Fear and Whiskey

It starts strong: 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘺 delivers a sharp post-punk energy with just enough twang to feel fresh. But from there, the album gradually loses focus. The blend of punk and country is interesting in theory, but the raw, uneven production makes it feel more like a sketch than a statement.

There’s charm in its looseness, and the attitude is sincere, but it doesn’t fully hold together. Great opening, patchy journey.

It is not so strange an idea to me that country and punk can, or even should, be smashed recklessly together. Look at The Gun Club, Meat Puppets, the cowpunk scene at large, or even some of the alt country songwriters of the '90s like Will Oldham who definitely had some involvement in the punk world. Although I will say, even though Mekons have all the components of these two worlds, the stuff happening here on Fear And Whiskey is like some secret new thing. Like for a couple of tracks, before I was sold on this, I was convinced that this was just lunacy. We aren't quite starting with punk, it's more Post-Punk, almost New Wave. And while most of the examples I provided incorporate country more as "Americana", where the music is made a little dustier, maybe a little lower fidelity than a regular punk album, and the sound and palette reflect that, that isn't how Mekons really go about things. The sound here is pretty much pure Post-Punk (with some New Wave sheen), but the *songwriting* is *very* informed by country. Like this is country software on Post-Punk hardware or something. And, very importantly, the biggest aesthetic effect the country influence has here is the fiddle, which is a major part of these arrangements, and it sits super weirdly, because it is played in the super expressive, almost sour way that the fiddle manifests in Country Music. Throw some borderline spoken word on top of it all and add the occasional weird-o vocal effect here and there for good measure, and you're left with a real headscratcher. Like this isn't all *that* weird in the grand scheme of things, but all of the components here are so deeply mutated that I actually sort of struggle to fathom how they stumbled into this space: It almost has a surreal quality at times. More importantly, I have decided that I like it. Chivalry is a good picture of what’s happening here, it’s idiosyncratic, unique and kind of fun. There’s a little ‘80s cheese, but it kinda works here, just adds another axiom for me to gawk at. Although I was sold by the end of Trouble Down South, it’s conversely kind of a dark take on the sound. It has a sourness, and it’s kind of theatrical in a weird way too. In fact, I’ve heard some people mention that this is a concept album, and I think that tracks. Darkness and Doubt is cool too, it almost sounds like Modest Mouse for a couple of passages, and it honestly sort of makes sense. Country is great too, and I really like the cover of Lost Highway at the end. Although honestly, once you tap into the aesthetic, the songs are all pretty great. It really is fascinating music. I can imagine this isn’t for everyone, but give it a chance, it’s pretty cool!

Mekons are cool. Alt country Mekons: cool.

Where Were You is their best song (it's not on here). Especially when Boredoms interpolate it.

Too cool for DSOTM dweebs.

Fear and Whiskey is an album that i enjoyed quite a fair bit. This one very clearly has a lot of country influences (Heck, the final song on this album is a cover of an actual country song) And i say, they mixed quite well with all the more rock like elements. The country elements very rarely got overbearing because they didn't ever feel as if they were taking over the whole album. Even then, i liked the songs that leaned more towards being typical rock music because they could be some rather enjoyable tracks. This album also felt like it went at a good length with it not ending too early or too late. This is an album that while not amazing, does it's job pretty well.
Best Song: Hard to Be Human Again
Worst Song: Flitcraft

This was not to my taste. Although I'm not averse to a bit of tuneless shambolic music if done right, this version of it doesn't work for me.

Creí que era otra cosa más punk. Me han sonado a Pop estándar de Pub inglés para cantar con la pinta en alto.

Solide Mischung aus Folk und Rock, seiner Zeit voraus.

Surprisingly good.

Though some vocal jank, the album feels like bold statement melodies telling interesting stories

I’m at a 3.

A tale of two sides, really – I found myself utterly baffled by the first half of the album. I thought it had no real consistency, I thought the lyricism was strange, I thought the instrumentation was fine enough (if a bit overmixed, overblown & sort of cacophonic), and as a whole, I just generally didn’t grasp onto a “modus operandi” for the album. Those first 5 tracks, even after a re-listen where they sort of clicked more, are a weird, artsy, fully competent 2.5 that I think just didn’t quite grab me in the sort of avant-garde way it was going for.

The back half of the album is a solid, solid 3.5, that actually leans into the “post-punk meets country” vibe that I thought the full album would be going for. There’s some positive comparisons to the Pogues in here, some stronger lyricism/melodies, and just a general nicer blend of instrumentation (and strangely enough, better audio fidelity) that makes for a nice enough set of tracks. They’re not *great,* but they’re pretty good, and I enjoyed them, especially on Flitcraft, Abernant 1984/5, & Last Dance. Lost Highway is fine, but the abrupt fadeout sort of feels rushed and leaves the track “unfinished” to the ears.

Obviously, that balances out to a 3. I feel like I need to listen to this album starting from Flitcraft, before looping around and ending on the baffling tones of “Psycho Cupid”, to see if that would make the progression of the album flow better… but I don’t want to take away from their original intent and vision. I can genuinely see both sides of the coin on this one – there’s an argument to be made for as high as a 5, and one to be made for as low as a 1, and somehow, they’d both probably be valid. I’m split on that difference, hence a 3, though I think that’s the ceiling for my own personal tastes. It’s not a bad album, just a strange, strange album. Maybe it’ll fully click one day.

P.S.: The book says the following about this album:

“The Mekons are one of the UK's most brilliant and undervalued groups. Formed as a loose collective in Leeds in 1977 when they started messing around with the Gang Of Four's equipment, they released a couple of chaotic LPs (plus single "Never Been In A Riot," directed at The Clash) and then took a sabbatical. Energized by the UK miners' strike of 1984 to '85, the band (with original members Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh) re-emerged with Fear And Whiskey, lauded by many as the best album of the decade.”

I would love to meet the “many” here, because I think you have to be a musical freak to call this the best album of the 1980s. Maybe they're onto something, I dunno.

I mean, what are we even doing here guys? What's the point of it all? What is our collective higher purpose?

I thought from the description I'd hate this album and wasn't far off. The instrumentation was actually better than I expected. But every song sounded like a mess and the fiddle was too much. Really the only song I enjoyed was Psycho Cupid. Not enough to save the album though. 1.4/5 -> 1/5

I think you had to be there at the time. Bonus point for Gang of Four association, minus point for British people attempting to play country. I think this would be good to own in 1985 only so you can 'out-obscure" your music listening friends - you know the game, it goes:
YOU: "Hey man have you heard Beach Rat?"
THEM: "Uh yeah, have you heard Chat Pile?"
YOU: "Yeah of course, going to see them next week. Heard the new Yulia Niko?"
THEM: "Drakulas?"
YOU: "La Lom?"
THEM: "IceCreamDeathCult?"
YOU: "Grails?"
THEM: "Nurse With Wound?"
YOU: "MASTER BOOT RECORD?"

You get the idea.

It's ok. Prefer latter material

The Mekon was the arch-enemy of Dan Dare, The Mekons are the arch enemy of people with musical taste.

Pairs post-punk style aesthetics with Irish folk and Country sounds - a bit of fiddle and accordian, some lilting rhythms, some traditional melodies. It's an interesting idea in principle, and somebody was bound to do it (see also the Pogues) but in practice it ends up pretty put-on hokey and contrived.

Favorites: Hard to Be Human, Lost Highway

Just no.

a zany but interesting experience.

I had never heard of this band, but I enjoyed this all the way through. If you’re into talking heads, velvet underground, devo and the like, I bet you’ll like this too.

I can't even. As the kids say. Didn't make it past the 5th track