Album Review: WYSIWYG by Chumbawamba

A few days ago, I vaguely knew of Chumbawamba's insanely storied and varied career, and was familiar with only a couple of their songs, but never delved deeper than that. That changed when I came across a CD copy of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) lying around, burned it onto my computer out of pure curiosity, sat back and listened.

I can't tell if this is the best decision of my life or what will ultimately doom me. This album has consumed my life. I've listened to it once a day for four days straight. I have multiple songs stuck in my head. And, perhaps the deadliest factor, I now want to listen to the entirety of Chumbawamba's discography.

WYSIWYG is one of the best albums I've heard in years. It's fantastic as an album, as a collection of songs, and as an entry point for Chumbawamba newbies such as myself. And it's slowly looking like it'll eventually creep onto my undocumented list of all-time favorite albums.

The album, the immediate follow-up to Tubthumper (featuring the band's massive hit Tubthumping), is a collection of various segments of musical avenues and detours, usually separated by some chatter or archaic sample, satirizing American pop culture as a response to the band's newfound popularity. As the recycled audio at the end of opener I'm With Stupid states:

And now, for the rest of the record,

We have a selection of musical items

A stereo treat for all your hard work

The band is sarcastically rewarding the audiences that launched them into cultural relevancy. How? By bitingly taking them down a few pegs. The names that get mentioned and subsequently skewered throughout the album include Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush, Jerry Springer, and Charlton Heston. When not particularly naming names, the group still has their sights dead-set on a specific audience (the upper class is notably brutally savaged lyrically on songs like She's Got All The Friends That Money Can Buy and I'm Coming Out). All of this is suitably fitting within Chumbawamba's left-wing, anarchist, constantly critical history, but has even more of a bite to it when paired with well-produced, catchy dance beats.

What separates WYSIWYG from other albums that need to be listened to entirely to get the full effect (like Need New Body's UFO) are two crucial things: musical motifs and overall quality of songs. Whereas UFO was a bizarre hodgepodge of throwing in every random idea in the hope that at least one would be worthwhile, WYSIWYG is simultaneously in a constant flow while subtly sneaking in signs that the album is a holistic affair. Melodies and samples resurface in the background or as outros to segue into the next song without any visible seams. It honestly feels as if the album was fully mapped out and planned meticulously, the band wholly aware of how the overall experience would come together.

Though you would think that this would make the songs themselves less notable, every song has something to bring to the table and a sizable chunk of the songs have at least one deviously memorable element that's sure to root itself into your brain. From the looping strings and distorted title chant of I'm Coming Out, to the slinky surf guitar and blaring brass of I'm In Trouble Again, to the overpowering bombast and badassery of Jesus in Vegas, there's something to love in almost every song.

The tone of the album makes it simple for anyone to jump in as well. There's a general sense of humor to pretty much every song, as the minor-key I'm With Stupid displays in a crystal-clear punchline. This extends to the various brief segments peppered throughout, such as Monkees-satirizing Hey Hey We're The Junkies and the group's take on morality advocation organizations in Ladies For Compassionate Lynching. The one time that the album clearly deviates from this tone is in its somber and chilling acapella cover of the Bee Gee's already deadly serious New York Mining Disaster 1941. Though the song sits uncomfortably in between Internet Age track WWW Dot and Woodstock riot-centric I'm Not Sorry, I Was Having Fun without any clear build-up or bridging, the punch hits harder than anything else on WYSIWYG.

I'm going to be totally honest here: I was unsure if I could find a negative thing to say about this album. There are plenty of songs that are going to remain glued to my memory banks for years to come. Every extraneous byway has a point and contributes to the greater themes and mood of the album, and, unlike UFO, are ultimately worth taking the minor detour for. The only song I find lacking in the entire album is Celebration, Florida, which makes its message clear far too soon and has only a single clever line in its three-plus minutes of time, meandering for the rest of its duration around the same central idea. Even still, this song is merely mediocre and, when faced with the multitude of choice selections spread throughout the album, doesn't detract that much from the overall experience.

And, may I say, it's an experience well worth having. If I end up becoming a die-hard Chumbawamba fan as a result of listening to this album, I can safely say that I'll be more than glad to have done so. For better or worse, this album has squeezed its way into my life and, based on how I've been internalizing it over the past few days, is sure to remain a part of it for a while.

Best Songs: I'm In Trouble Again, Jesus in Vegas, I'm Coming Out
Worst Song (based solely on a relative scale): Celebration, Florida