Waco Brothers
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Кратко |
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The Waco Brothers is Jon Langford`s local bar band, a side
project for the founder and mainstay of the Mekons. But while the
Mekons are still as artistically viable and commercially marginal as
ever, they work together only occasionally, having scattered to the far
corners of the globe. Langford, originally from Wales, wound up in
Chicago, where he found a few congenial fellows to gig with. But while
Langford is the first name one associates with the Wacos, it makes just
as much sense to view them as the second coming of Wreck, Dean
Schlabowske`s alt-country band. Langford produced Wreck`s last album,
and found in Dean a kindred spirit with an aesthetic firmly rooted in
honky-tonk and a clear, cynical gaze on the capitalist rot all around.
Still, it`s hard for an outsider to tell who does what here. The
Wacos are a six-man band who over six albums have had only one
personnel change (Allen Doughty replacing Tom Ray on bass starting with
the second album), with three vocalists and all compositions credited
to the group. This distinguishes them from the singer/songwriters who
dominate alt country, although volume (loud) and tempo (fast) are also
distinctive. As are the often-biting lyrics, which are pure class
consciousness from "Plenty Tuff, Union Made" (on To the Last Dead
Cowboy) to "Dragging My Own Tombstone" (on Electric Waco Chair).
The six albums are remarkably consistent, the main difference being
that the first one is both artier and more country, like a Mekons
album. But by the second album they had simplified the songs and
punched up the volume, spiced with the occasional country cover such as
"Wreck on the Highway" or "Johnson to Jones." And if the latter albums
have a slight edge, that just means that their songcraft is getting
sharper. (TOM HULL)
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