Name: Edge of the World
Brand: QUARTER STICK
SKU: 191304
Price: 14.91 USD
Availability: InStock

Edge of the World

Rating

Performer Notes

1986's THE EDGE OF THE WORLD refines the postpunk-country hybrid the Mekons first explored on the previous year's FEAR AND WHISKEY (an album now most easily available on the ORIGINAL SIN compilation). Downplaying the pure country side of the equation, the now nine-piece band explore various styles, from the amazingly catchy pure pop "Ugly Band" to the near-psychedelic swirl of "The Letter" to the descriptively-titled folk singalong "Shanty."
Even the album's country covers, Hank Williams' "Alone and Forsaken" and Don Gibson's oft-covered classic "Sweet Dreams," are turned into a hypnotic, menacing drone and a hard rock power ballad, respectively. Although this is the album where the exceptional singer Sally Timms officially became a full-time member of the band, her leads are limited to the atmospheric waltz "Oblivion" and the surreal narration "Garage D'or." That these are the album's best two tracks is no coincidence.

Professional Reviews

Spin (11/96, p.127) - "...comes off like a rag-tag guerrilla skirmish against Reagan-Thatcherism on a John Ford movie backlot..."