12 Crass Songs : Jeffrey Lewis : Review : Rolling Stone

When you come home from a bad day at work, drained by the endless sleaze-storm of the world, there's never been anything like putting on an old Crass record and hearing the anarchist U.K. punks scream their classic "Do They Owe Us a Living?" Until now. Because for some nutty reason, anti-folk songwriter and comic-book artist Jeffrey Lewis has taken a bunch of great Crass songs and given them fresh, funny new musical settings. His voice is full of mild-mannered wit as his acoustic guitar, toy piano, cello and accordion bring out the seething rage of "End Result" and "Securicor."

Weird? Very — it's like hearing Belle and Sebastian cover Public Enemy. But it's also downright inspiring to hear Lewis' choir of friends revive the campfire-ready chorus of "I Ain't Thick, It's Just a Trick" ("They can fuck off 'cause they ain't got me/And they can't buy my dignity/Oh, yeah"). And when Lewis changes the line about Farrah Fawcett to Sarah Jessica Parker, he reminds you why these songs still hit so hard — now all we need is for Ashley Tisdale to take a shot at "Sheep Farming in the Falklands."

ROB SHEFFIELD

(Posted: Mar 6, 2008)

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Review 1 of 2

4of 5 Stars

I really enjoyed the album I think that Jeffrey Lewis did an excellent job. I actually heard him talk about Crass and how much he appreciates their music and maybe it will show people why he decided to create this album and make you understand a little more.

http://uncensoredinterview.com/vlogs/4409-Jeffrey-Lewis-Your-Ass-Wants-Crass

Mar 6, 2008 17:58:55

Review 2 of 2

2of 5 Stars

As an anti-establishment conspiracy-theorist liberal myself, it's hard not to thrill at these lyrics, and to marvel at their unfortunate relevance today with just a tweak here and there. This album sounds like what would happen if Sprinsteen made a novelty record. The material is great. Unfortunately the execution quickly becomes gratingly annoying, in my opinion. The whole thing sounds like something this dude put together in his dorm room over bong hits during his Christmas break. Maybe as a home-made hobby project given to some friends at the Student Center it's all right, but as a national release getting an RS review it hardly seems deserving to me.

Feb 25, 2008 12:34:11

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