release date: 1986
format: digital (1994 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: Chumbawamba
label: One Little Indian - nationality: England, UK
Tracklist: 1. "a) Prologue; b) How to Get Your Band on Television" (4 / 5) - 2. "British Colonialism and the BBC: Flickering Pictures Hypotise" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Commercial Break" - 4. "Unilever: How to Succeed in Business" (4 / 5) - 5. "More Whitewashing" (4 / 5) - 6. "An Interlude: Beginning to Take It Back" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "Dutiful Servants and Political Masters: Abolishing Slavery (And Reinventing It)" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Coca-Colanisation" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "…and in a Nutshell" - 10. "Invasion" (3 / 5)
Studio album debut by Chumbawamba originally released on the band's own label Agit Prop and reissued on cd in '92 as a double disc compilation together with the band's second album Never Mind the Ballots (1987) with the title: The First 2 (also on Agit Prop), and again reissued in '94 by One Little Indian. At this point the line-up counts 7 people all of which are only mentioned by their first name: Harry handling drums, vocals (guitar solo on "Slag Aid"), Alice Nutter on vocals, Boff on guitar, vocals, and clarinet, Mavis Dillon on bass, trumpet, French horn and vocals, Lou on vocals and guitar, Danbert Nobacon on vocals, and Dunst on whirlypipe and turntables.
I didn't hear of the band until around '94, and it seems the album gained little interest at the time of its release. Apparently and quite obviously, it's meant as a critical response to the whole Live Aid idea with artists in disguise of helping a whole continent in utmost poverty are basically only interested in promoting themselves. Listening to it today, it's actually quite ingenuously written, and with catchy melodies to support the harsh criticism. Just by looking at the track titles one may come to think of Dead Kennedys or Crass when they sing about the world in "the sick hands of capitalism". The strong satire has always been the band's trademark. Sometimes they share bonds with Dead Kennedys, Crass, Frank Zappa, but also Monty Python, which doesn't make it any worse.
It's more than enjoyable, and frankly, should be enlisted in all lists comprising the most interesting albums of modern pop music.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
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| 1992 reissue as "First 2" |
