release date: 1992
format: cd (2003 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Chumbawamba
label: Mutt Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Shhh" - 4. "Behave" - 5. "Snip Snip Snip" - 6. "Look! No Strings!" - 11. "Stitch That"
5th studio album by Chumbawamba originally self-released on Agit Prop - reissued on Mutt as a 2 cd compilation with the album Slap!, which it follows two years after. Apparently, the album had a troublesome way to its final form. The band had recorded material for an album, they wanted to call "Jesus H. Christ", but due to non-legal samples the album was shelved, reworked and released in this form (which may explain why One Little Indian were unwilling to release it, as they did with the predecessor).
The style is much in the band's new-found shape of indie pop / alt. dance, and much against the band's normal subject-matter, the album is largely directing criticism on the censorship of the music industry, instead of (the usual) political and social motifs involving rights of everyday people.
Sampling plays a major part on an album that doesn't quite meet the expectations sat out on Slap! (1990) - yes, it contains bright and humorous lyrics, but I generally find it a bit unfocused and somewhere on the duller side of what they have previously succeeded with.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]
