Saturday, July 21, 2012

V.A. Bare Faced Hypocrisy Sells Records - The Anti-Chumbawamba EP (1998)




When Chumbawamba singed to EMI, after a career of attacking that arms-dealing label (Fuck EMI, anyone?) it was considered the anarcho-punk equivalent of the Nazi-Soviet pact.




So while the volte-face of the Nazi-Soviet Pact inspired perhaps the greatest book of thr 20th Century, George Orwell's 1984, this anti-Chumbawamba EP is a bit of a damp squib. There are those of us who'd prefer the Technicolor rave-punk of "Amnesia", "The Good Ship Lifestyle" and even the played-to-death "Tubthumping to this dour bit of vinyl posturing. Well, okay, there's a bit of dour Crass-like posturing here but really this is pretty amusing slab of satire, as all the titles nicely demonstrate. (Plus the Bus Station Loonies song is pretty fun.)




Tracklist

A1     Riot/Clone –    Chumbawanka        
A2     Anxiety Society  –     Always Tell The Punter...        
B1     Oi Polloi  –     Shhh-it        
B2     Bus Station Loonies  –     Give Me Charlie Harper        

Notes

On the 7" sleeve the tracklisting is:
A1 The Chineapple Punx - Grateful
A2 Riot/Clone - Chumbawanka
A3 Love, Chips & Peace - We Wish You'd Give Up
B1 Oi Polloi - Shhh-it
B2 The Bus Station Loonies - Charlie Harper
B3 Wat Tyler - New Labour New Chumbawamba

Tracks A1, A3 & B3 were removed before release, but were secretly made available for free by returning a coupon inside the sleeve to Ruptured Ambitions Records (or Propa Git Records fort this release).





So, readers, do tell.
What do you make of this facet of the Chumba backlash?
Feel free to vent in the COMMENTS section


8 comments:

  1. So, readers, do tell.
    What do you make of this facet of the Chumba backlash?
    Feel free to vent in the COMMENTS section
    https://rapidshare.com/files/1847161505/V.A. Bb Fcd Hyp (Anti-Chmbw) 98.rar

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nothing but contempt for Chumbawamba from me.

    They were the most twisted of hypocrites.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Tubthumping" was making fun of the mainstream right to their face. The "Tubthumping" music video was snarky and sarcastic, mocking the mainstream's obsession with alcohol and all their vanity, in the same fashion of all Chumbawamba's other records/albums. Not to mention on the David Letterman show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhvrfdoDd4g), they restructured the song to include "Free Mumia" and it aired. I believe they remained true to their beliefs to the very end and that their "mainstream" music was another one of their acts of irony and a way to spread their political commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There's no band with as strange a career path as Chumbawamba.

    ReplyDelete

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