| New album READYMADES |
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This is an album made by old people. However, such an observation is merely stating the facts: The Chumbas have been going for ages and members of the band are now into their 40s. They still make their own brand of pop-music, they still argue about politics and they would probably argue that, again, they have delivered a political pop album. Whether this is another statement of facts is a question of your definitions of "political" as well as "pop".
The transition from the previous albums to this one is a rather comfortable one. Tubthumper was the album with THAT song, that had a number of strongpoints, but to these ears sounds terribly dated already - though, admittedly, this might have to do with the overkill-effect produced by THAT song. WYSIWYG seemed like a good idea at the time, a cabaret-revue-style album that obviously sat quite uncomfortably with EMI or Universal. While some of it sounded decidedly cheesy, it still remains an entertaining effort with the usual Chumba-mixture of crunchy and smooth bits. With the new album, however, they have done another change in style - one that explains why they celebrated their 20th stage anniversary without playing a single of the new but already finished songs... This is very much the music that comes out of homestudios, were middle-aged men sit around with computers, tons of ideas, tons of material ready to sample and a very clear idea of how "modern pop music" should sound - pop music with a history. It's obviously not the pop music you hear on the radio, except when another song by the Pet Shop Boys happens to be playing. Strange as it may seem, the Pet Shop Boys aren't a bad reference point for this new album by those old punks Chumbawamba. And not only in terms of how long they've been around. What is most convincing about "Readymades" is how it mixes classic folk sentiments and sounds with modern material and approaches... There sometimes is a bit of kitsch-alert, when it comes to the use of the omnipresent piano, but that can easily be forgiven...
I have only had the chance to listen to an early version and as far as I understand it, some changes have been made before the album was finalized. But I don't expect all the great folk voices to have been dropped. And this is really one of the main strongpoints of the album, the creation of a pop music that merges modern and traditional elements. In some ways, it's taking pop music out of the hands of the producers of manufactured pop-by-numbers and returning it to a tradition of a love for music, not market. Obviously, Chumbawamba being Chumbawamba, they want even more. They want to get their message across, believers still in the somewhat dated ideal of the pop music that can make a difference. Arguably, this sort of approach had its heyday in the 80s, which - coincidentally or not - is also the time that Chumbawamba first came to life. And this is also where the weakness of this album comes from. The political analysis that is at the center of the lyrics of Chumbawamba's new album has not really left the decade that brought it about. One could argue that this proves that they stick to their ideals, which however would seem quite ironic considering the number of times they have been accused of a "sell-out". Another way to look at it might be that they prefer the charm of old slogans to new approaches to the pressing problems of today. Which in itself might be understandable, but in attempting to conserve the old in the new even in the lyrics (most readily visible in the way that some of the words to the new album are based on old poems or inspired by episodes from the 19th century), by recycling old clichˇs (worst examples: "Don't try this at home" and "When I'm good..."), they fail to update their vision of what political pop music might be about. This is especially disappointing when one considers that it's for a long time been of the strongpoints of Chumba's songs has been the mix of slogans and anecdotal references. The latter is now perfected almost to the point of obscurity, whereas the lack of new slogans sits quite uncomfortably with the more ambitious attempts to fuse modern fights for a better world with a history of struggles of the past.
It is interesting to see that what presumably is the result of the need to drop a sample of Elliott Smith's "Say Yes" can transform the sentiment of a song like "Home With Me". In the demo version, this included Elliott singing "I'm in love with the world", but apparently, this sample proved to be ridiculously expensive and had to be left out and now seems to be replaced by the lines "your world, my world". The all-embracing love for the world, celebrated in the remembrance of struggles past, picture postcard memories is reduced to an almost exclusionary statement - quite possibly this is not intended, but then again, maybe it is. After all, Chumbawamba never was a band to consider suggestions they had not previously endorsed - which in the past has seen them form some alliances that would seem most uncomfortable to outsiders, at one point even playing in support of the election campaign of Germany's Social Democrats. Obviously, these are minor complaints and my disappointment with the lyrics to this album considerably stems not only from the recycling of old chestnuts like "When I'm good, I'm very good - but when I'm bad, I'm better", which does make me question the point this album tries to make. Of course, one shouldn't judge an album by its weakest "link", and really, it's just a shame that such a good song (nice melody, great sample, cool sound) is ruined by such a clichˇ. On the other hand, there are some things it's best to avoid. One of those things, and the question that does come up is whether this is some trend of preferring the well-worn groove to a reconsideration, is that in recent attempts to discuss some of Chumba's policies, the band has taken to that most reactionary reaction to criticism, considering a critic's point of view uninformed. It's so easy to do away with criticism like that, so maybe that's the point of it. But if you're only message is that you're right, how much of message is that ?
This album would have been better, had the band made the effort to reconsider some of their well-worn policies. Not because they might be wrong, but because they might need an update. What's worked very well musically falls somewhat short lyrically. Can't win 'em all, I guess. And it's still a very good album, but inspiring political lyrics these days might have a different ring to them. A good example would be the new album by Germany's Tocotronic, who offer personal perspectives into politics open to interpretation and inspiration. It even leaves room for some interesting slogans: Eines ist doch sicher/ Eins zu Eins ist jetzt vorbei.