Track Listing
1. I Have Been to Heaven and Back
2. Ballad of Sally, The
3. This Funeral Is For the Wrong Corpse - (full version)
4. Oranges and Lemons
5. Ring O'Roses
6. Gill & Vicky
7. Now We Have the Bomb
8. You Wear It Well
9. Betrayal
10. Orpheus
11. Roger Troutman
12. Circle City (Mekons vs. Peace Love Hooligans)
13. Cowboy Boots
14. Lucky Star
15. Axcerpt
16. Born to Choose
17. Unknown Song
18. (Untitled)
19. (Untitled)
20. (Untitled)
21. (Untitled)
22. (Untitled)
23. (Untitled)
| Details | | Distributor: | Alternative Dis. Alliance | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Mekons: Tom Greenhalgh (vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizer, bass); Jon Langford (vocals, guitar, piano, bass, drums); Rico Bell (vocals, accordion); Sally Timms, Ken Lite (vocals); Susie Honeyman (fiddle); Sarah Corina (bass); Steve Goulding (drums).
Additional personnel: Jacqui Callis, Captain Conker (vocals); Terrie (spoken vocals); Baron Von Trumfio (guitar, synthesizer); Kevin Lite, Dolf Anonymous (guitar); Gavin Sharp (saxophone); Neil Yates (trumpet); John Hart (trombone); John Gill (melodian); Lu (bass); Rosebud, John Langley (drums).
Engineers include: Kenny Sluiter, Brian Pugsley, Ian Caple.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Evocatively subtitled "Hen's Teeth and Other Lost Fragments of Unpopular Culture, Vol. 1," 1999's I HAVE BEEN TO HEAVEN AND BACK collects 23 tracks from nearly two decades of the Mekons' existence. Using the end of their short-lived tenure at Virgin records as a starting point, the anthology samples outtakes, live tracks, compilation submissions and radio sessions to create a funhouse-mirror version of the group's long and somewhat tortured history.
This approach actually does a better job of explaining the Mekons' career than a straightforward "hits"--there are no hits, or even "hits"--anthology. As a group, the Mekons and their revolving door of castmates have been most interested in exploring the margins of popular culture; hearing the band's own marginalia brings together excellent yet widely divergent albums like HONKY TONKIN' or I HEART MEKONS without diluting their individual power.
Editorial Reviews
7 out of 10 - ...the whiff of forgotten history, the kind that doesn't belong to winners....wading through the muck is worth it if you think the Mekons as radical journalists writing history's first draft....flashes of brilliance....Even the assorted covers resonate with death, dread, and history....
Spin (12/01/1999)
...chronicles 22 years of quirky cross-hatching that shows off the band's ability to weave experimental noisecore, accordion-laced Irish dub folk, reggae, Stonesy cock-rock, plaintive alt-country, hip-hop influcenced samples and artsy space jams...
CMJ (04/19/1999)
4 (out of 5) - ...[they] can't help making beautiful music in any context....This is the best Mekons CD since 1991's classic THE CURSE OF THE MEKONS.
Alternative Press (08/01/1999)
...this compilation--encompassing mutant honky-tonk, weepy folk balladry, twisted synth-pop, and even a Rod Stewart cover--offers a fine overview of their wayward brilliance.
Entertainment Weekly (04/23/1999)
3.5 stars out of 5 - ...[The Mekons] offer a series of blurry, Chablis-stained snapshots from the family album - and what a family it is: a dysfunctional art-punk collective that doesn't always perform in tune or show up on time but never plays a false note...
Rolling Stone (10/28/1999)
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