AMG Review of Mcluskyism [Limited Box Set]

Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

Americans are graced to have the choice of the entire triple-disc version of Mclusky's sendoff compilation readily available at their local CD emporiums or pick up the single platter version with just the band's A-sides. The box set features the A-sides plus a CD of B-sides (which guitarist/vocalist Andy Falkous has trouble with, according to the liner notes) and another of C-sides (live cuts, demos, rarities, etc., that he likes, along with disc one). Mclusky were one of the U.K.'s woolliest, funniest, grittily in-your-face, rock & roll bands, though they were drastically underappreciated in their native Wales as well as abroad. They issued three full-lengths and a slew of singles during their lifetime.So much indie rock is predicated on a few different "acceptable" tropes; these yobs didn't play to any of them. That may sound like hyperbole for the benefit of being kind to the deceased, but it's not. Falkous and his mates knew how to tear down a joint when they were on, and they certainly understood how to make singles. They were totally obnoxious -- often evil little jerks on record -- but the music not only holds up, it puts to shame much of what was around them at the time. Of the 12 tracks on disc one, there isn't a song you can live without. This was a band that knew about Gang of Four, Fugazi's earliest incarnation, California's Adolescents, Big Black, and lots of other stuff -- and had fun with all of them. Here you get screaming, completely freaked-out garage punk in "Joy," and buzz saw/train wreck fuzz guitar in "Rice Is Nice," with screaming lead vocals and two-part harmony refrains. The distorto-flaming-car bassline on "That Man Will Not Hang" is one Dave Allen would have prostituted himself for back in the Go4 days, even if this tune apes them and the Fall circa "How I Wrote Elastic Man." The beautifully ragged garage pop of "She Will Only Bring You Happiness" is simply glorious for its buzzing drones, slippery and deceptively simple hook, and macabre lyrics sung so sensitively: "Note to invading aliens avoid this town/Like this town avoided us/Like murder stalked the valley/Where this woman used to live/And bathe/And breathe and be murdered...." It all ends with the true classic -- and favorite of Falkous -- "Without MSG I Am Nothing." It's all buzz, chaos, and loopy vocals sung, howled in falsetto, and chanted: "Everywhere I look is a darkness/I get my MSG from digital TV...You are the only one who has no trousers on...." One can hear John Lydon having a ball with this one, and the messed-up, sideways drum thud lends a narcotic beat to the over the top guitar distortion on the simple riff on which everything is based (except for that little fall-apart progresso-punk thing they do for a bridge). Disc two is less successfgul, and to be truthful, all but one or two cuts are just dross, filler and, yes, worse. Falkous is right in wishing most of this stuff was never re-relased. The live material on disc three is a mixed bag, but mostly it cranks and offers a solid portrait--despite some cvarying sound quality--of what the band was like when they were in front of a crowd as snotty and sarcastic--and most likley wasted--McLusky was. This set is a mess, a glorious din that has humor and warmth and danger and just plain loopy wisdom. the box may have been a bad ideas, but it is what there is available, and fans will not want to live without any of it mn most likely For other punters just getting their first gasbag load of McLuskyism, the A-sides disc will be planty. Mclusky may not be missed by many, but those who heard, believed. For them, this is a bittersweet, spit-in-your-eye goodbye.