Provincial punk iconoclasts turned pan-global maverick legends of music and art, the Mekons walk tall into their second quarter century - still impossible to pigeonhole, still kicking against the pricks, still burrowing feverishly beneath the soft white belly of the rock beast. Hello Cruel World contains the lyrics to 125 Mekons songs, many of them illustrated by the band in stunning fashion. Also included are numerous handwritten drafts of songs (often very different from the final versions) and a portfolio of candid pictures of the band on the road by photographer Anne L. Lehman. Gleeful and despairing, withering and poetic, sexy and poignant, rollicking and grim, the Mekons' expressive lyrics and art offer rich insights into the band's collective creative alchemy, fierce humor, and caustic world view.