"Burden Of Mules" First Album By The Wolfgang Press To Reissue. This Is A Fully Dark 80's One.

The Wolfgang Press' 1983 debut Burden Of Mules is one of the most curious albums from the annals of '80s post-punk. Dark, clunky, and quixotic on occasion, Burden of Mules has very little in common with the stylized retro-chic propulsion which has been favored by the likes of Interpol, Ladytron, Adult and other contemporary darlings from the '80s revivalist camp; thus, it's a little weird that 4AD would choose to reissue this album. I (Jim) am not going to complain, as I've cherished this album for years. The band had originally formed many years before the release of Burden Of Mules, but other projects such as Mass (yes, another band called Mass!), In Camera, and Rema Rema required the attention of the Wolfgang Press trio (Michael Allen, Andrew Grey, and Mark Cox). Something of an aggregate of The Birthday Party, Public Image Limited, and Tom Waits, The Wolfgang Press crafted weird noir-funk tunes through the alienated, aggressiveness of post-punk. Unlike the spastic energy of James Chance across the pond, London's Wolfgang Press mired their lust for atavistic funk in surrealistically tinged, cacophonous gloom, typified on Burden of Mules. Later on The Wolfgang Press' grooves become more and more pronounced, culminating in the vastly underrated album Bird Wood Cage before they devolved into a cheeseball parody of themselves. Regardless, Burden Of Mules remains a diamond in the rough for The Wolfgang Press with a case in point being the opening track "Lisa The Passion" with its tribal percusssive hammering coddled with an angelic swath of droning melodies. Elsewhere on the "Prostitutes 1 & 2," Michael Allen slinks along his bass and utters a disaffected croon about his subject matter being "the spice of life," whilst a Swordfishtrombone percussive clatter is extracted from drum machines and metallic junk. The album hardly fits in with what had been codified as the 4AD sound espoused by The Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil; but it's a sarcastic, challenging, morose, and very well done record nonetheless. By Aquarius.

"Lisa (The Passion)"
"Prostitutes I"
"The Burden Of Mules"



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