Fanatic Voyage [Vinyl]

Sea Note and Palace Records join forces to welcome Chivalrous Amoekons to our rowdy collective stable! Here we have one of the hottest road-leathered bands in recent memory, laying it all on the line for a joyous Fanatic Voyage to the center of the never-ending enigma of The Mekons. Pouring out from the bars of the opening number, the soulful strut of “Curse” makes us realize that we are in the hands of a fiendish and indomitable force — but ain’t we always been? Once upon a long time ago, The Mekons shot through the sprawl of the British punk scene and soon thereafter, found themselves born again to rock and roll to their roots. Once they’d found how to play it that way (with a sharp-quilled approach to the writing), their songs of politics made personal, outraged satire served both wet and dry and heartstruck humanity hit many listeners right between the ears, landing the kind of blow that only the most essential rock music can. Their anomaly has evolved over four decades and eighteen albums (with a new release coming on Bloodshot in September!), but those entranced listeners aren’t yet ready to back down on their claim. Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy’s Will Oldham is one such listener. In fact, the guys in the office next door to us first heard him singing a song called “For the Mekons, et al” in the company of the Palace Brothers back in 1992, and that right there was enough to get the ball rolling. The Mekons inspired an optimism in this young man that accepted the course of all paths and all fates in life, so long as they could be righteous. And the path from there has never been less than that. In those early days of Brothers, Songs and Music, the third Palace single featured a fine-toothed rendition of Sally Timms’ “Horses.” Some years later, Bonny himself performed at The Mekons’ 30th anniversary shows at The Mutiny in Chicago, filling in for Tom Greenhalgh in true deputy style. But all this wasn’t enough — nor were the thousand nights of bellowing along with the ste