Ancient & Modern 1911–2011

Ancient & Modern 1911–2011 was produced by Walter Jaquiss and the band.^[6] Jon Langford considered the album to be about the development of the "horrors" of the 20th century.^[7] Some of its songs describe life in the United Kingdom before and during World War I.^[8] "Geeshie" uses the melody of Geeshie Wiley's "Last Kind Words".^[9] The title track is sung as a sea shanty.^[10]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Robert Christgau	A−[11]
Pitchfork	6.6/10[12]
Record Collector	[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
Spin	[10]

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The San Antonio Express-News called the album "a folk-rock There's a Riot Going On."^[15] The Washington Post labeled it "a thorny mix of antiquey folk, squalling punk and Weimar-era cabaret".^[16] The New York Post praised the "happily Gothic pre-jazz vibe" of "Geeshie".^[17] Rolling Stone considered Ancient & Modern 1911–2011 "meaty and grizzled folk rock", writing that "the title track is almost a play on nostalgia's seductive power".^[14]

The Village Voice deemed it "another masterful bricolage of styles that plays on British historical resonances from across the last century."^[18] The Chicago Tribune noted the "sense of anarchic despair and artistic wonder."^[19] Pitchfork stated that the Mekons still sound "prickly, jovial, boozy, resistant to the bourgeois pleasures of rhyme and tune but sometimes seduced by them anyway."^[12] Robert Christgau admired "the ingrained musicality of a bunch of jokers who've evolved into a sonic organism even though they never see each other anymore".^[11]