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MisterJunior
This is a fantastic record. The idea that it created "Alt-Country" is silly and wrong, but that's really inconsequential -- it's great working class, gritty/sloppy Roots music imbued with the wild spirit that Punk originally had, with no thought given to boundaries or limits of what instruments and types of music can be used by "Punk" bands. Just a blast to listen to from start to finish. I also want to encourage those who have seen this one on some Best of the 80s list to check out the Mekons' other stuff from the period (and really pretty much all of their other stuff), because they have as many great albums as just about any of their contemporaries, even the mighty Fall. For whatever reason, they've existed largely in a vacuum for most of the last 40 years, aside from the praise given to this album and The Mekons Rock 'N' Roll from 1989; IMO this is a travesty/tragedy because they're one of the most vital acts Punk/Post-Punk has ever given us. Start here, though.
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ctd55
My favorite album of the 80s: appealingly sloppy, ambitious rock with a willingness to mash up genres. It's an album of two halves: the first is restless stylistic experimentation that draws on more traditional pop-music genres (country, folk, jazz, etc.) to complicate their post-punk attack; the second half is the result of all that experimentation, a pounding, driving fusion of something like country and something like post-punk. The first side feels eclectic, but sort of tentative; it has the better individual songs, but there's no real flow. The second side feels as organic and seamless as any album side I've ever heard, with a relentless buildup to a stunning pop song ("Last Dance") and then a fadeout on a shambling, apposite cover. Yet, for all its experimentation and seriousness of purpose, Fear and Whiskey is just plain fun, with all the pleasures of rock and roll (pounding drums, howling vocals, sloppy guitar riffs) and a few more besides (like that divine fiddle).
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