CHUMBAWAMBA – “The Boy Bands Have
Won” CD
Admittedly,
this is a record I’ve wanted to check out for a long time but since it took a
while to come out in the U.S.,
I unfortunately couldn’t do so until picking it up recently. Chumbawamba’s
latest studio release continues
the folk music they’ve gravitated to over the past few years based on multiple
part harmonies and acoustic led melodies that seem far removed from the punk
and dance beats they once mined.
However, within these songs telling of the world of my space friends, a
man surviving a firing squad, wage slavery, the effects of war, unjust
imprisonment and the like, the band juxtaposes eras, sampling some of their
earlier works within here to create an album that calls to mind the contexts of
early Chumba records within their current sonic framework. Have the boy bands won? Some would say yes but I have a feeling this
album is a battle cry for music that actually matters. Chumbwamba have been through
a lot of changes
in the last 25 or so years but in the albums their art and commentary continue
to inspire and make people think. Track
this album down and get it. (BOONE)
(PM Press. P.O. Box
23912. Oakland,
CA 94623.
pmpress.org)