Mecca Normal ----- Classic or Dud ?

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Classic--David Lester is a total guitar god, and (once you get used to Jean Smith's, er, unique voice--I've come to like it a bunch) her lyrics are great and generally almost entirely non-obvious. As others have pointed out, they must be experienced live for full effect. The live shows took something of a dip for a while (they had certain schticks they always did, like the wandering-into-the-crowd-singing-"I Walk Alone" bit), but the last time I saw them, they'd made some changes and were pretty blazing.

― Douglas, Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Water Cuts My Hands" gets stuck in my head for no good reason often even though I hear it yearly or so.

― Sterling Clover, Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hearing them on college radio at 15 was a minor awakening of some sort - there is exciting, daring music happening now, it sounds like an overmiked guitar and a woman bellowing about her immediate surroundings into a tape recorder in a basement, this is alternative rock music, this is why we have a use for things like indie record stores and community radio, this is folk music and this is punk rock. I didn't get around to buying an album for a few years, when I bought their first, which was a little disappointing. "I Walk Alone" is great though. They were good when I saw them last year. (Jean Smith's voice is awesome, BTW.)

― sundar subramanian, Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

dud, she scared me when i saw them live. i thought she was going to kill everyone in the place. also, peter jefferies' decline since getting together with her is also probably her fault as he decides he needs to be more tuneless and arty.

― keith, Saturday, 16 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I swear you make every band you criticize sound better, keith.

― sundar subramanian, Saturday, 16 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

FWIW, I've been exchanging mails with Jean today. A new album is due out later this year, and she's sounding very happy and charged up with all her work in general. Good to see! :-)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 16 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two years pass...

Classic, total classic. I love their music. "Who Shot Elvis?" is probably my favorite of their albums, with "The Family Swan" a close second. If you haven't heard them, or if you gave up on them in the past, give them a chance, because they're worth it. Be sure to catch them live, as it's a totally different experience from their albums. Cheers.

― A D Jameson, Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:27 (nineteen years ago) link

You know what track is awesome? Strong White Male. Classic.

― Taco Laser Dick, Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:33 (nineteen years ago) link

..always hoped for a david lester solo disc as i found jean smith's vocals hard to listen to[and yes i've seen them live and that only made her sound worse].

― william (william), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:39 (nineteen years ago) link

i like their more impressionistic, shoegazey stuff; i really dislike jean when she's being a capital-l "lyricist" because she's about as good at it as alanis morissette. who shot elvis was intolerable.

― Cripps Pink (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:54 (nineteen years ago) link

total dud. even peter jefferies couldn't redeem 2 foot flame. i have tried to like mecca normal - many times - but the music seems so unimaginative and just plain boring to me.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 30 September 2004 04:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Total Classic.

The content, the delivery, the whole effing package.

The Family Swan=my favorite

― Kevin Erickson, Thursday, 30 September 2004 07:28 (nineteen years ago) link

mecca normal are kinda meh, but david lester's guitar playing live rules.

WINDMILLS and SHIT.

― DEEBZ (ddb), Thursday, 30 September 2004 14:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I forgot how fucking GUTSY alot of that Olympia, WA stuff is.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 30 September 2004 14:12 (nineteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

Working with Kramer, shades of Galaxie 500:

https://soundcloud.com/mecca-normal/mecca-normal-wasnt-said

― Bailey (Collins) Lover (Eazy), Sunday, 10 November 2013 04:59 (ten years ago) link

four months pass...

hi dere!

NEW ALBUM: Empathy for the Evil out September 16, 2014 on M'lady's Records – produced, mixed and mastered by KRAMER.

Jean Smith: vocals, piano, sax, guitar
David Lester: guitar
KRAMER: bass, mellotron, vibraphone and organ
Recorded by Rat Bastard at the Laundry Room, Miami Beach

ans also...

Mecca Normal artifacts in 2014 Whitney Biennial

Malachi (18 x 28" poster) by Mecca Normal guitarist David Lester is included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (March 7 to May 25, New York City). The exhibition also includes a recording from a live set performed by Mecca Normal in 2002, and both sides of the cover of the Mecca Normal 7″ record that includes the song Malachi about war protester Malachi Ritscher. The painting on the record cover is by Mecca Normal vocalist Jean Smith.

These four artifacts are part of Public Collectors: Malachi Ritscher – an exhibit curated by Chicago's Marc Fischer about American activist and music documentarian Malachi Ritscher (1954 - 2006) who self-immolated on a freeway median outside of Chicago to protest the war in Iraq.

― sleeve, Wednesday, 12 March 2014 20:15 (ten years ago) link

Mecca Normal and Kramer still at it. Who woulda guessed...

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 13 March 2014 16:35 (ten years ago) link

four years pass...

new archival live recording from 1996 (and a few radio session tracks from 1993 on the CD) with Peter Jefferies on drums. they were at the top of their game in the mid-90s, IMO

https://meccanormal.wordpress.com/2018/10/12/live-in-montreal-1996/

― #BreakingTheWorld (sleeve), Wednesday, 14 November 2018 22:33 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

Happy Valentine's!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OB7bEpXG-w

― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 15 February 2020 00:41 (four years ago) link

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