Watch DeNiro Break Another's Head

The Mekons : Watch The Film

[Purchase]

In December of 1979 The Mekons released their debut album The Quality of Mercy is Not Strnen, the title a play on the infinite monkey theorem that says give enough monkeys enough time in front a typewriter and one will write a Shakespeare play like The Merchant of Venice. I believe the album was recorded at The Manor Studio, a residential studio in Oxfordshire where Mike Oldfield had recorded Tubular Bells, Van Morrison had recorded both Wavelength and A Period of Transition and Tangerine Dream had recorded three albums.

"I look back on it now and see what fools we were," Jon Langford tells Gambit.  The Leeds-based band was made up of members on the dole. They had to borrow Gang of Four's instruments to record the album and they suddenly found themselves recording in a 16th Century Manor House. 

"It was recorded two years too late...and there were very nice hippie ladies bringing us food any time of night...(The album) demonstrates us losing our grip. We were trying to please someone else."

(The back of the album cover was made up of photos of Gang Of Four, not The Mekons.)

Even so, this is an album packed with potential. John Peel was already a big fan, having already featured The Mekons in a Peel Session in November of '79.  Still, I would start with The Mekons Rock + Roll from 1989 and work my way backwards.