I kicked off the new year with an eBay purchase. In case you're wondering, I'm changing the title format of this year's iteration of The Haul to emphasis the bands mentioned.

1. Mekons – The Edge of the World LP – Sin, 1986 – $9.50 (eBay)

I just can’t stop buying Mekons albums. The Edge of the World is the eighth Mekons LP I’ve picked up in the last few years, following So Good It Hurts, Mekons Rock ‘n’ Roll, I Love Mekons, Honky Tonkin’, the Crime and Punishment EP, The English Dancing Master EP, and the consistently great Fear and Whiskey. Much like similar obsessions with Cocteau Twins, Wire, and Brian Eno, the Mekons offer a large discography, solid risk/reward pay-offs, and—with the exception of this album—frequent appearances in used LP bins.

Consistency is a strange thing with the Mekons. Every one of these releases is interesting, but not necessarily consistently good. Fear and Whiskey manages to push off in different stylistic directions without suffering a misstep, but most Mekons albums have a significantly lower batting average, especially the EPs. The Edge of the World breaks this trend. It’s consistently good, but aside from “Alone and Forsaken,” less frequently great. It’s an extension of the Fear and Whiskey’s alt-country, but now they feel like the house band in that run-down English saloon.