Never Mind the Ballots | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1 May 1987 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1987 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 35:32 | |||
Label | Agit-Prop (UK) Reprise (France) | |||
Chumbawamba chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Maximum Rocknroll | (favourable) [2] |
Vox | [3] |
Never Mind the Ballots [lower-alpha 1] is the second studio album by the anarchist punk band Chumbawamba. Most of the songs center on lying politicians and their search for more voter control. It was originally released on cassette and LP, and re-released in the 1990s as half of the Chumbawamba compilation CD First 2, which is a combination of their first two LP albums released on a single CD.
The album's lyrics have been noted for criticizing all sides of the United Kingdom's political parties, particularly in the case of the song "The Candidates Find Common Ground." [8]
The album was initially released in 1987. It was reportedly "rush-released" so that it would be available in time for the 1987 United Kingdom general election. [8] In 1991, it was reissued on CD along with Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records ; the pair was released under the name First 2. [9]
The album was rereleased digitally on May 4, 2012, by Westpark Music. [10]
The album attained a peak of number two on the UK Indie chart. [11]
The album was retrospectively awarded a rating of four stars out of five in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. [12]
Adapted from the record's rerelease via Bandcamp. [1]
Additional personnel
Chumbawamba were a British anarcho-punk band who formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the Brit Awards 1998. Other singles include "Amnesia", "Enough Is Enough", "Timebomb", "Top of the World ", and "Add Me". Their anarcho-communist political leanings led them to have an irreverent attitude toward authority, and to espouse a variety of political and social causes including animal rights and pacifism and later regarding class struggle, Marxism, feminism, and anti-fascism.
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