It's been 25 years, so do the math--if they were the Rolling Stones, they'd be recording Steel Wheels. Not many bands get that far, and fewer still retain much honor in the process. In their intermittently distracted way, the Mekons have turned a collegiate experiment in art as politics into a lifework that takes into account all the disappointments of art and politics but refuses to capitulate. Bitter--of course. Depressed--not so's it gets them down. Defeated--only by death.

On a new album produced by his old boss from Les Ambassadeurs, Kante Manfila, Youssou N'Dour's chief competition as the voice of Africa doesn't exactly reconstitute his tradition, but doesn't strive for fusion either. This could be your best chance to hear him at a safe distance from the nearest synthesizer. Grab it.

In July, leading a Super Rail Band that had slackened slightly since their New York debut at Lincoln Center a year before, perhaps because the fresh air at Central Park SummerStage reminded them of street parties in Bamako, the Malian guitarist stepped a little further forward and proved once again that he deserves to be more famous than Ali Farka Toure. Live he will presumably showcase his superb live album, thus stepping even further forward. Don't fret about it. He can take the heat, and so can his songs.

Village Voice, Sept. 10, 2002