but lo and behold I have two of their songs saved on Spotify. The bizarre faux-country styling of this album unfortunately didn't work for me. There's moments: "Flitcraft" is pretty good. But this one probably isn't for me.

Fun record. I’m not sure why it’s on the list of 1001 albums, but it wasn’t bad.

#801. I'm not entirely sure what they were going for with this album. This shis disjointed and weird in not a good way. 2/5: nah

I didn't like it at the start, but the album grew on me. The music reminded me of The Waterboys.

What's not to hate? 80s Production ✅ Messy and abrasive ✅ Sounds like a bad barn dance ✅ Horrible vocals✅ Godugly cover art ✅ This is exactly the sort of garbage that makes people accuse the writers of being biased towards irrelevant British acts that aren't worthy of their place on the list, and sometimes it's really hard to defend them.

I'm adapting a new rating system for this list going forward. 5 - I love it and can't see how anyone couldn't 4 - I love it but I can see how someone couldn't 3 - I don't love it but I can see how someone could 2 - I don't love it and I can't see how anyone could 1 - Offensive to the ears This one is a 3.

Never heard of this album or band. Going in completely blind.

Bad instrumentation, bad vocals. Didn't even finish, why is it on this list?

Odd combination of punk music and country music. Glad I heard it probably won’t be a another lesson.

Not much fear. Not much whiskey. Brit punk first wave than never really landed with me.

I didn’t enjoy anything about this album. The pacing was disjointed, the vocals seemed off key

Really surprising, I had a great time listening to this

Absolutely love this album. It's so weird and blends punk and new wave with country instruments. Really love how original it is

Date- 2/16/2025 Number- 344 Rating- 2 Top Tracks- Last Dance Listening Notes- Reminds me of an experimental, collective project with multiple instruments and a progressive punk ethos. I appreciate the use of violins and extra instrumentation, but it can also be distracting and discordant. Personally not a fan of the lead singer, or the multiple tracks with spoken word stylism. I don’t mind music that isn't straight forward melodies and harmonies, but it’s nice to occasionally feel like there’s an attempt. 1001 Albums calls Fear and Whiskey “country as played by English punks” seemed my biggest take away as well. While I won’t be listening to this album again, I was able to find a couple songs I will revisit. Happy to have tried something new, but would not be in my 1001 Must Listens.

Meh

Was quite excited by this a mix of punk/country with lots of violin. Enjoyed the opening track a lot - unfortunately it lost its way a bit with a bit too much spoken word and not enough fiddley dee.

Never heard of them before. A punkier, wackier version of Pulp. Had potential, a bit too pub-band-esque. The homemade punk feel is fine, but they've gone a bit too amateurish on a few tracks. The fiddle led tracks are much better, e.g. Last Dance.

Some drunk British guy rambling over disjointed instrumentals. Trying to be post punk and failing usually leads to a pretty annoying album

One of my old friends lived in a house with some fields and every year they do a festival there, with all the old hippies getting up to play live. It's exactly the sort of thing you'd see there and be like 'oh this is fun' and enjoy them rocking out but EVEN THEN after 5 minutes turn to your friend and say.... shall we go and get a drink? And they'd immediately say yes and you'd hear it fade in to the background as you go to do anything else.

Never heard of this band before, unfortunately reading their bio was more interesting than this album. I was mildly interested in hearing some of their early stuff until I read their first single was “a sarcastic response to the Clash's White Riot”, which is borderline blasphemous, but I digress. I guess I’ll be generous once again and say this album rounds up to 2 stars (barely).

Wow - not what I expected. Not in a good way either. I’ll pass on the weird 80s production and oddly Pogues like instrumentation.

I wasn't really into it, I like the punk-country feel but I couldn't get into it

Tgoh

Not brilliant, but not rubbish either. It was ok but probably not going to listen to it again not as good as the 3's i have awarded lately, so better give it a 2, but it is better than a lot of the 2's i have awarded too. Hmmm? no I think it does just scrape a 3.

Wonderful stuff! Not listened to these before, so was a great surprise. Very Pogues/Waterboys… not just the Irishness of the strings, but the punk delivery very Shane McGowan. At times they walked the line of in tune/out of tune gloriously. When they crossed it, it sounded just right. This will get more listens for sure.

I liked this a lot. I never listened to them in the 80's, maybe I should have. It was very quirky in dare I say it, in a 'Fall' sort of way. But much less uncompromising.

me: i want the pogues mom: we have the pogues at home the pogues at home:

This has appalling production. Weak songs. No energy or pep. And the concept seems to have been covered more successfully and concisely in ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, in four minutes. Really it’s like someone took all the worst excesses of Elvis Costello, Lou Reed and Neil Young, took all the talent out and the appeal and told critics ‘it sounds different. You’ve gotta like this.’ And critics looking for copy thought ‘sure why not? It’s not like our opinions are taken seriously’. To call this a mess really disparages messiness which at least can be beautiful. This is just entropy without chaos. Decay without evolution. Shit without the fertilizer. There’s a fundamental lack of understanding about country. Ultimately it’s a working class music. But it’s that section of the working class that requires a certain pride in its work. If you look at Bluegrass, they’re all immaculately dressed. They’re not hicks. Although Johnny Cash’s singing voice was limited there was a quality to the songs that suited his voice. It’s no surprise that some of the best musicians came out of Nashville and Memphis. So halfhearted drab energy-less stuff like this fails as country. And what is punk if not energy? Say what you will about the damned or the banshees or the pistols or the clash (and I have) they were never lacking in energy and drive. Now I’ll be fair this could have been better with less harsh production and singing that was in tune and stronger songs that understood the genres they were trying to exist within. . And can someone tune the lead guitar? There is only 1001 spots. Badly played and written nonsense shouldn’t be here. It’s like they decided ‘well, we’re a terrible punk band, and a terrible country band, so let’s see if we can improve things by combining them.' No. No, you can’t. Instead of this garbage listen to Waylon 173 , Merle Haggard Emmy Lou. If you want mashups of genres, Sam Bush merged reggae and bluegrass. If you want punk attitude try any of the Johnny Cash songs or even Buck Owens. If you want a concept album, Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger. Yes I know these are older acts. But they did this attitude much better 40 or more years ago. Honestly, fuck this shit.

oddly amusing. its rough and ready. playful. and reminds you anyone can record music. we can all have a go if this passes muster. perfect just isn't needed. at times sounded like mix of Hunters & Collectors and the tuneless Billy Bragg

The Mekons were always there on the side-lines in the 80's, my impression was they were changing all the time, but never really nailed it. This just doesn't work, nor hold up out of its context. The song Country shows some promise, but other than that the off key singing, weirdo arrangements for the sake of being weird and the playing is not very good. I was bored to be honest, not annoyed just bored. Which is probably worse. While I'm talking to myself, I wonder if the guys from King Gizz were inspired by this, and have just done it better?

I have touched on this issue of the biases of pretentious white-boy rock critics a few times in my thousand-odd reviews for this project, but this is good opportunity to really go to town. Mekons are one of Greil Marcus' favourite bands. Greil Marcus is the archetypal cult leader of pretentious, chronically over-intellectualized, faux-literary rock critics who suck all the life, joy and energy out of rock and roll. Generally, I find that Marcus' interest in a topic is a pretty good marker of a bad time. Even when he is writing about music with vitality and energy (Elvis! punk! Dylan, to a degree), he manages to turn the topic into an enervating slog of joyless theory, sprinkled with international art-speak, postmodern jargon and gratuitous ten-dollar words. I mean, look at his writing on this album: "If Fear and Whiskey can only be heard as an aphorism, what evanescence does it consider essential? A bitter sentimentality. This is the music of a small group of people who, in a pop moment now almost a decade gone, once thought all things were possible, and who now live in a society where nothing they want is possible as more than an evanescence. " Jesus, get your hand off it, Greil. And, unfortunately, there are a thousand even less talented critics who have followed in Marcus' quasi-academic footsteps, trying to make rock and roll respectable and intellectual and meaningful. The slavish Marcus acolytes seem to have taken this album up as a cause célèbre, heightened by the willful obscurantism of this record (it was out of print for 17 years). Which all misses the point of rock and roll. The most important thing really is "can you dance to it?". And Greil Marcus couldn't dance with Sydneyham's chorea (that's a joke that Greil would appreciate. Everyone else, google it). All the fans know what the critics don't understand; this is a shit album by a pretty crappy band, that nobody really likes. You can't dance to it. 1.5 stars, rounding up because it isn't actually hateful, and Mekons aren't responsible for writings of terrible critics. I'm sure they are nice people.

Feels like artist like madness and social distortion perfected the sound more than a decade later. But it’s cool to both see the outlaw punk and it’s early farm and post punk bands actually be a little - punk, even with a fiddle. Mostly great spots with a few very weak response but that’s on last dance makes up for all of it.

I liked the song Last Dance

A wholly unique album that has a sound all it's own. Take a tad of British Punk with some twang from a Guitar & that rock sound. I'm also a sucker for a harmonica in odd spots. Not all that unique of singing voice & it reminded me of Ween's country album. 4 for being unique.

Another mid British band Nice fiddle though

Honky tonk bar music (jk),, unlesszzz. Idk. I feel bleh. TWO!

So these guys remind me of several things: 1. The band you would hear in college when you went to that dive bar that sold $.050 draft beer on Tuesday night. 2. The clearance albums for sale for $3.99 each in the bin at the record store featuring an assortment of bands you've never heard of and now you know why. 3. The band that somehow makes it into some kind of talent competition, but it's the first one eliminated. I'll pass. The lead "vocals" are bad, u less you like toneless speaking to music. The music is average to below average. It doesn't work together for me.

At least the music was not intrusive to my currently rather stressful workload. Singing was not my cup of tea.

The actual music ain’t bad. Singing awful.

I could be an artist based on this album

Wasn't as bad as I was expecting from some of the reviews on here

Meh

Good, but doesn't really grab me. Interested to hear more of their stuff.

This album is so funny to be because you either can't hear a single thing anyone is saying or you don't want to hear any time they try to sing because of how bad it is. The instrumentals feel as loose and questionable as the singing itself, and as much as I tried I really could not seem to get the hype behind Mekons and their album Fear and Whiskey. Last Dance is the only bearable song here and even then it isn't even good in my eyes. This whole album is a mess, and not in cool Post-Punk kind of way, moreso in a "I have no idea what I am doing but I'll make an album out of it." Everything here feels so disjointed and unorganized to the point where it is hardly comprehensive. I am sorry to all the Pitchforkers and AllMusic fans out there but I just don't get this man....

2/5

An album I have wanted to listen to for a while. Immediately like it. This is the type of recommendation that excites me. Maybe doesn't quite reach a 4 score but will check the rest of their stuff. Has more character than the previous 5 picks 3.5 rounded up Heard before? One song Owned: No: 32/128 (25%) Will I get? Maybe - will check out more of them

I don't know if I enjoyed this album enormously, but I'll be darned if it isn't super unique. It really holds your attention, and it is very worthy of being on this list just for the experience. 3.5/5.0: Very Good

i didnt like this but i gotta give them points for trying something, not sure what exactly but something

This was fine

I do think the country elements of this album helped it a lot for me. I wasn’t particularly impressed by the singing on here, but i love a good cowboy tune (of which this kind of sort of delivered).

I didn't hate it, but I probably should have? 2.4.

Personal enjoyment: 3/5 Relevance to this list: 4/5

Kan iemand deze gasten even vertellen dat het al 1985 is? Dat deze debiele manier van zingen allang door Talking Heads is verkend, en dat dat een doodlopende steeg was? Dat maar wat aanklooien inmiddels hopeloos achterhaald is, en dat muzikanten mét talent gewoon weer succes hebben? O ja, en dat vals spelen en zingen sowieso nooit tot wat dan ook heeft geleid? Hoogstens haal je er over een paar decennia een of ander snob-1001-boek mee, dat er behagen in schept om zoveel mogelijk muzikale drollen van een onterechte gouden omlijsting te voorzien.

Heel soms pakt dit wel, vooral als er meer sprake is van praten dan zingen. Maar voor het grootste gedeelte van dit album geldt: stel dat het wel goed uitgevoerd was, dan was er een vergeetbare 3 geleverd.

Je zou natuurlijk je gitaar kunnen stemmen. Je zou kunnen proberen in de maat te drummen. Je zou kunnen proberen zuiver te zingen. Je zou kunnen zorgen dat iedereen op dezelfde toonhoogte zit. Maar ja, je kan het ook niet doen. En als er dan 1 ding vals is, a la. Maar ze weten het te presteren om zowat alles tegelijk vals te laten klinken. Het zal ongetwijfeld wel semi-expres zijn, maar een fijne luisterervaring zit er dan niet meer in. Terwijl op zich de songs nog best ok zouden kunnen zijn. Maar ja, we weten het niet op deze manier. Puntje voor de lollige viool. En verder kunnen we de Mekons weer lekker vergeten.

Why is this album on this list?

I've never even heard of this group. And, uh, yikes. I don't like this at all. It sounds like a bad local band at a pub, with absolutely atrocious production. I think I can pull together a list of 1001 albums that aren't on this list which are better than this album.

Hvorfor...

Another new to me album. 35 minutes is the right length for albums. I got several listens in. This is one of the weirder albums on the list. The structured songs are good, the more experimental stuff is far out.

Don’t like the singers voice. Weird musical mix of country and punk. Different

Unremarkable but fine.

The opener "Chivalry" houses what is surely one of the worst vocal performances I've ever heard, with absolutely no exaggeration on my part. I'm undecided whether it's a deliberate work of genius or just a load of obnoxious wailing. In fact, that sentiment can be applied to the album as a whole in a sonic regard, although it improves markedly from there on. This is an utterly bizarre and consistently thrilling punk/alt-country album - I was dreading it based on the brief Wiki description, but alas my fears were misplaced. Imagine The Damned undergoing frontal lobotomies and chucking some steely Americana guitar / harmonica into the mix, and you aren't a million miles off. Why the fuck do I like this when I generally hate anything vaguely resembling country with a burning passion? Perhaps I'll never be able to understand.

Apparently this is a humorous band. One listen in and i think the joke is on me. Nothing memorable or funny on this album. Interesting production but not much to it at all.

Fun album

iğğrenç

There were a couple of tracks where they constructed a song. But mostly it was just nonsense backed by mostly unpleasant violin.

not what I was expecting a bit experimental

Punk, country, rock, producción destartalada... ¿Alternativos? Entonces no eran ni eso. ¿Perdedores? Para perder hay antes que tener algo, y ellos han sido ajenos al éxito. Un disco excelente, al nivel de los Pogues? por fuerza sí, por letras no. ese año publicaban Rum, sodomy and the lash... Fueron una banda en la que se apoyaron muchos otros (16 Horsepower por ejemplo, o U2 quienes les telonearon en sus primeros conciertos...). También hay que recordar que no estaban solos: Jason & the Scorchers y en cierto modo The Swans. El violín ya lo habían introducido con éxito los Dexys, pero aquí se integra de otro modo mucho más radical. Chivalry abre y es de dodne sale el título del álbum. Darkness and doubt es una lúubre maravilla, increíble que fuera publicada en el 85. Hard to be human again es unos de sus clásicos. Psycho Cupid es la Velvet en los 80... Cupid pasaría en cualquier álbum de los Pogues (Lost higway tiene cierto parecido melódico con Dirty old town). Last Dance en los de Triffids o Go-Betweens... Es disco que realmente merece la pena, si no estuviera en esta lista jamás se te pasaría por la cabeza escucharlo. Si piensas que los 80 eran sintetizadores y sonido limpio, ponte esto y sorprendéte. 1985 es el año del C85, Psychocandy, This is the sea, Low-life, Once upon a time, Brothers in arms, Hounds of love, Steve McQueen, Love not money, This nation´s saving grace, Fables of the reconstruction, Around the world in a day, Rain dogs, Meat is murder, Slave to the rithym, Songs form the big chair, What Does Anything Mean? Basically , Rum, sodomy and the lash, Don´t stand my down y Picture book. Pues este de los Mekons sonaba diferente a casi todos ellos.

This is a pretty ok punky / post punk album. There’s some more experimental stuff on it which is less fun but over all it’s pretty good.

Day 94 This may be the previously unknown record I’ve had on this list which I’ve listened to most and I still can’t decide a rating. It’s unlike anything I’ve listened to before and I just can’t get my head round whether I like it or not even after about 10 full listens. There are definitely songs I’ll return to here but I don’t think the album will get many full plays in future. I’m giving it a 3 for now but may edit to a 1 or 5 in future, one I’m definitely glad to have heard though. Highlights Trouble down South Last Dance

Willing to listen to more of these guys, but this album didn't do it for me.

I enjoyed this way more than expected after reading some reviews.

Theres a lot happening in every song, but it ends up being kind of a mess. Did not enjoy the vocals either. Standout song: Darkness and Doubt

I enjoyed this kind of strange hearing country music from Leeds in England, but I dig it. I might listen to this again.

More 80's crap

Weird trad folk + new wave?? I guess?

I’ve never knowingly listened to Mekons before, although I know the name. On my second listen atm, and am on the fence. Really liked “Trouble Down South” but finding most of the tracks poor to mediocre so far. Yeah, the Mekons aren’t doing anything for me apart from that one track.

More folky than I expected

I must say, this is a pretty fun album with quite a lot of depths beneath the guitars and violins

Meh. Indyish mutterings w few musical flourishes or melodic hooks to hold interest.

**Fear and Whiskey - Mekons** General thoughts - 80s English rock - Felt like I was going on a long ride through English countrysides where I felt vaguely unnerved, as if there was some event I didn’t quite want to go to coming up, but I was resigned to trying to enjoy the journey nonetheless - Very transitionary music Songs I liked - Trouble Down South - Psycho Cupid - always like a bit of monotnous walking to accompany quite a chaotic backdrop of sounds, gave some Killing Eve vibes

Fun but maybe a little weird in a way that didn't entirely work. Had an odd sort of country feel to it that I was wishy washy on and they weren't able to commit to. I got a kick out of some of it

This was interesting. Not what I expected. But didn't really grab me. 3

On paper this sounded interesting: punk but bring in country/bluegrass instrumentation? Sure! In execution you get crappy singing, electronic-recoding-sounding instrumentals, all over the place. The more dissonant Beatles tracks put through a meat grinder.

Small and sweet. Pretty average, some good melodies here and there, but tbh nothing worth losing sleep over.

Wasn't expecting much, didn't get much. This album totally washed over me, no idea why it's in this list...