Review:
The Good Ship Mekon has been shambling slowly onward ever since
their early days as pioneers of the junk punk DIY ethic, in the
process travelling through ever-shifting personnel changes and
idiosyncratic musical styles. On this LP they seem to have put
their recent infatuation with country music on hold, choosing
instead to further explore the good grooves of reggae and cajun.
The quality of the songwriting, however, is not up to the task,
and suggests that The Mekons have been less than stringent in
the quality control department. The well-documented humour and
steadfastly right-on attitudes cannot compensate for the fundamental
flimsiness of most of the songs here, only three of which manage
to scale the dizzy heights of the quite good. Johnny Miner is
a pointed and haunting sliver of skeletal dub, FANTASTIC VOYAGE
is an enjoyable musical skirmish between skiffle and calypso,
and Poxy Lips approximates the sound of The Fall being sucked
into the Louisiana swamplands by the shuffling rhythms of zydeco.
- Paul Davies
Q, Issue #19 (April 1988)
Another review.
