THE MEKONS

"the quality of mercy is not strnen"
Year:  1979
Label:  Virgin
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  18
Time:  50 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Post Punk

The debut album by one of my all-time favorite bands. The title derives from the "Infinite Monkey Theorem" which holds that an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of typewriters would eventually produce Shakespeare (the title is from "The Merchant of Venice" and the monkey has misspelled strained). There are many references to this in popular culture, my favorite being on "The Simpsons": Monty Burns has a roomful of monkeys at typewriters and he chastises one for typing "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times?! You stupid monkey!" Anyway, back to the LP! The Mekons originated in Leeds, England, also the home of Gang of Four. And not coincidentally, this has much in common sonically with early Gang. In fact, the back cover has a photo of the Virgin labelmates instead of the Mekons, kinda like Stiff putting a photo of Eddie and the Hot Rods on the back of the first copies of The Damned's debut LP. I imagine they came up with the basic sound organically, together, being friends and all. The bonus tracks at the end are from a 1980 double 7" and finds them developing a more PiL-ish dubby sound. The Mekons moved all over the post-punk map before settling on the post-Gram Parsons honky-tonking for which they became famous, single-handedly inventing alt.country. For good or ill depending on your point of view. I love the band and basically feel they can do no wrong. They are one of the most entertaining live bands I have ever seen. I have in fact shared the stage with them as a rabid fan not once but twice - at NYC's Central Park in '91 when roadie Mitch pulled several of us up onstage to dance (this after passing me a pitcher of ice cold beer - it was crowded and hot as fuck) and at DC's 9:30 Club in '94 where I joined them for the shouted chorus of "Rock And Roll!" on Memphis, Egypt and even a verse after Tom gave me the nod to take it! There ya go, my rockstar moment-in-the-sun!

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"idem"
Year:  1980
Label:  Red Rhino
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  36 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Post Punk

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"fear and whiskey"

Year:  1985

Label:  Sin

Format:  CD, LP

Tracks:  10

Time:  40 min.

Genre:  acoustic

Style:        Folk Punk

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"The Mekons rock'n'roll"
Year:  1989
Label:  A&M
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  36 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:         Folk Punk

The Mekons are a British rock band. Formed in the late 1970s as an art collective, they are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. Through the years, the band's musical style has evolved, incorporating aspects of country music, folk music, alternative rock and even occasional experiments with dub. They are known for their raucous live shows. These days, The Mekons are often described as a post-punk, cowpunk and/or alt country band.

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"the curse of the mekons"

Year:  1991

Label:  Blast First

Format:  CD, LP

Tracks:  12

Time:  40 min.

Genre:  acoustic

Style:        Folk Punk

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"punk rock"
Year:  2004
Label:  Touch and Go
Format:  CD
Tracks:  15
Time:  36 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Punk Rock

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"natural"

Year:  2007

Label:  Quarterstick

Format:  CD

Tracks:  12

Time:  40 min.

Genre:  acoustic

Style:        Folk Punk

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"it is twice blessed"
Year:  2018
Label:  Slow things
Fomat:  LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  36 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Post Punk








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"deserted"

Year:  2019

Label:  Bloodshot

Format:  CD, LP

Tracks:  9

Time:  40 min.

Genre:  acoustic

Style:        Folk Punk

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VIVIEN GOLDMAN

"Resolutionary"
Year:  1979
Country:  UK
City:  London
Label:  Staubgold
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  30 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Reggae Punk

Vivien Goldman released only a few songs into the world in 1981, but they are critically acclaimed. Her release, the Dirty Washing EP, had "Launderette" as the A-side, a track that was co-produced by John Lydon (Johnny Rotten). There's a myth about music critics according to which they are frustrated wannabe performers. Evidence to the contrary: Vivien Goldman. The London-born, New York-based Goldman is one of the foremost chroniclers of the perfect storm of reggae, punk, hip hop, and Afrobeat, but between 1979 and 1982, she was also a working musician, creating songs that, years later, would be sampled by The Roots and Madlib. These rare girl grooves are now collected for the first time on Resolutionary, covering Goldman's first three musical formations; first as a member of experimental British new wavers The Flying Lizards, next as a solo artist with her single "Launderette" featuring post-punk luminaries, and then as half of the Parisian duo Chantage with Afro-Parisian chanteuse Eve Blouin. Goldman's eclectic musical crew included PiL's John Lydon, Keith Levene, and Bruce Smith; avant-gardists Steve Beresford and David Toop; The Raincoats' Vicky Aspinall; the mighty Robert Wyatt; Zaire's Jerry Malekani; Manu Dibango's guitarist; Viv Albertine, then of Goldman's good friends The Slits; and dubmaster Adrian Sherwood, who produced the majority of these tracks. Goldman sang in a lilting, clear-toned soprano honed during childhood. She began her singing career in the late '70s, doing backup with Neneh Cherry and Ari Up (The Slits) on Sherwood records by reggae artists including Prince Far I. Goldman was grooving to the innovations of dub. The contrast between Goldman's high, lilting tones and the deep rumble of the bass is a hallmark of all her work, giving a haunting frisson of sex and alienation to songs like The Flying Lizards' "The Window." Reggae had been her London soundtrack, but after moving to Paris in the early '80s, she absorbed music from Africa, an interplay audible in exultant Chantage tracks like "It's Only Money," a mix of steelpan, African soukous guitar, and sobbing Romani violin riding ferocious funk. As the 1990s began, Goldman moved to Manhattan and became New York University's "Punk Professor," teaching original courses on punk, Bob Marley, David Bowie, and Fela Kuti. But she never stopped singing and writing songs. Chicks on Speed released a later cut, "7 Days," on their 2006 Girl Monster compilation (COSR 033CD). Her house 12" records with artists including Berlin's Moritz von Oswald are compiled on LPs. Goldman has also co-written tracks with Massive Attack, Coldcut, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Luscious Jackson. Early in 2016, she performed dub readings onstage with Boston's Berklee Marley Ensemble. Her multimedia beat goes on.

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JOE STRUMMER

"streetcore"
Year:  2003
Label:  Hellcat
Format:  CD , LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  41 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:         Indie Rock

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"global a go-go"
Year:  2001
Label:  Hellcat
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  60 min.
Genre:  acoustic
Style:        Indie Punk






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"rock art and the x-ray style"
Year:  1999
Label:  Hellcat
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  50 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:         Indie Punk

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"earthquake"
Year:  1989
Label:  Sony
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  14
Time:  46 min.
Genre:  rock , acoustic
Style:         Folk  Rock

"Earthquake weather" is a 1989 record by former The Clash frontman Joe Strummer. The album was well received by critics, but was not a commercial success. The majority of the album was recorded in Los Angeles, California in 1988 and 1989. It was the first time Strummer had worked on his own musical project. In previous years he had worked with Alex Cox on the soundtracks of his films "Sid and Nancy" and "Walker" in 1986 and 1987. He also worked on the production of his former Clash partner's, Mick Jones second album with the band Big Audio Dynamite in 1986. The album was released by Epic Records, sub label of the major Sony.

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"Walker - soundtrack"
Year:  1987
Label:  Virgin
Format:  CD , LP , DVD
Tracks:  17
Time:  58 min.
Genre:  rock , acoustic
Style:         Folk Rock         Latin

Joe Strummer had become friendly with filmmaker Alex Cox when Strummer contributed some songs to the soundtrack of Cox's movie Sid and Nancy, and Joe later tagged along for the drunken holiday in Spain that was Straight to Hell. In 1987, when Cox began filming his ambitious (perhaps too ambitious) film about the life of American mercenary William Walker, he brought Strummer along to play a small role in the film and compose the score. Strummer's music turned out to be just as ambitious as the film itself; Walker bears almost no resemblance to Strummer's work with the Clash, instead aiming for a airy fusion of several Latin musical styles (and showing a faint influence of the music of legendary film composer Ennio Morricone, though thankfully not stumbling into the clichés that have grown from his work). Strummer only sings on three cuts ("The Unknown Immortal," "Tennessee Rain," and "Tropic of No Return," which sound more like Mexican folk tunes than anything else), and while more than a few fans will wonder what Joe was thinking when he recorded this stuff, Strummer obviously took his assignment seriously and rather than forcing a period piece set in 1850 to bend to the force of his music, he pulled back the reigns on his rock influences and fashioned a series of simple but evocative pieces that conjure up the mystery and beauty of Nicaragua with commendable sense of dynamics and grace. In short, Strummer could have become a first-rate film composer if he'd stuck with it, and while Walker is something of an anomaly in his discography, it's also a lovely and engaging set of music (*review by Mark Deming ).

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GOOD CHARLOTTE

"the young and the hopeless"
Year:  2002
Country:  US
City:  Maryland, CA
Label:  Sony
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  16
Time:  40 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Pop  Punk

Just when pop punk seems to have left it's former glory days, Good Charlotte comes out with their sophomore album, The Young and the Hopeless. Their hair might be a little more gravity defying, they might have more piercings, and they might have lost their old drummer, but they do show a little more insight with their lyrics. Highlights on The Young and the Hopeless include "The Anthem", which deals with being institutionalized in high school (almost a continuation of "Little Things"), "My Bloody Valentine", a twisted love song about a guy who murders the his true love's boyfriend, "Movin' On", which sounds more like it belongs on their self-titled album, and the title track "The Young and the Hopeless". An honorable mention is "The Day That I Die", which sounds like a country ballad at first, but then it moves on into imitating Social Distortion's style. Good Charlotte tries enough new ideas to keep things interesting, while still remaining true to the sound of their first album without getting boring and repetitive. Fans will still remain fans (hopefully) and the people who hate them will, well, still hate them. I don't expect punk elitists to change anytime soon and realize that this is a good album (*Review by Chaos King ).

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