by John Dougan
It's amazing that as down and out as the Mekons were at this point, they
could manage to summon up the emotional wherewithal to make a record as
excellent as Curse, but they did. The title most definitely reflects the
band's mindset at this time, but this is not the music of self-pity and
despair ("We're right in all we distrust," yelps Greenhaigh
on the title track); in fact, if it weren't for The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll,
this might be the Mekons' finest moment. Politically charged songs despairing
about communism and capitalism, a return to C&W (Sally Timms' passionate
reading of John Anderson's "Wild and Blue"), and a dig at America's
status as the world's only post-Cold War superpower ("100% Song").
Heady stuff, and not all happy, but remarkably assured and very rewarding.
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