All the Fame of Lofty Deeds

by Jon Langford

Product Description:

Though he's best known as the leader of long-lived post-punks the Mekons, workaholic polymath Jon Langford has been involved in countless musical side-projects under a dizzying array of monikers, and maintained a busy career as a visual artist. Startlingly, ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS is only the second album he's released under his own name, arriving six years after his solo debut, SKULL ORCHARD. As usual, he's backed by many of the usual cohorts from his intercontinental musical coterie, including members of the Bottle Rockets and the Waco Brothers. With many of the tracks essentially home recordings, there's a distinctly more off-the-cuff feel here than on SKULL ORCHARD, focusing more attention on the songs themselves. Certainly, compositions as memorable as "The Fame of Lofty Deeds" (reportedly about the life of Roy Rogers) and the music-industry-skewering "Nashville Radio" deserve all the attention they can get. Given this excellent set of songs, the through line from LOFTY DEEDS to the best of Langford's work with the Mekons, Waco Brothers, et al, is entirely discernible.