World By Storm

Far and away the best Three Johns album. Funnier, sharper, and more focused than Atom Drum Bop, The World By Storm really lets the guitars rip, creating a more manic, tuneful wall of noise behind which the Johns rant and rave. The record featured the three best singles the band ever recorded, "Atom Drum Bop" (this is not a mistake — there's no song by this title on the LP Atom Drum Bop), "Sold Down the River," and the scaborously funny "Death of the European" (with its John Lydon-like opening lines, "Big mouth/open wide/open up the pearly gates of freedom"). The lyrical concerns are the same as always — mindless, conspicuous consumption, empty-headed conservatism — but here the Johns sound more in control, and that begets a ferocity and urgency that makes this a compelling record. The Three Johns cult and Mekons fans lapped this up when it came out, but it was only available in America as an import (still is, as far as I know) and sank without a trace. Too bad, as it was one of the best records of 1986.