by Mark Deming
The third album from what could be called the Mekons' "soused socialist
hillbilly-punks from Leeds" period, 1987's Honky Tonkin' built on
the country-influenced musical and lyrical themes of Fear and Whiskey
and The Edge of the World, where the boozy ambience of classic Nashville
sounds found a sympathetic ear among this pack of political and emotional
underdogs. As a set of songs, Honky Tonkin' isn't quite up to the standards
of the previous two albums, which creatively kick started the band after
a period of inactivity, but as an album Honky Tonkin' is one of the band's
best efforts. Touring and frequent visits to the recording studio had
tightened up the Mekons' sound a bit ("tight" being a highly
relative concept), and while it's many miles away from slick, the more
full-bodied engineering and production on Honky Tonkin' was a decided
improvement on the often hollow and slapdash recording of Fear and Whiskey.
And given a sympathetic recording environment for a change, the Mekons
truly delivered the goods; the rollicking sway of "Kidnapped"
and "Keep Hoppin'" finds room for a boozy joy in an unfriendly
world, while the bitterness and defeat of "Spit" and "I
Can't Find My Money" put a sympathetic human face on this band's
class-conscious rage. And while this album didn't contain the Mekons'
first stab at the 19th century protest song "The Trimdon Grange Explosion,"
this version was a remarkable meeting of folk-rock's earnestness and punk's
spitting wrath which ranks with the group's most powerful recorded moments.
Just short of a masterpiece, and one of the high points of the Mekons'
twangy period.
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