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| Mclusky, we miss you and we want you back. Oh, how we long for the cold, hard press of your fist against our throat; how we pine for the stale smell of your spittle running down our cheek. Will we ever again feel the electrical charge of your kneecap ramming into our groin? Mclusky, we want to taste the breath of a real rock band again. |
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Mclusky were no-one’s band but their own. Belligerent, sardonic, caustic, intense and gruesomely bloody-minded, few bands have ever captured the violent anger of rock music with such honesty and with so wicked a sense of humour. But by the time many of us had discovered Mclusky, the band was already busy imploding "in a powder puff of unfettered realism and cant," as front man Andy Falkous puts it. They left us with two classic Steve Albini-produced indie punk albums, one reasonably good Pixies-on-the-piss debut, and a pair of quality non-album singles.
Until now, that is. Because with the release of the limited edition three-CD Mcluskyism, the mighty Welsh three-piece has given us an epitaph of B-sides, ‘C-sides’ (rarities) and live tracks to at least partly make up for breaking up the band at least ten years too bloody soon.
But first let’s deal with the A-sides disc, also available as a single-CD release of Mcluskyism. While this does showcase a series of cracking tracks, it’s nowhere near as perfect an introduction to the band as second album Mclusky Do Dallas, and should really be of very little interest to anyone who already owns the back catalogue. Plus, it’s not really a very coherent collection - largely because with each of their records, Mclusky eschewed a layer of sarcasm to reveal a harder and sharper core. By the time of final album The Difference Between You and Me Is I’m Not On Fire, Mclusky were sounding deadly serious.
The three-CD Mcluskyism captures the band at each fundamental stage of its evolution, with plenty of transitional phases to boot. Early B-sides ‘Why I Don’t Believe In You’ and ‘Balbos Theme’ show an affinity with fellow Welsh firebrands the Crocketts, while ‘Provincial Song’ and ‘Random Celebrity Insult Generator’ prove Mclusky could also knock out some pretty awful songs when their sense of humour got the better of them. The former is an uncomfortably industrial mock hip-hop number while the latter is a messy piss-take that was perhaps funny at the time. But such misfires are very much in the minority: ‘Love Song For A Mexican’, ‘No Covers’, ‘Exciting Whistle-Ah’ and ‘Join The Mevolution’ could all vie for a spot on Do Dallas, while ‘The London Whine Company’ really should have made it on to the last album.
The big surprises are largely confined to the rarities disc, which sheds a little more light on what could be achieved when the band flexed its "quirky indie" muscle. ‘Colour March’, ‘The Difference Between You and Me Is That I’m Not On Fire’ and ‘Be Average to Each Other’ are all worthy companion pieces to ‘She Will Only Bring You Happiness’ and ‘Alan Is A Cowboy Killer’. Meanwhile, ‘Reformed Arsonist Seeks Child Bride’ ("Selling sex to kids can fuck you up, it can!") and ‘See Them, Sell Them, Sign Them’ stand alongside Mclusky’s fiercest efforts. There are superior versions of early album tracks 'Rock Vs Single Parents' and 'Friends Stoning Friends', and topping things off nicely is a nine-song set recorded at London’s ULU, replete with Falkous’ superbly acidic dressing-down of an ill-advised heckler ("I know when you’re at home putting on your gel you feel important. Go to the back. The rest of us are playing a fucking rock show, you fuck.")
Ah, Mclusky. We will miss you. |
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| Tom Pegg - 9/10 |
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Name:
Tom
| Date:
04/11/06 | Reply
Just thought I'd mention for the second time that the new ex-Mclusky band Future of the Left can and should be heard on their myspace page. They're great and I'm excited.
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Name:
James
| Date:
05/11/06 | Reply
I think i'll mention again, that they really are very ace.
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