Disco de Chumbawamba: “UN”

I would claim this album is more catchy than "Anarchy" and "Shh!" despite being less "angry". Chumbawamba have created a record which is fantastic to listen to and sing along to whilst maintaining a very politicized message.

I would also contradict another reviewer who claims that the song "We don't want to sing along" is pro-Columbine killings. For a start, Columbine is only mentioned in the liner notes, whilst bullying is mentioned prominently in the song, and secondly, Columbine is only used as an example of the societal effect bullying can have. If you did want a controversial Chumbawamba position, they dedicated a track to Ulrike Meinhof of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist organisation on "Slap!"

Overall, this album is a huge improvement over the milder "Readymades", and cements Chumbawamba's new, more melodic style.

Fantastic album from a fantastic band.

Just to clarify the bizarrely mistaken impression given by one reviewer on this site - Chumbawamba do NOT claim the Columbine massacre was 'justified because the kid was teased by his peers and now he's getting back at them', that is a complete distortion. The band do point out that Harris & Klebold gave the fact that they were made fun of as their reason for carrying out the massacre, but Chumba go on to say that they "weren't heroic wimp avengers" and "were full of hate and racism". The point the band are making, in their own words, is that "Death didn't surface out of a void".

This band are intelligent enough to try to understand such terrible events, and to see the bigger picture, rather than to settle for mind-numbing platitudes and the pathetic over-simplifications served up by the mass media.

For wit, insight and warmth served up with seriously danceable tunes, look no further than Chumbawamba.

Un is a calmer album than most Chumba faire, but most of the tracks are very catchy. They have a medley of many of the tracks available on their website that gives a pretty good feel for the album.

As to the specifics, the first track has kind of a "beats" feel to it, and mixes in some "world music" voices as a background for parts of the song. It's very catchy. The second song feels closer to normal Chumba faire, with really nice word rhythm and elements that lightly resemble hip-hop. Its lyrics explore the recent pie-on-politicians happenings in europe. The third song uses some chanting (Arabic?) as an occasional voice in a song about the selling of culture. It's well put-together and has a strong musical background. The fourth song is about government secrecy, and has a mix of hip-hop and French feel in its background. Selective bleeping of words add to the humour in the song. The fifth song has a Spanish motif, singing about idealism and love. It doesn't fit so well into the overall album or Chumba's style. The sixth song has an eastern european sound, singing about hypocracy of upper-class liberals. It captures the genre well, and is good listening. The seventh song is about Cuba, and has a kind of similar feel to the sixth, except is more voice-heavy and sounds a bit more jazzy. It's one of my favourite songs on the album. I'm not familiar with the particular substyle of music the eigth song is incorporating -- it's clearly a type of folk music, and it is a catchy song, singing about Buy-Nothing-Day, a day of purchase-abstainence promoted by the magazine "Adbusters". I'm not entirely certain if it's making fun of it for not going far enough, or if it's approving. The ninth song uses another folk music style, and is a lighthearted activism song. The tenth song has a Bossa-Nova-style rhythm, and is, unfortunately, unremarkable. The eleventh song is about activists who put themselves into danger, and mixes a number of typically australian instruments with strong voice parts. The last song is a reflective, slow song with occasional voice pairs that peek out of the folds of the song like the hidden rebels in society it sings about.

Overall, this is a very strong and enjoyable CD, with very little not to like, and a number of things that will stick in one's head for days after a listen.

I've been a fan of Chumbawamba for some time. This album does not disappoint. My favorite songs on here include "Rebel Code," and "On eBay," though the rest of the tracks are also worth a listen (or three). There's way more to this group than "Tubthumping."

I liked this album,

Like most if not all of Chumbawamba's work each son has political elements to it that speak of the human condition. But in order to find these political undercurrents one must wade through catchy tunes and slick lyrical lines that readily disguise the music as mere melodies.

The best three songs in my opinion were Wizards of Menlo park, On eBay and Everything you know is wrong. I liked 'Wizards' for it's fun musical qualities even as it took jabs at the wizard of Menlo park himself, that's Thomas Edison by the way. The song 'On Ebay' was a straight shot at the internet culture of selling anything for a buck whether it's worth selling or not, in the case of eBay it self what is sold is usually not.

The best song of the three might be 'everything you know is wrong' which is a well written tune about conspiracy theories and how utterly ridiculous they are much less the folks who concoct them. If you listen to this one long enough you'll find your self tapping a toe to the beat if not outright wanting to dance.