Reviews (page 5 of 8)
This was pretty good and I guess alt country is a thing. While I didn’t mind listening to it, I can’t say I liked it enough to ever listen to again. 3
The countrified sound must have thrown off their early fans. The first few songs are catchy, eclectic & the violin is a nice touch. Later they remind me a bit of the Pogues. The singer is hard to listen to for a full album.
2.8
Grupo con toques pop, folk y country. En algunos cortes, toques muy de los 80. Se deja escuchar, sin más
Really good. punky-arty-country Brit-pop-ish fun
Just fascinated by the fact that a British band sounds so country. A few songs were enjoyable, but wasn't really a favorite.
3/5
Not bad, but didn't stand out too much to me
Takes the good things about country (e.g. melodies and instruments) and fuses it with post-punk. It works well, and it's highly innovative, but it looks like it never quite caught on. Maybe because the genre is just punk with country inspiration, and that's not enough of a gimmick to lead a movement. The tracks are all interesting and aesthetically pleasing. The first half is the most experimental, and it takes more inspiration from indie rock and pop than country. It's not coherent and the production feels like a mess, but they're ok. It wasn't until "Psycho Cupid" where I felt a bit annoyed. Which is perfect because the second side switched gears and actually reminded us what this album is about. Country and punk. Those last few songs flow together well and use country influences super well. I almost feel inspired to try what they did to punk. I don't think it's a masterpiece like others think, but it's different in a really good way, and I would give the album a 4 if both sides were like this. Favorite song is "Last Dance." It's like if a country club accidentally invited a punk vocalist but decided to go with it.
Benjamin Mendy
did not seem to be mixed between the two styles well enough.
They sound like the Clash playing Dexys on this one
Un bon album rock dans ce genre. 3.70
I think I like this album a lot to be honest. It's got like this almost blues/country punk sound to it. My stand out song on this one is Last Dance. Something about it really just stood out to me, Made me emotional. Just that whole "I wanted to say fall in love, I wanted to say fall in love with me." Just emotions man. Better than I thought it was going to be for sure.
Punk rock and country kind of sound. Its ok I guess.
It was cute, not outstanding
Folkiger Punk, Punkiger Folk. Gut hörbar, aber nicht mein Ding!
Si l'on passe outre le fait que cet album soit un plagia des Midnight Runners, ainsi qu'outre le fait que ce groupe culminant à 40 000 auditeurs mensuels n'a sa place dans cette liste que grâce à sa complicité avec Robert Dimery, on peut alors apprécier l'album pour ce qu'il est, sympathique.
Lustige Mischung aus pogues und clash. Aber gehört haben muss man das nicht
No los tenía muy controlados. Si me compro el disco algún día, podría ponerlo al lado de los de los Pogues y detrás de los de Clash. Esta escucha me ha merecido la pena.
Interesting - I always thought the Mekons were American. A couple of really good songs. I imagine they are listened to by very serious men.
this felt like a talking heads album, but mediocre
Grato descubrimiento
Weird. Reminded me of The The
Decent album. Last dace is the best song for me.
3.5
Listenable but not really my cup if tea. ***
A bit of David Bowie vibes, but not bad! A decent listen.
This didn’t do it for me
listenable. 35!
Folk. Un poco coñazo.
This could either grow on me or become very annoying - not sure which yet.
Feels like the talking head but with more of an Irish instrument choice hits liked it
It’s fine.
I respect what's going on here, but the execution doesn't do much for me. Maybe I'd just need more time with it.
I didn't write the review immediately after listening to the album. I think it was a punk album that include is violin. It was pretty good. Obviously not too memorable.
not bad at all, i liked their other songs too
Meh.
Not my thing, but was interesting.
Indie with a Country twist. Or is it Hipster-Country? Either way, it didn't leave much of an impression. Key tracks: Chivarly
A bit of a mess. At intervals it promises something more interesting, but only occasionally delivers.
It was a mess, which was at first an interesting mess, but lost its appeal pretty quickly. I am not sure what it was or what it was trying to achieve…
Started off alright but this got incredibly messy and worse as the album ran on. A number of songs sounded like a pub band getting up on stage unrehearsed and then playing something from memory. There were patches that reminded me perhaps of The Pogues without MacGowan’s drawl, and others of something closer to The Magnetic Fields but the majority of it was too much of a soup of genres, that was left to boil for much too long.
Very strange, mental talking over some loose backing tracks. Sorry but this was not my sort of music
Decent album and I can believe that maybe it was influential, but the supposedly important country elements are pretty light, certainly in comparison to the general 80's vibe. Not much later there'd be bands doing a more genuine fusion of county and punk, but maybe this was a breakthrough
5.5/10
1-2 rats
4/10
Punk giveth and punk taketh away. I just had a punk album from the Damned that was much better than anticipated. Really full album with a great sound. This was not close to that level. I just find punk singing to be unappealing and unless there is a lot more musicality, I am not a huge fan. This ended up falling into that camp. A relatively inferior record. 2 stars.
The coin is caught between the back of a cat and the unbuttered side of a buttered piece of toast, the two of which were carefully bound with twine. The agglomeration, having been brought together to help me determine whether or not I like this album, is dropped from a height. Heads, I like it; tails, I don't. It never touches the ground. I expected this and didn't, I am nonplussed, much as I imagine this band to have been when they conjured up this aural Jabberwocky. 🌕🌕🌗
This is essentially the dichotomy of man in one musical piece. It was great and it was awful.
Странная хрень, но иногда проскакивала адекватная музыка
Not bad but felt like a joke at times. Once again why on this list.
Totally whatever. Kinda boring, kinda annoying. Not impressive or really good at all.
Once again-WHY is this on here??? Weird music styles, strange sing song talking over music, and horribly tone deaf vocals. Ew
Incredibly weird. It might be good but I’d need to listen to it a bunch more times and I really can’t be bothered.
Mediocre mix of The Clash and The Cure.
Never heard of this before. Says first alt country album, and some of its ok but sometimes gets a little too Celtic for me, which I’m not a fan of.
Vocals are pretty unpleasant and off putting, and they dont ever seems to mesh with the Folksy twang being put on for the backing. Feels like its trying to capture that free wild child energy including all the unseemly qualities that that entails. Instruments that plop and screech, and lay about. The fiddle/ violin is something to latch onto but doesn't pull it together to be enjoyable.
Gav mig inte så mycket
Lite oklart och inte heller så bra.
There were threads that I kinda liked…but as a whole no thanks.
This record was not made for me. The vocals and the way they're mixed are grating. I guess musically it's fine enough but honestly... it's like it's doing something and nothing at the same time.
I wanted to like this but just couldn’t
Not for me-kons
The songs and ideas are good on this, but wow I hate the drums half of the time, (often) awful choice of sound in my opinion. And the vocal is kinda awful. Love the noisy guitars, the violin is fantastic. Psycho Cupid is an awesome track tho, Flitcraft is great too and the cover of Lost Highway as well 5.5/10
This didn't grab me, though there are some interesting pieces, like mixing 80s alternative rock with celtic-sounding fiddles.
Me parece que la decisión sonora que tomaron era muy interesante en la teoría, pero puesta en práctica les costó que se escuchara bien. No es completamente malo, pero no destaco mucho.
There was a variety of styles on this, ranging from interesting and experimental, so downright boring. It was fine.
The instruments, the mixing, and the variation between the songs were really good for the most part. But the singing... I can't handle the singing when its out of sync with the music or when they do strange sounds mixed in with the lyrics and this have plenty of both.
Another entry in the “why” category. This was fine. There is nothing remotely special or interesting about it. It oozes mediocrity with just the right amount of pretension to make it insufferable.
What the hell. I was looking forward to this as I have memories of hearing the Mekons on WFNX and liking them. But I really disliked this record. The lead singer is terrible and that might work with other genres but with country, even alt-country, it's really hard to sit through. True confession, I could not sit through most of these tracks. Maybe if I'd listened to this as a teen I would be laughing and enjoying some of these songs. The energy level is high and I could see shouting along with them at a club or something. But trying to sit down and actually listen to the tracks was rough. My living room on a quiet evening is not the right environment for this record.
I usually have some patience for bands mixing punk with folk and country, but this one got old pretty quickly. “Psycho Cupid (Danceband on the Edge of Time)” was just cringy. It felt like the kind of song that thinks being obnoxious automatically makes it clever. “Lost Highway” was pretty terrible too. I know the rough, drunken pub-band sound is part of the appeal here, but most of the album sounded less like controlled chaos and more like a band making a racket after too many drinks. There were flashes where the punk and folk combination made sense, just nowhere near enough of them. I finished it, so it clears the very low bar separating a 2 from a 1 on my scale.
A blatant Brit bias returns after a brief respite. Not the worst, but it's not even average
The phrase, “most influential rock group of all time” gets thrown out a lot on this list. This is clearly another example of misusing the platitude. Just because you put a harmonica over the most generic rock music doesn’t make you an “innovator”.
It's not for me
This album is really interesting. It sounds like what people who don’t care about punk think punk sounds like. Slightly aggressive atonal nothingness. It’s done wonders for my empathy and I’ll forget about it by the end of the week.
Kind of goofy and not really for me, but there are some decent moments that grabbed me. I appreciate the stylistic blend of 80s although rock and country, but again the music itself leaves a fair amount to be desired. At least it's not terribly long? Top tracks: Darkness and Doubt, Last Dance
It's just not for me.
the low voices at the beginning... don't piss me off!! vibey but also mid? standouts: N/A
Quite a mediocre album.
Not sure if the country vibe fits with this type of Rock n Roll sound. At least the writing’s good
It’s alright.
lite fokigt meh.
Keine Ahnung, fand ich verwirrend
There's probably a reason I've never heard of this. Pretty sure it's a good one.
4/10 Medio aburrido, no me ternino de convencer en ningún momento. No es malo malo, pero no me llama nada
Started out not too bad but went straight downhill after the first song.
Oh, God. British "punk" bands (probably new wave) trying to mix their sound with Celtic folk isn't exactly the best thing for a leisurely Sunday listen. It was a generic and often horrible new wave album that tried too hard to be weird but didn't get weird enough. There is no decent songwriting here to speak of, with songs not being weird enough to be interesting in an avant-garde way but not hooky enough to work as pop songs. Therefore, it settles in the no-man's-land between those extremes, aided by a poor vocal performance that sounds like every whiny British guy ever. Yup, sounds about right for this list. Shitty British new wave that has the occasional fiddle to make it sound more folky. Why must the list continually throw these albums at us poor listeners? This album is ranked #15 of 16 1985 albums. Other 1985 albums rated by me: Brothers in Arms(2/16)-5 Hounds of Love(3/16)-4 Low-Life(5/16)-3 Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash(6/16)-3 Hunting High and Low(8/16)-3 Steve McQueen(10/16)-3 Picture Book(13/16)-2
This did nothing for me.
This is like a bad Dexy's. And Dexy's were shite! So what dirt does the "singer" have on the rest of the band? Because he would be the first one up against the wall. Maybe he owns the van?
07/08 Boring and bland
HAHAHA DIT IS GWN FUNNY wat ik tegen savo zei: de muziek is echt prima en toen hij begon te zingen ik moest lachen het verdient lowkey 5 sterren wat is deze muziek ik neem het terug de muziek breekt alle muziek regels wrm is alles uit ritme
deze bro kan NIET ZINGEN??? de muziek compenseert wel ervoor
01) Chivalry - 6,0 02) Trouble Down South - 5,0 03) Hard to Be Human Again - 5,5 04) Darkness and Doubt - 5,0 05) Psycho Cupid (Danceband on the Edge of Time) - 5,0 06) Flitcraft - 5,5 07) Country - 5,5 08) Abernant 1984/5 - 5,0 09) Last Dance - 5,5 10) Lost Highway - 5,5 TOTAL: 5,35 (54/100) Current ranking: 861/966
I really - really! - thought that I'd stumbled on some awesome lost UK pop gem as Chivalry started. But then, after a mere 17 seconds, some weird ambiant reverb-heavy vocals appeared low in the mix, only to be wiped out by pitchy vocals high in the mix. The rest of the album seemed half-baked. Another selection randomly chosen because of its UK origin, perhaps? Only one of these tunes has broken 300k streams on Spotify. I can't imagine why.
The first track sounds like it could be a lesser song from Strongbad Sings. It was all downhill from there. Seemed like every song was less enjoyable than the last.
I didn't get the Mekons at the time and now, listening with a more mature ear, I still don't. Seems like The Emperor's New Clothes to me.
Had its moments at the start at end, wasn’t that into it overall. But a bit more listenable than other stuff in this kind of genre.
The violinist just came out for no reason, did you really think that was interesting?
Yeah...I don't know about this one.
Yawn Fave track: Last Dance
Apparently forgot to review - all I remember is barely having an opinion on this one. Snooze. 2/5
Very forgettable
Come on, this is not Punk. Sure, they came around during the era, and yes, they’re weird and different. Punk? Nope. Waco Brother’s are far more my speed. And I’m a Punk. One for saying they’re Punk. One more for the Alt-Country spinoff.
Saturday, 27 June, 2026 This album is fine. Nothing wrong with it.
My knowledge of Mekons was restricted to their early punk ramblings, characterised by basic musicianship and angry lyrics. Therefore this came as a suprise, venturing into pastures new. It didn't grab me, but two stars for the pivot.
Like a cross between the Pogues and the Skids with all the good bits taken out. 2*
Had to just get through it
Not for me, and probably not for most people. A little too off the walls for my taste. I fear I will not re-visit this one again. :/
This sounds like what they listen to at clown school.
Just OK nothing I would ever revisit. A couple songs (Hard to be Human, Lost Highway) I liked pretty well and one (Psycho Cupid) I hated but mostly it was all a pretty bland affair. Maybe there just aren't 1001 albums that anyone needs to hear before they kick the bucket or maybe the 1001 Albums book is just a throwaway book that can't be taken seriously. A combo of both would be my guess.
just sort of annoying honestly. parts that were fine
I thought for a minute that my headphones were not working properly, turns out the songs are supposed to sound this way.
This may be the ideal musical form of WTF. How intellectually honest am I going to be here? I typically vote the weird stuff more highly. But the weird stuff also feels typically more cohesive than this. This feels more like a drunk weekend in a studio with a drum machine than a true commitment to your weird art. Obviously, I cannot judge intent. I do not know what darkness lurks in the hearts of men. There are some genuinely enjoyable parts, but I am lacking a sense of that ineffable quality that makes me feel like these artists were committed to the bit in a way that underlies true belief. For instance, compare this work to The Monks' Black Monk Time or Movies by Holger Czukay, both featured on this list, both *feel* fully committed to their art. This album doesn't land the same way for me, and I'm going to spend too much brain power for the rest of the day trying to reconcile
waaaas isch das hhaha. ok aso s het öpis mit drum machine und giige und sochli post punk vocals aber country text? sehr logisch isch das uf dere liste. britisches album wo kritik mega gern gha het und mega underground bliebe isch. trouble down south sehr athmosphärisch. hard to be human again isch wieder meh postpunk. bin bi darkness and doubt und check glaub langsam d richtig. finds etz weg dem nöd mega guet aber check was sie mached. weissssnöd ob das uf die liste mues emfall.
aburrido
they walked so The Pogues could run. No, that's not it, they stumbled so The Pogues could run? This was reminiscent of better bands but wasn't the actual better bands.
This guy can't carry a pitch much less find it playing cricket. Neither could Joe Strummer but one was enjoyable. For fiddling La Bottine. Punk? I'm suprised I've never heard of some bands on this list while others. Drum tracks sound like setting number 3 on your kid brother's toy casio, and every Québec pop tune from the 70s.
I listened to this three times to see if it was one of those albums that grows on you, and I can confidently say it does not. From start to finish it feels completely lost. The songs wander in every direction, the sounds are all over the place, and the vocals drag the whole thing down. I can appreciate that they were trying to blend different styles and do something unconventional, but for me it never comes together into anything enjoyable. Three listens was more than enough.
Aburrido, el Country es un género que me da igual y no lo consumo, así que menos me interesa el Alt Country que funda este disco, es soso y poco interesante para la mezcla de géneros que propone.
okay? politically relevant to the times and I could hear that in the sound and lyrics but otherwise didn't hear anything that made me think this is iconic.
Their fourth album. Post Punk / Alt Rock. Had absolutely no idea about who or what this was to be honest. Seems like some 80s, arty, attempt to be avant-garde. A band founded at university by art students. Makes sense. I find the album inauthentic and wanky. Middle class uni pish.
Som ett lite mer lyssningsbart the Levellers. Går inte att helt avfärda men ger inget vidare avtryck. Knapp tvåa
Tidigare helt ohört. Svårt att klassificera genre på den här, och det är kanske inget dåligt tecken. Börjar som någon form av postpunk/ new wave, och snuddar vid ett sämre Go-Betweens, men övergår till alternativ irländsk pubafton. Det finns något, men jag kan inte säga vad. Och jag tror aldrig jag kommer ta reda på det. Bästa spår: Psycho cupid. Som i sin tur inte låter som någon annan låt på skivan.
Enligt Wikipedia ska det här vara någon form av alternativ country. Jag tycker mer det låter som en blandning av Talking heads och Irländsk folkmusik. Låten med titeln Country påminner mig om the proclaimers. Det är inte dåligt men heller inget som fastnat för mig. Bäst är Psycho Cupid, men är inte representativt för albumet. Det blir en stark tvåa.
Bit too bizarre for me.
The opening track is absolutely amazing, and set the mood for a jangly fun album to come, only to be immediately ruined by the pretentious second track that completely clashes every expectation I had going in. As the album progresses, I hear peeps of beauty in between self sabotaging punk noise, that is just completely unnecessary. Fear and Whiskey has so much potential, and after teasing its ability on the opening track, it just makes for a disappointing listen. Making punk music is great, but pairing punk with nice sounding instruments to purposefully clash makes for an awful experience. Then the second half of the album does a 180 (maybe more like 90 it's not that good) and dials in more on the folky fiddle tracks. There's nothing crazy special here, and it gets a little boring after 3 or 4 tracks, but it's definitely an improvement that made the latter half of this record bearable.
Bad Bad, not Good
It’s not awful but it’s not memorable.
This was alright, but I was done by the end of the album. There was just too much going on, I think, and it sounded too much like Dexy's Midnight Runners, but without all of the heart and passion that they seem to have. Maybe I was just having an off day, I don't know, but I didn't love it. Two stars.
Hmmm... I feel like this must've been amazing when it came out. I'll have to listen once more maybe? It's ok!
This sounds like pub karaoke jigs and anthems in detuned slow motion, and everyone is deep into their pints.
Did not really like it, not my style
Mostly this dude can't sing.
Was fine, felt ahead of its time maybe but not really drawing me back
This one really didn’t do it for me. Don’t like the vocals. I usually appreciate bands that use the accordion, but this whole cacophony/whining background doesn’t do it for me. It picks up towards the end when they stop the spoken word stuff so I will round up, but personally it’s 1.5 stars from me.
What in the Country punk rock was that? No.
I wish this was weirder and noisier. I'm not opposed to this genre fusion in theory, but here the country sound heavily outweighs the punk/post-punk, and gets boring (grating, even) quickly. "Psycho Cupid" was the most interesting track by far, and I wanted more of it!
okay
it was okay but not my style
Felt rather mid to me. I mean, it’s good but nothing extraordinary.
No es un album insoportable pero no se merece más de unaescucha circunstancial.
Curious album with the switch in instruments and changing to more folk. The singing was a real put-off too.
Mostly annoying.
Just such a nothing album. Not bad, not good, not interesting, not fun.
Very nice al principio. Desesperante al final.
Second half picks up, but overall is nothing mindblowing, it's a bit like the Pogues and the Fall but I found it less enjoyable than both
One to file under ‘combinations that shouldn’t have been tried’. In this case it’s a strange mix of punk and country, which for the most part congeals into an unenjoyable sound paired with unimpressive vocals. It does pick up from the low bar set early on though, so it’s not 1* bad. Don’t fear if you get this album, but you could probably use some whiskey to get you through it.
A rare album that improved as it went on. The opener was bloody awful, and while the following few were better, there was far too much talking for my liking. ‘Hard to Be Human Again’ was probably the best of tracks 1-5, having a bit more energy, and for the same reason tracks 6-10 were much stronger. It was a frustrating album; the songs at their core were fairly decent and the punk-country sound/concept was interesting, but the vocals and production were often dreadful. Despite finishing strongly, the first half ensures it’s not quite good enough for 3 stars.
Oh, I don't know man. This started off as "lol what the fuck" and then turned boring with brief excursions back into wtf-land. I think the main problem is, they're trying to infuse country music into punk and/or post-punk, which would be fine but... the Brits don't exactly have a country music tradition. So this ends up sounding like a British idea of country music. Not unlike the time I had what was called quacamole in London. Maybe there was an avocado involved, maybe it was just green mayonnaise, either way it wasn't what you want. Likewise, by this point, American punk bands were already incorporating country and rockabilly elements into their music. X exists, you know? Anyway, swing and a miss. I actually put on some later albums, just to see, and they get better! Not great, but better.
not my cup of tea
The two best parts of this list. UK aaand Country together. What can go wrong?
Nah
Sounds like the singer got a fire poker caught in his throat right before he got to the recording studio. I wish someone would have hit me over the head with one while I was listening to put me out of my misery. Just kidding. It wasn’t that bad. I would need a lot of whiskey before listening again.
Before starting this project, I had often declared that I didn’t like 80s music. One of the things I’ve learned after 880 albums (ironic) is that the 80s actually had some absolute bangers! This is not one of them. This album is straight ass. Shit like this is the exact nonsense that leads me to say that I don’t like 80s music.
Bootycheeks
Earnest and boring, sorry to say.
5/10 - inoffensive and an easy listen
It's not the worst thing on this list (by far) but it's... also not good. 2/5
Talk about generic 80s british rock.
This album never really hit it's stride for me. It's okay, but not a stand out.
Saved? ❌ Would listen again? 🤔 Would recommend to anyone? ❌ Would buy on Vinyl? ❌
Kind of sucks
They try hard, but life is too short to listen to all 35 min of this 2.2
Just a lot of the same and I didn’t like the style
It’s not bad, it’s just not my vibe. Not sure why it’s on this list, maybe it’s influential to other people. Two stars.
Langdradig en soms ronduit lelijk.
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.
I don't know... Wanted to like this more than I did. Has some interesting moments, but kind of dull throughout otherwise. 2/5.
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.
Quite fun, but not that good
Strange
Not a memorable record.
ele tenta ser algo diferente, mas é só um rock meio country batido, bem qualquer coisa.
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.
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
its ok
A few songs I enjoyed. 2.5
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.
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.
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.
Ik vond het niet zo boeiend helaas
☑️
Biweekly midrange Britpop obligation
Neither here nor there
This felt more like a manifesto of which I was not interested
Eh...it's almost ok sometimes. Not something I found myself getting particularly excited over.
The premise was much better than the actual result. Favorite track: Country
Country punk. Good variation in style and songwriting but just underwhelming.
just weird
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.
Just ok
It sounds like other people
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.
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!
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.
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
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?
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
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.
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)
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.
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.
I want to like this but it’s kind of annoying.
1.9
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.
Bruh how do some of these albums get on this list
Huh. Kinda like light British punk? Not great though.
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.
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.
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.
Dreadful stuff. Album Art 3/5
At least it's only half an hour long.
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.
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?
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.
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.
2.4 2x catch up 2/10
It was fine. Very British. Too much talking over music rather than singing though. Never heard of this band before.
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.
#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
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.
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
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
me: i want the pogues mom: we have the pogues at home the pogues at home:
Another mid British band Nice fiddle though
Honky tonk bar music (jk),, unlesszzz. Idk. I feel bleh. TWO!
At least the music was not intrusive to my currently rather stressful workload. Singing was not my cup of tea.
Wasn't as bad as I was expecting from some of the reviews on here
Meh
2/5
I didn't hate it, but I probably should have? 2.4.
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?
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
More 80's crap
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.
Meh. Indyish mutterings w few musical flourishes or melodic hooks to hold interest.
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
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.
Черговий британський альбом з 80х по квоті цього списку. Друга пісня прям сподобалась, але все інше - зовсім ні. Послухав і забув.
Listened Before? N It was okay. Not sure I needed to hear this but it didn't completely suck. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Hard to Be Human Again
Meh
More of a last four songs you should hear before you die. First half is pretty unremarkably boring. Those last four songs I get it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they’re a masterpiece, but the last four make sense to the vision/hype of this album. Throwing out the first five songs entirely knocks this to a 3, I feel a 3 on the country songs.
one of the albums of all time
This is...something! Post punk meets country - I can appreciate the experimentation, but I'm just not convinced. Vocals are too punk and instrumental is severely country. They aren't really in dialogue with each other. The contrast is fun, but not something I'd play through again.
Bush league.
Needs a stronger accent to sound authentic.
Like the spirit of this record but the songs are lacking majorly
That’s a no from me dogg.
Not quite bad enough to be a 1/5 (more due to some of the albums that i have given a 1 to, but not far off)
ziemlich albern und naiv. Brauch ich nicht!
Did you know country punk is called cowpunk? That was the only thing I got from this. Favorite Tracks: Chivalry, Last Dance, Lost Highway
Ничего примечательного и, главное, почти полное отсутствие мелодичности и гармонии. Не моё в общем. 4,5 из 10.
Annoying avant garde experiment band with a lead singer doing a bad Robert Smith impression. One song had a kazoo as the primary instrument. It is saved from a 1 because the opening song wasn't bad, but it went downhill quickly from there. A low-end 2/5
Ok
Didn’t do much for me. No real standouts. Kinda whiney.
eh
Not for me. 2
It was alrighttt I think the lead singers voice isn’t agreeable to me like the tone of his voice makes the the songs like spoof like fake songs so idk
Another mid british band.
Dziwne. Trochę jakby pijani beatlesi coś tam gadali do mikrofonu. 2/5
I liked the music
Flimsy bar band nonsense. Presumably better after a few drinks?
sounds like a 80's garage band
Can’t overcome my underlying anglophobia on this one. Can’t accept anything near country rock from an English guy. Rolling Stones kinda got there a couple of times but that’s it.
There's a lot of cool ideas here, but the singer absolutely drags it down. Stick someone else on the top of this and you'd actually have something cool. It's not like it needs to be pitch perfect, but stick someone like Shane McGowan or Joe Strummer in and it'd actually be good.
I can always get behind some folksy violin, but this record had just a little too much disjointed nonsense for my liking. Best Track: Last Dance
The Mekons are a hit and miss band for me. They have some great stuff in their catalog but not all of it hits. I get that this was an influential album in its melding folk/country and punk but it’s just misses more than it hits for me. Some alright tracks but nothing worthy of another listen for me. 5/10
I guess it's got historical value maybe? Is it a good album though? Not really.
-it was ok - it did some interesting stuff - i really did not like the voice of the main guy - the drums were boring and uninspired and obviously synth -felt bland
Really wanted to like this but just couldn't. It has clearly influenced artists I enjoy but did not mesh multiple styles in an enjoyable way. 2/5