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Two Lone Swordsmen, "Wrong Meeting"
The title of Wrong Meeting should be taken as a fair warning, and a very apt title, for those expecting business as usual for Keith Tenniswood and Andrew Weatherall. On first listen it certainly feels like someone's replaced this TLS album with the wrong record. Despite these initial doubts this record quickly becomes one of the duo's finest efforts to date, without sounding like any of their previous records. Anyone expecting the bumpy electro of their Emissions era or the low end basement sleazy jams of From the Double Gone Chapel, will be sorely disappointed and needs to start keeping up with Weatherall's total lack of continuity.
There are still small particles of dub and electro in the mix, but this record presents an almost conventional band sound for the duo. Weatherall's sneering vocals are now the main element of the songs where once bass ruled. Oddly enough for me, considering my own love of TLS as an electronic outfit, it's the straight rockabilly of "Evangeline" and the rock 'n roll of "Work at Night" that stand head and shoulders above the rest of the album. The Clash and PiL influences that can be found scattered throughout their interviews finally make their presence felt in the sounds, not just the attitude. The grumbling bassy pub rock of the opener, "Patient Saints" isn’t the best way to open the album, but this is just the perverse side of TLS poking through. They've refused to make this album an easily accepted transition.
After a few handfuls of listens, and after the initial what-the-fuck has worn off, Wrong Meeting is just another in a long line of superb TLS albums; it's just not what was expected. There's no point in resenting Weatherall for keeping on the move musically, it was always part of the appeal.
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