The Burden of Mules
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| The Burden of Mules | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1 August 1983 | |||
| Recorded | May 1982 – June 1983 | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Label | 4AD | |||
| Producer | Mark Cox, Michael Allen | |||
| The Wolfgang Press chronology | ||||
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The Burden of Mules is the debut studio album by English post-punk band the Wolfgang Press. It was released on 1 August 1983, through record label 4AD.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lisa (The Passion)" | Andrew Gray, Mark Cox, Michael Allen | 3:01 |
| 2. | "Prostitute I" | Cox, Allen | 3:01 |
| 3. | "The Burden of Mules" | Gray, Cox, Allen | 3:43 |
| 4. | "Complete and Utter" | Cox, Allen | 3:40 |
| 5. | "Prostitute II" | Cox, Allen | 3:26 |
| 6. | "Slow as a Child" | Cox, Allen | 6:36 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Journalists" | Gray, David Steiner, Cox, Allen | 3:32 |
| 2. | "Give It Back" | Cox, Allen | 6:04 |
| 3. | "On the Hill" | Cox, Allen | 10:59 |
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Treble | favorable[2] |
AllMusic's review was negative, calling the album "impenetrable" and some tracks "so morose and vehement as to verge on self-parody".[1] Trouser Press called it "dark and cacophonous; an angry, intense slab of post-punk gloom that is best left to its own (de)vices."[3]
Ernest Simpson of Treble was more positive, stating, "As the times changed, so did their [Wolfgang Press'] sound, but The Burden of Mules still stands as not only the beginnings of a great band, but as a definition of a specific time and place in music history. They trod the dark side of post-punk with a gloom and doom shared by many of their contemporaries, but it is their penchant for theatrics that makes this album stand out."[4]
