LYCOS RETRIEVER 
The Mekons: Punk Rock
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The Mekons are the most revolutionary group in the history of rock 'n' roll. They are ... the finest artists ever to have graced this admittedly somewhat degenerate form with the grace of their aesthetic sensibilities, rarefied as a glimpse through a butterfly's wing. The muses gobbled cantharides for these fellows. Collectively they compromise a kind of Sistine Chapel ceiling neath which the pathetic mess of pottage which is commonly snickered off as the 'rock scene' from PiL to Black Oak Arkansas, can but swash buboed forearms cross their offal-crusted snouts and recommence to grovel together in the La Brea-trackless depths of corporate swill.
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For about a year back in the 1970s The Mekons epitomized the risks, extremes and ludicrous promise of punk rock. It was a different time f’sure BUT eerily similar to NOW. For a while back THEN the Mekons were indeed very interested in punk rock but it wore off (for reasons t
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Punk Rock (Quarterstick) In late 2002/early 2003, the Mekons celebrated their 25th anniversary with a select tour of Europe and North America. The influential group stuffed their set list with some of the dusty punk anthems that launched this eclectic punk collective. Happy with the result, the Mekons decided that their next album would contain some of these early tunes – some recorded for the first time – along with new material, and live selections from that tour. Good idea. Too bad it didn't work. The singing on studio cuts "What" and "This Sporting Life" leave much to be desired, even with the novel addition of banjo and kalimba thumb piano.
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Later Mekons albums tend more often toward country--not the prettified Nashville sound of today, but a rawer pre-commercial country--a direction that began when some core members began relocating across the Atlantic to the U.S. in the 1980s. But Heaven & Hell documents other Mekon musical excursions through folk balladry, sampling and drum machines, New Orleans zydeco and--always, always--cranked-up guitar rock.
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After touring on the back of their twisted non-retrospective Punk Rock in 2004, the Mekons picked up their instruments and lost themselves far beyond the beaten path, out in the wilds of the English countryside. They drank whiskey all night, listened to the rocks and the Stones and tuned into strange old frequencies. They recited lines from Darwin and Thoreau and renewed their vows in a remote stone circle high up on the blasted heath where birds and branches sing beneath the roar of jet fighters as they swoop over the sharp crags and dark water, rehearsing for Armageddon.
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With so many style revivals and retro-celebrations going on among rock performers of all ages, it may be hard to feel the distinction the Mekons are trying to make. Not only is the group's past not dead, it's not even past any more. You will get the message, though, if listening to "Punk Rock" makes you reflect on the fraught state of the world, rather than just on the glories of the music.
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Punk Rock