Single Reviews by Mark Bayross and Kris Griffiths
Review by Mark Bayross
What would this year’s Golden Jubilee celebration be without anti-Royalists like dependable anarchists Chumbawamba voicing their disgust at the inequality and hypocrisy of it all? Whether you agree with them or not, music is supposed to be about freedom of expression and there are far too few bands out there with an opinion to voice, let alone a controversial one.
It’s a jaunty but barbed acoustic ditty, weighing in at under two minutes long, and a far cry from The Sex Pistols’ GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, but it’s free to anyone on the band’s mailing list, so you can’t really argue.
To join, write to: Chumbawamba, PO Box TR666, Leeds LS12 3XJ or email wambamerch@aol.com.
Review by Kris Griffiths
Chumbawamba briefly resurface just in time for the Jubilee with HER MAJESTY, a free-of-charge single in aid of the band’s own anti-Jubilee celebrations. Paul McCartney’s frivolous ABBEY ROAD closer is given a sardonic work-over in true royal-bashing style. Whilst the original’s pleasing melody is enhanced by pleasant vocals and a catchy drumbeat, the lyrics oscillate between the amusing: “a world of corgis and inbreeding”, and the outlandish: “a world of blue-ish blood and Nazis”. Nazis?
I don’t actually agree with any of the song’s lyrics nor understand the lengths some people take to have a pop at old Lizzie, but everyone has a right to their opinion – if only everyone could express them as wittily. The front cover of the queen with her eyes scribbled out is quite funny as well.
