Another terribly-named band offer up an album with a fairly terrible title and artwork that’s well... actually, what about the artwork? It’s not exactly terrible, so much as a shining example of putrid bad taste. Which is also my general feeling toward folk-punk as a genre. I just can’t be arsed with all that right-on quasi-political sub-Levellers shit. Things have moved on some way since the 90s, though: cheap cider’s a thing of the past and old German army jackets are out (presumably because cuts and wars have resulted in no armies having any surplus any more). And yet these bands carry on like squatters’ rights are still hot topics and dreadlocks still make a statement.
At least The Great Malarkey do have a few things in their favour: the punk side dominates the folk element of their sound for starters, and while there are some predictable folky-knees-ups like ‘A Whiskey Too Far’, they’re primarily concerned with smashing the system and slating capitalism: ‘Moneybags’, ‘Merry Profits’, for example.
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They’re by no means tied to the old stylistic blueprints, either: ‘Hold Me Back’ ventures into the realms of flamenco (and even more surprising is the fact it’s not bad!) and there are a number of forays into swampy jazz cabaret. Then there’s the gently downbeat ‘The Game is Rigged’ with its mournful string accompaniment and the brassy ska infusions that embellish ‘Ha Ha Freak’ and ‘Poor Against Poor’, a wild ska folk sea shanty played at rabid punk pace. The overall result is an album that’s infinitely better – not to mention more enjoyable and varied – than you might expect.
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