I Love Mekons
I Love Mekons | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 18, 1993 | |||
Genre | Punk rock | |||
Length | 50:01 | |||
Label | Quarterstick/Touch and Go | |||
the Mekons chronology | ||||
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I Love Mekons (stylized I ♥ Mekons on the album cover; also referred to as I (Heart) Mekons) is an album by the British-American punk rock band the Mekons, released in 1993 on the Quarterstick and Touch and Go labels. It is a concept album consisting of twelve love songs.[1]
Background
[edit]Before I Love Mekons was released, the Mekons had been engaged in two years of rancorous arguments with their record label at the time, Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Loud Records. As a result, the Mekons did not release any albums for two years after the release of Curse of the Mekons in 1991. Originally, Warner Bros. had refused to release I Love Mekons because they thought it was not good enough. After the Mekons parted ways with Loud Records, the album was released in 1993 on Quarterstick, a subsidiary of Touch and Go.[2][3]
Reception
[edit]Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Chicago Tribune | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | B+[5] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Orlando Sentinel | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Melody Maker's Dave Jennings described I Love Mekons as "simultaneously a brilliant, exhilarating pop record and an exploration of the assumptions behind other people’s pop records."[9] Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ grade, describing it as "love songs, laid out casually across disc and lyric sheet--a country album without a happy ending."[5]
End-of-year lists
[edit]Greg Kot ranked I Love Mekons as his 10th favorite album of 1993,[10] and Mark Lepage of the Montreal Gazette named it his 4th favorite album of the year.[11]
Track listing
[edit]- "Millionaire" – 4:37
- "Wicked Midnite" – 3:51
- "I Don't Know" – 4:20
- "Dear Sausage" – 3:48
- "All I Want" – 3:49
- "Special" – 2:30
- "St. Valentine's Day" – 4:59
- "I Love Apple" – 3:26
- "Love Letter" – 4:18
- "Honeymoon in Hell" – 5:34
- "Too Personal" – 5:54
- "Point of No Return" – 3:00
References
[edit]- ^ Byrne, Richard (22 March 2004). "Mekon Love". The American Prospect. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ a b Dougan, John. "I Love Mekons - The Mekons". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ Rothschild, David (12 March 1993). "Cheap Trick Signs With Warner, Plans Album". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ Kot, Greg (29 October 1993). "Falling In Love With Mekons". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (15 October 2000). "The Mekons: I Love Mekons". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780312245603.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
- ^ Gettelman, Parry (5 November 1993). "The Mekons". Orlando Sentinel.
- ^ Kot, Greg (31 July 1997). "The Mekons: I Love Mekons". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008.
- ^ "The Mekons". Contemporary Musicians. Gale. 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ Kot, Greg (31 December 1993). "City Band Tops Newspaper's Best Album List". NewsOK.com. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ Lepage, Mark (23 December 1993). "Year's high and low notes". Montreal Gazette.
Further reading
[edit]- Brown, Peter Robert (14 November 2014). "Meet the Mekons: Popular Music, Art, and Cultural Critique". Rock Music Studies. 2 (1): 22–45. doi:10.1080/19401159.2014.980598. ISSN 1940-1159.