I know Sunday morning isn't the best time to herald my new favorite record of the year, but anyway...

Everyone should give this record a chance. No radio-pandering pub anthems, no English rebel songs (not really), no media clips, no electronica stuff (which the band has been delving into as of late), all it is is folky acoustic guitars and four part harmonies.

I'm going to listen to it again right now.

bort

I GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT I GET UP AGAIN....

A song which has turned one of the most enjoyably eccentric bands of the generation into a one-hit wonder joke, unfortunately. Delve into their catalog and one finds a lot of very clever and fun tunes, and really smart-ass lyrics. I'd call them one of the least-known "best-known" acts around. And very good, at that.

RE: the two above posts. for some reason, that song REALLY turns people off from the band. i could say "even though you didn't like their previous such-and-such, give this a try because it's different" for about a hundred bands, and people usually do go for it. but for some reason the "forget about their overplayed, only-one-side-of-them hit single" line doesn't work for chumbawamba. i blame rosie o'donell.

the allmusic review actually makes it sound pretty good.

Yeah, I see your point.

Chumbawamba don't give a shit about promoting their own career, so it's the record company that's turned that song into an overexposed groaner.

Many of their songs are political in nature and their odd genre (punk-folk? psuedo-nostalgic Brit-pop? Ironic political cheese?) which involves pleasantly British women warbling nasty things doesn't lend itself much to international airplay.

But I guarantee songs like "Give The Anarchist A Cigarette" would be much more appreciated by Obnish than "Tubthumping"

Available on Uneasy Listening, a tad uneven but mostly excellent. Mind you, I liked Readymades, which appears to be a minority view. I shall have to check out the new one.

well now I GOTTA check it out....

Yeah I'll admit, "Tubthumping" had me pretty dismissive of them. I was shocked one day when I found out how long they have truly been around, and that it was alleged that they have actually made some good records. I haven't heard anything outside of what's on Tubthumper though.

For whatever reason, I did choose to go past the entire Tubthumper album. (My friend had it and played it when it first came out. It's not just that song that's pretty embarassing.) But I heard a handul of tracks off their Un album and they were really good. I was surprised.

I loved Un. A lot. Readymades is my least favorite.