Editorial Reviews Music Review:
Music Review
Childhood's End - El Fin De La Infancia
Johann Strauss Jr.: Famous Waltzes, Polkas, Marches & Overtures, Vol. 2
Music: Return to Japan [Import]
Life Styles: Bugz in the Attic [Import]
Just Call Me "Lone" Lee: The Continuing Confessions of Tim "Love" Lee [Import]
Jhumra Tal - Tabla for Accompaniment or Practice
Amazon.com
You can't count on very much in life, but you can count on the Mekons, who celebrate 25 years of shambling, oft-brilliant agit-punk with OOOH! (Out of Our Heads). This spirited release serves up everything from drunken sing-along anthems to slice-of-life songs. Their originals have always mixed brazen politics with unsentimental humor, making them far more effective and longer-lasting than a dozen Exploited. (Their first single, 1977's "Never Been in a Riot," was a direct, sarcastic response to the Clash's "White Riot.") Originally art punks, band members recharged themselves with country in the mid-'80s, dabbled briefly with dance and dub, and now make a career-encompassing joyous noise. Highlights here include the circular, snaking guitars and insistent rhythms of "Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem," which sounds like Richard Thompson sitting in with the Ex, and the beautiful, weary "Lone Pilgrim," which brings to mind the Pogues. --Mike McGonigal