The Return of Rico Bell, the debut solo album from
the Mekons' vocalist and accordion player, is a splendidly rollicking set of roots music. On this album, Memphis soul collides with Celtic strains and then hurtles headlong into Appalachian high lonesomeness -- with everything underpinned by
Bell's ragged,
Dylan-at-the-medicine-show pipes and wheezing accordion.
Bell's
Mekon colleague,
Jon Langford, produces the effort and lays down some typically barbed-wire guitar work as well. Some highlights here include a bouncy, accordion-laced cover of
Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive"; the searing, bruised beauty of "Devil's Dream" (bolstered by
Langford's jagged guitar); and a slow-burning run through "Acadian Driftwood" (originally popularized by the Band). ~ Erik Hage