Waco Brothers: Electric Waco Chair : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

"At the peak of my popularity, I'm crumbling into dust," Jon Langford, music veteran of twenty-three years, sings on "It's Not Enough," the barroom opener to Electric Waco Chair. It's hard not to hear the rest of the album -- the fifth country-rock outing by moonlighting and former members of the Mekons, Jesus Jones, KMFDM and Wreck -- as a commentary on frustrations of the working musician's life. The characters in these songs are abandoned ("Never Real"), foolhardy ("Fox River") or beaten down ("Dragging My Own Tombstone"). In "Walking on Hell's Roof Looking at the Flowers," death is the only true relief. The salvation here lies in the songs themselves: solid, hearty pieces of roots music that transcend the despair. If, as Langford sings, history is written by the winners, the consolation is that the losers get to make albums like this. (RS 853)

CHRIS NELSON