OOOH! (Out of Our Heads)

The Mekons

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Quarter Stick
• ASIN: B00006AG5E
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #215,586 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
You can't count on very much in life, but you can count on the Mekons, who celebrate 25 years of shambling, oft-brilliant agit-punk with OOOH! (Out of Our Heads). This spirited release serves up everything from drunken sing-along anthems to slice-of-life songs. Their originals have always mixed brazen politics with unsentimental humor, making them far more effective and longer-lasting than a dozen Exploited. (Their first single, 1977's "Never Been in a Riot," was a direct, sarcastic response to the Clash's "White Riot.") Originally art punks, band members recharged themselves with country in the mid-'80s, dabbled briefly with dance and dub, and now make a career-encompassing joyous noise. Highlights here include the circular, snaking guitars and insistent rhythms of "Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem," which sounds like Richard Thompson sitting in with the Ex, and the beautiful, weary "Lone Pilgrim," which brings to mind the Pogues. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another brilliant album, August 24, 2002

By	Andrew L. Folpe "afolpe" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Typical Mekons- brilliant, and nothing like the previous one. Standout tracks so far include "Thee Old Trip" and "Only you and your ghost", but they're all very strong. I'm not sure I hear the Celtic influences the Amazon reviewer found, in the sense of Irish/Scottish etc. The influence that comes through the strongest to me is actually white American late 19th century spiritual (shapenote, that kind of stuff). You can hear it in the harmonies and the melodies, as well as some of the lyrics. I suppose that music was Celtic influenced. (Of course the band would probably laugh at all this analysis). Anyway, buy this album (and Original Sin and New York and, oh all of them!!)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another great one, good as Journey to the End of the Night, September 5, 2002

By	R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I am so happy the Mekons are in this world! We have survived the millennium, "robber barons still roam the land," and the Mekons don't like it any more than they used to -- "They'll be building up the temple on the backs of the people -- sign of the profit" they sing in the opening number. OUT OF OUR HEADS is roughly similar to JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT, but the first two tracks set a more aggressive, optimistic and skewed tone for the rest. JOURNEY is a phenomenal album (see my review), but it is the Mekons' most earnest work. OOOH! reverts to a slightly more typical irreverence, sounding perhaps like JOURNEY with a shot of MEKONS ROCK'N'ROLL. OOOH! is great throughout, so there is no point in mentioning stand-out tracks. Just another ordinary night -- everybody sing along: "I am the King, you are the Queen, we rule nothing."

3.0 out of 5 stars decent enough but not great, April 17, 2009

By	David Sleger "Lagerd" (West Allis, WI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A curse upon anyone who claims OOOH is a return to their mid-'80s form. Now there's nothing objectionable or distasteful about this record. As far as albums go it's quite nice. It seems the cutting edges both stylistically and lyrically of those great "ghost town country" records is absent. Yeah, I listened to sound samples prior to purchasing so I knew I wasn't getting HONKY TONKIN' or THE EDGE OF THE WORLD but I was hopeful that OOOH in its full context would offer a classic period ('85-'89) Mekons fan like myself a compelling reason to pursue all those other albums that I avoided since my double whammy purchases of RETREAT FROM MEMPHIS and F.U.N.'90 many years earlier

I'll listen to this CD from time to time because I do think it's OK and perhaps it'll grow on me. But I'll not rush out to get other generously consumer-rated titles like CURSE OF THE MEKONS and JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT. I fear those albums may strike me, like this one, as being too safe, too domestic. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery it seems Joe Strummer was impressed by this CD, as I hear OOOH all over his STREET CORE record.

I've come to realize that if the Mekons wished to return to the style of their golden age, they would have by now. Frankly they're so far removed from that particular period that I don't think they could effectively revive that style even if they wanted to. Ghost town country was unique and significant 20+ years ago and may not have the same impact now.