The Mekons rose like lions with a lively tale to tell of the pleasures and pains of rebellion and revenge with the reggae zydeco experiments of this recondite wanderlust. The band had moved away from their pioneering alt country punkabilly sound on 'Fear and Whiskey', 'The Edge of the World', and 'Honky Tonkin'' to a more diverse sound that incorporated various kinds of world music.
Rico Bell explains: “The Mekons like to deal in concepts and draw musical influences from all over the map, such as punk, folk, reggae and country...We still really get along and respect each other. A lot of bands fall apart because of ego problems but that’s never been the case with us."
'So Good it Hurts' credits Jon "Johnny Minor" Langford on guitar, keyboards, percussion, and vocals; Tom "Brian" Greenhalgh on guitar and vocals; Dick "Sir Dickie" Taylor on guitar and piano; Sally "Hood" Timms on vocals; Robert "Sigmund" Worby on organ; Eric "Rico Christian" Bellis on accordion and vocals; Susie "Dora Honeyperson" Honeyman on fiddle; Steve "Buzz" Goulding on drums; Brendan "Staff Nurse" Croker and Ken Des Essientes on bass, guitar, and vocals; and John "Tahitian" Gill on bass and melodeon; with engineer Brian C. Pugsley.
Greenhalgh says: "Things evolve informally but we generally have a pretty strong idea of what a record is going to be about, what's allowed and what is or isn't appropriate...It's just about being into music generally, listening a lot, to anything, and working out what relates to your own music and feeding it into the process...Anglo-Saxon culture has a deep phobia of anything that whiffs of intellectualism. We're probably inhibited by that, but also it should be possible to think about deep things without having to take yourself too seriously."
Timms considers: "It wasn't something that I was concerned about, and I'd be an idiot to think that we could ever be a commercial success...I mean, you know, there were times when we've done better or worse, depending on the period. I don't think anyone's been unhappy about that. But the whole kind of ethos of the band was never to make money. Otherwise, we'd be doing something different. We would have definitely tried to be more commercial. It's not a commercial-sounding band at all. Especially not in today's market. But even then."
The leftist politcs of 'So Good it Hurts' did nothing to increase the band's profile and it would be the band's last album on Twin/Tone Records. Langford reveals: "We had the Twin/Tone deal. Twin/Tone had a deal with A&M, and we just kind of slipped into it. It felt like it would be a good idea. It would make sense for us, because there would be distribution. A big distributor collapsed on us when we were in the middle of a tour in '88. And it was just like, it was f**ked, it was a waste of time, no one could get our records...This guy who signed us talked a very good game... I liked him actually. He signed us to A&M. He had this idea. We weren't selling a lot of records, but they had this thing where they wouldn't give us that much money, but if we sold 30,000, then everyone would be happy. He wanted to create a model where major-label bands didn't have to sell 100,000 and then everyone was disappointed. It made sense to us. We fell for it. And then he f**king moved. He was gone. He got kicked out. And then we were signed to this label with a load of f**king ***holes in L.A., you know, looking at the accounts and saying, "Why do we have this band?" Which is the same as what happened at Virgin, really... Some accountant came along and said, "Get rid of them." And when we did an album for them that didn't sound like the previous album, you know, they were confused and they wanted to get rid of us. I don't blame them. We should have been gotten rid of. Put out of our misery as soon as possible."
https://myspace.com/mekons
www.mekons.de/mekonhom.htm
https://myspace.com/mekons/music/album/so-good-it-hurts-18584845
Ghosts of American Astronauts
Up in the hills above Bradford
Outside the Napalm factory
(They're floating above us)
Ghosts of American Astronauts
Glow in the headlights beam
It's just a small step for him
It's a nice break from Vietnam
(Filmed in a factory)
Out on the back lot in Houston
Who says the world isn't flat
John Glenn drinks cocktails with God
In a cafe in downtown Saigon
(High above them)
Ghosts of American Astronauts
Are drifting too close to the sun
Chorus:
A flag flying in the vacuum
Nixon sucks a dry Martini
Ghosts of American astronauts
Stay with us in our dreams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DMlxrGIi8U
Johnny Miner
https://myspace.com/mekons/music/song/johnny-miner-87986302-97668435
http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Johnny+Miner/3jvCzS?src=5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9AlWYy0_No
(Sometimes I Feel Like) Fletcher Christian
Sometimes I feel like Fletcher Christian
staring out across the sea
torn apart by duties shackles
The twisted tongues oif loyalty
Well I sucked hard on every pleasure
til my head begun to spin
he'll choose between the whip and feather
and that is where the crime begins
Chorus
Sometimes I feel like Fletcher Christian
in paradise with the tables turned
Yes and I can feel the tatooists nedle
I can feel my neck and ankles burn
These south seas isles are cold and barren
but this civil war's been good for me
We took drugs and tore our uniforms
gave up our captain to the sea
Chorus
Sometimes I feel like Fletcher Christian
twisting off the serpents head
for the mutiny I'll shoot the big one
hot and hungry, far from home
Through the sun and sea my skin is peeling
but it don't make the pictures fade
those shapes and symbols, I know their meaning
the shameless riches of another world
If I return they're sure to hang me
so I guess I'll have to stay
and if I should croak out in the darkness
No-one will know I got away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIjuatCiUp4
Fantastic Voyage gives the album its title.
Every night from my window
I see the lights all over town
I'll meet you in the boneyard
after the sun goes down
I need the medicine only you create
I need - I need it now
The temptation on the street
is more than any saint could stand
I have to bite my tongue
and keep on walking straight ahead
you have got to draw the line between
what you want and what you need
Up in the clouds
(Aaah up in the clouds)
down in the dirt
it's so good
so good it hurts
Repeat
Lying in the dirt
Looking up at the twinkling stars
struggle in the darkness
with the buttons on my shirt
this is meant to be a painkiler but
it's so good it hurts
Chains and incense fill the air
but I'm nowhere near a church
pull my knees up to my chest
and have the nightmares of a child
this is meant to be painkiller but
it's so good it hurts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cff_y66MpA
Robin Hood
So different from the dungeons gloom, the forest's shady bower
there's many a shade that love might share, where a man can kiss another
her warm breath is turning moist, where she is already
green leaves and sunshine, Sextatic in her head
Like beautiful maggots inside rotten apples
spitting out the juices of Kings and big-arsed Barons
fat on the Crusades, slaughtered by Assassins
Afraid to walk the glades of the land they own
Chorus
Rise like lions, shake your chains, babe
Ye are many, they are few
Take from the rich and give to the poor
Images of spitfires strafing Greek resistance fighters
Winston Churchill gunning down the South Wales striking miners
In green we fought the Black n'tans and beat them back to Ulster
an 18 year old Argentine, lungs filled with cold water
Buried Republican Visions, Symbolic and Explicit
a history of resistance denied by bishops, lawyers and spies
Grantham hugely petty, riding on her crocodile
'cross teeming London bridge, paved with blood and gold
Chorus
Out in hunting country we sabotage their leisure
Many a Grotto meant for rest holds a pirate for a guest
soft the scene so formed for joy
Oh curse the tyrants that destroy
Chorus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQnyW5ieoxs
'So Good it Hurts'
full album:
I'm Not Here (1967) 04:32
Ghosts Of American Astronauts 03:47
Road To Florida 02:20
Johnny Miner 02:39
Dora 04:38
Poxy Lips 03:09
(Sometimes I Feel Like) Fletcher Christian 04:40
Fantastic Voyage 03:12
Robin Hood 03:23
Heart Of Stone 02:59
Maverick 03:44
Vengeance 01:49
Revenge 03:05
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