714 Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas (2002)

Studio album - Noise rock.

About the Act:

McLusky were a band from Cardiff, Wales, although their frontman and singer Falco is from Newcastle upon Tyne. They were active from blah blah who cares to who cares with a hiatus around the time of a while ago and are back together. What difference does any of that make? If you really wanted to know you could look up their Wikipedia entry like I am doing now.

About the Album:

This was their second album, some critics loved it a lot.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

With a cavalier disregard for the rules of harmony, mclusky assault their audience with shouting, vitriol and noisy noise. They sound like they jump around the stage with their guitars down by their knees, antagonising grannies by swearing and encouraging fights in the audience. Possibly between the grannies. They sound like raucus crunchy things, but they are not pure noise. There are notes, wailing, grunge notes in the main. They are what you might get if you made a hybrid of Primus and Nine Inch Nails, and the Sex Pistols. They sound like you might if you tried to growl and cough at the same time. Loud. Very loud. The vocals are rarely sung, and even then only vaguely, mostly shouted, and sometimes using that compression of dynamic and tone that sounds like a loudhailer. This is music for kicking over bins to, or for playing really loud to annoy your flatmates. It is not music for knitting to, unless you are knitting barbed wire or chain mail. There are a few quieter bits when the dominant guitar is quiet or playing single notes and you get a grungy bass line with drums, and at those times they lack tight timing.

And at this point you probably think I didn't enjoy it. If you think that you would be mostly wrong. They have one saving grace, and that makes all the difference, they have a sense of humour. It's a bit of a vicious sense of humour, but it is there and it add that missing element, the lack of taking yourself too seriously. So it is irreverent, and the sometimes lack of skill is forgiven, because now it is raw and edgy. This is a little in the music itself and the way they play, but mostly in the lyrics.

I have a dilemma, which is to quote or not to quote. If I could guarantee you would listen, I would avoid quoting, because some of these lines work best when they take you by surprise. On the other hand, I think you are unlikely to listen if I don't quote some, so here goes. My favourite three.

3. Your heart has turned the colour of a Coca-Cola, your heart has turned the colour of a dustbin.

2. <expletive> this band, they swear too much.

1. Your friends are all <expletives> and your mother is a ballpoint pen thief.

It can't be said that the humour replaces anger, only tempers it. It's an attack on the world, and it's having a chuckle as it does. Many of the words are hard to make out, but when you can, it is invariably worth it, because they are intelligent, unusual and well-crafted. 

Warning: Sweary and rude.

6.7/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6VrBKifHnEcJz4sOVXhIKC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL221D430F18381AE3

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mclusky_Do_Dallas