The Mekons Rock 'n Roll

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The Mekons Rock 'n Roll
The Mekons' Rock'n'roll.jpg
Studio album by
The Mekons
ReleasedSeptember 1989
RecordedTerminal Studios & Berry Street Studio London
GenreAlternative rock
Length45:24
LabelBlast First
ProducerMekons/Ian Caple
The Mekons chronology
So Good It Hurts
(1988) 		The Mekons Rock 'n Roll
(1989) 		The Curse of the Mekons
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[1]
Chicago Tribune3.5/4 stars[2]
The Philadelphia Inquirer3/4 stars[3]
Q4/5 stars[4]
Rolling Stone4/5 stars[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide4/5 stars[6]
Spin Alternative Record Guide10/10[7]
The Village VoiceA[8]

The Mekons Rock 'n Roll is the eighth studio album by English rock band The Mekons, released in 1989.

Critical reception[]

The album was well-received by critics on its initial release. It was named eighth of the top 10 albums of 1989 in the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll.[9] In 1991, New York Times critic Jon Pareles called it "one of the best albums of the 1980s."[10]

Decades later, critics still remembered it fondly.[11][12] Pitchfork placed The Mekons Rock 'n Roll at number 97 on its 2002 list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s.[13] In 2007, the record was ranked at number 97 on Blender's list of the "100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever".[14] It was included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.[15]

Track listing[]

All songs composed by The Mekons (as per label). The BMI database lists all songs as composed by Tom Greenhalgh and Jon Langford.

  1. "Memphis, Egypt" – 3:37
  2. "Club Mekon" – 3:29
  3. "Only Darkness Has the Power" – 3:28
  4. "Ring O' Roses" – 4:07
  5. "Learning to Live on Your Own" – 4:37
  6. "Cocaine Lil" – 2:51
  7. "Empire of the Senseless" – 4:35
  8. "Someone" – 2:44
  9. "Amnesia" – 4:31
  10. "I Am Crazy" – 3:28
  11. "Heaven and Back" – 3:16
  12. "Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet" – 3:56
  13. "Echo" – 4:33
  14. "When Darkness Falls" – 3:53

The American issue of this album omits "Ring O' Roses" and "Heaven and Back".

References[]

  1. ^ Dougan, John. "The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll – The Mekons". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  2. ^ Kot, Greg (9 November 1989). "Mekons: The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll (Twin Tone/A & M)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  3. ^ Moon, Tom (29 October 1989). "The Mekons: The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll (Twin-Tone A&M)". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  4. ^ "The Mekons: The Mekons Rock 'n Roll". Q. No. 37. October 1989.
  5. ^ Young, Jon (8 February 1990). "The Mekons: The Mekons Rock N' Roll". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  6. ^ Considine, J. D.; Hoard, Christian (2004). "The Mekons". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 534–36. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ^ Weisbard, Eric (1995). "Mekons". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 248–49. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  8. ^ Christgau, Robert (21 November 1989). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  9. ^ "Pazz & Jop: Top 10 Albums By Year, 1971-2017". Village Voice. New York City. January 22, 2018. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  10. ^ Pareles, Jon (July 5, 1991). "Pop/Jazz; The Mekons Shed a Label For a Curse That Works". New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  11. ^ Christgau, Robert (24 April 2001). "The Mekons: Rock 'n' Roll". Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  12. ^ Nelson, Elizabeth (18 September 2019). "Handcuffed to History: 'The Mekons Rock 'N' Roll' Is 30 Years Old". The Ringer. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  13. ^ "The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. 21 November 2002. p. 1. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  14. ^ "Blender's 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever". Stereogum. 14 November 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  15. ^ Moon, Tom. 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. p. 494-495.

External links[]

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