The Mekons: Boston Tar Baby (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Skelly (vocals, guitar); Der Cougar (vocals, accordion); Dick Taylor, Otto (guitar); Avadne Garde (fiddle); Lu Knee (bass); Little Willy (drums).
Additional personnel: Sally Timms (vocals); Brendan Croker (tiple); John Gill (fiddle, bass, melodeon); Bobby Worby (organ).
Engineers include: Tony Bonner, Steve Nunn, Bobby Worby.
Recorded at Greenhouse, Berry St. and Cold Storage, London England; Offbeat and Erics Basement, Leeds, England. Includes liner notes by Sophie Bourbon.
Personnel: Boston Tar Baby (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Sally Timms (vocals); Dick Taylor , Otto (guitar); Brendan Croker (tiple); Suzie Honeyman (violin); John Gill (fiddle, melodion); Avadne Garde (fiddle); Rico Bell (accordion); Bobby Worby, Michael Worby (organ).
Named after--but not including--a Hank Williams classic, the Mekons' 1987 HONKY TONKIN' is the prolific group's folkiest and, arguably, best album. The apex of the long-lived band's mid-'80s fascination with folk and country music, the record at times sounds like Woody Guthrie at his most politicized (especially on the old broadside ballad "The Trimdon Grange Explosion" and the impassioned "If They Hang You," a caustic commentary on the '50s Red Scare) fronting the Pogues at their most unabashed (particularly the hilarious, woozy "Sympathy for the Mekons" and "I Can't Find My Money"). The liner notes namecheck related books, movies and artwork for each song, a gambit that in the hands of, say, Sting would be unbearably smug and pretentious. From the Mekons, however, it just seems like some friendly suggestions from a particularly eclectic and smart group of friends. A remarkably thoughtful and entertaining record.
