The Burden of Mules
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.
Track listing
Critical reception
's review was negative, calling the album "impenetrable" and some tracks "so morose and vehement as to verge on self-parody". Trouser Press called it "dark and cacophonous; an angry, intense slab of post-punk gloom that is best left to its own vices."Ernest Simpson of Treble was more positive, stating, "As the times changed, so did their 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."
Personnel
; The Wolfgang Press- Andrew Gray – guitar, percussion, drums, sleeve photography
- David Steiner – drums
- Michael Allen – drums, percussion, bass guitar, vocals, synthesizer, piano, organ, drum loops, cymbal and saxophone, production
- Mark Cox – synthesizer, percussion, clarinet, "noises", pixiephone and chimes, piano, organ, "scratches" and whistling, bass guitar, production
- Richard Thomas – drums, flute and piano
- John Madden – engineering, production