It seems I'm in quite the minority here, but I'm not a huge fan of mclusky. I've tried but I just can't get on board with it. They have their moments and Do Dallas is by no means a bad record, I'm just not that into it. The problem lies in a few areas:
Musically, they seem to be straddling too many genres - if you drew a triangle with indie, punk and metal on each corner, mclusky would sit somewhere in the middle. Given the sort of music I like this should be perfect, but it comes off as a bit jarring (for some reason the singer's later band, Future of the Left, are adored by indie fans despite basically being a metal band). There are songs here that are catchy but for whatever reason just don't work because there'll be something else in there that I don't enjoy. Often that comes in the way of the vocals.
Vocally and lyrically there's an arrogance to mclusky that just feels undeserved and unnecessary. Punk music has always had it's derogatory snarl, but it often just makes bands sound like they're trying to be The Sex Pistols, which doesn't do much for me. I guess I don't enjoy listening to songs where it seems like the singer is looking down on me.
I hadn't heard of mclusky until I moved to Cardiff, but they'd long split up by then. People still talked about them fondly all the time and I saw Future of the Left a couple of times, who I enjoyed more live than on record. Perhaps mclusky were a "you had to be there" band. Either way, I wasn't and I'm not that fond of this record.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 14
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 21/04/12
Colour: Transparent orange
Etching: none
mp3s: no
