So Good It Hurts

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So Good It Hurts
Studio album by
the Mekons
Released1988
LabelTwin/Tone
The Mekons chronology
New York
(1987) 		So Good It Hurts
(1988) 		Original Sin
(1989)

So Good It Hurts is an album by the British band the Mekons, released in 1988.[1][2] "Ghosts of American Astronauts" was released as a single.[3] The band supported the album with a North American tour, as well as shows in England.[4][5]

Production[edit]

The band added a reggae influence to the country sound of their mid-1980s albums.[6] Eleven musicians contributed to the recording of So Good It Hurts.[7] As on previous albums, the band included text and footnotes, partly to inform, partly for ironic reasons.[8] "(Sometimes I Feel Like) Fletcher Christian" is about the death of Fletcher Christian.[9] "Heart of Stone" is a cover of the Rolling Stones song, sung by Sally Timms, who wasn't pleased with the completed track.[10][11] "Vengeance" reminds listeners that the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher won't last forever.[12] The title of "I'm Not Here (1967)" is a tribute to Bob Dylan.[13] "Dora" was inspired in part by Sigmund Freud's case study.[14] "Robin Hood" posits that the outlaw had homosexual relationships with his Merry Men.[15]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Robert ChristgauB+[16]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[17]
Lincoln Journal Star[15]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[18]
The Philadelphia Inquirer[19]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[20]
Spin Alternative Record Guide6/10[21]

The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that "the music is stirring in its imaginative off-handedness, the genres are never condescended to ... and the politics are stated forcefully, without apology or fence-straddling."[19] The Gazette determined that "Mekons have developed—almost despite themselves—into a band of shambolic but astonishing musical and lyric depth."[22] Robert Christgau, noting the reggae influence, opined that "the skank that kicks things off is as lovable as anything they've ever done."[16] The Edmonton Journal called the album "a sophisticated, stimulating roots record."[23]

Trouser Press deemed the album "a more polished, pop-friendly production."[10] The Washington Post stated that "a relaxed, island-bopping rhythm has gently infiltrated the demented country 'n' western of the Mekons."[24] The New York Times concluded that "the music kicks along, and the band has developed a real sense of melody."[25] The Chicago Sun-Times likened the album to "the Clash's Sandinista without the filler."[26]

AllMusic wrote that "the deep basslines of dub and the one-drop snap of the drums merely add another filter to the overall picture of distance and ambivalence, though it's worth noting that the Mekons take to reggae like ducks to water, and this is perhaps the tightest and best-focused album the group released in the 1980s."[9] The Rolling Stone Album Guide dismissed So Good It Hurts as "bad-imitation BeauSoleil."[20]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleLength
1."I'm Not Here (1967)" 
2."Ghosts of American Astronauts" 
3."The Road to Florida" 
4."Johnny Miner" 
5."Dora" 
6."Poxy Lips" 
7."(Sometimes I Feel Like) Fletcher Christian" 
8."Fantastic Voyage" 
9."Robin Hood" 
10."Heart of Stone" 
11."Maverick" 
12."Vengeance" 

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Mekons Biography by Mark Deming". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  2. ^ The Rough Guide to Rock (2nd ed.). Rough Guides Ltd. 1999. p. 632.
  3. ^ Eddy, Chuck (2016). Terminated for Reasons of Taste: Other Ways to Hear Essential and Inessential Music. Duke University Press.
  4. ^ Walston, Charles (November 22, 1988). "Rock 'n' Roll Radicals Bringing Manifesto to Atlanta". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. E4.
  5. ^ "Star Gig". Bristol Evening Post. 26 Mar 1988. p. 14.
  6. ^ Friskics-Warren, Bill (2006). I'll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 179.
  7. ^ Popson, Tom (15 July 1988). "A Brief Encounter with the Mekon in Our Midst". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
  8. ^ Boehm, Mike (21 July 1988). "The Mekons Mix Music Styles and Politics". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 3.
  9. ^ a b c "So Good It Hurts Review by Mark Deming". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Mekons". Trouser Press. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  11. ^ Grow, Kory (August–September 2007). "Five Mekons Records That Make Jon Langford and Sally Timms Proud to Be Mekons". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 149/150. p. 10.
  12. ^ Sullivan, Jim (5 July 1988). "The Mekons: 'A Dreamy Sort of Group'". Arts and Film. The Boston Globe. p. 25.
  13. ^ Marcus, Greil (2001). The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. Picador. p. 253.
  14. ^ Jones, Steven L. (2023). Murder Ballads: Old and New A Dark and Bloody Record. Feral House.
  15. ^ a b Wolgamott, L. Kent (7 Jun 1988). "Music". Lifestyle. Lincoln Journal Star.
  16. ^ a b "The Mekons". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  17. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press.
  18. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 454.
  19. ^ a b Tucker, Ken (15 May 1988). "The Mekons So Good It Hurts". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. F12.
  20. ^ a b The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 466.
  21. ^ Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 248.
  22. ^ Griffin, John (16 June 1988). "Lyrical Depth". The Gazette. p. D11.
  23. ^ Campbell, Rod (1 Sep 1988). "Roots". Edmonton Journal. p. C10.
  24. ^ Jenkins, Mark (8 July 1988). "Mutinous Mekons: Playfully Alienated". The Washington Post. p. N19.
  25. ^ Pareles, Jon (25 Nov 1988). "Two Bands That Survived the Summer of Punk Rock". The New York Times. p. C1.
  26. ^ McLeese, Don (July 18, 1988). "Rampant Eclecticism". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 2:27.
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