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![[Off The Record]](/images/boston/music/offtherecord_header.gif){kind=small}
 Mekons NEW YORK, ON THE ROAD 86-87 (ROIR)
The Mekons’ ’86-’87 tour loosed this Marxist UK postpunk collective with a predilection for accordions, Hank Williams, and booze on an unsuspecting American clubland. The experience was documented for a 1987 cassette-only release on ROIR; it’s only now been reissued on CD. Sally Timms croons Hollies and Patsy Cline lyrics into a dictaphone and an answering machine; Mekons leader Jon Langford, waylaid at JFK airport, describes in three parts how his body feels. ( " My body feels crap. Feet feel painful at the bottom of ’em . . . head like a Brussels sprout with an ’air dryer pointed at it. " ) Faint strains of Mungo Jerry waft through the 4 a.m. NYC air as a besotted Leeds denizen is asked to describe what he sees " For all the goths back in Faversham. " (He sees " skulls. " ) These field recordings are intercut with shambolic and sublime renderings of Thatcher-era punky-tonk classics. " Big Zombie " rides a hard-driving guitar/Farfisa-organ riff and features assorted screams. " Shanty " is a shanty, about one HMS you don’t want to be on. And " Never Been in a Riot " comes as close as one can to beating the Clash at their own game.
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