"Negativland is Stupid, Give Up"
a review of *The ABCs of Anarchy* EP by Negativland/Chumbawamba
In 1993, on the heels of their legal battles with U2/Island/SST, Negativland released their most mature and polished record *Free*. Thematically it was nothing new for Negativland (skewering as many middle American ideals as possible; you know guns, flags, religion, big cars, drinking, American firstism, etc.). It contained a charming story from the Weatherman (David Wills), but most importantly they finally managed to fuse their collage/cut 'n paste audio style to an emotive musical core. Negativland's songs are always thought provoking and humorous (particularly if you are "in" on their endlessly repeated inside jokes like Formula 409, Mertz, Seat Be Sate, roto-tilling, and the Weatherman's quirks); the problem is that they seldom good repeated listening.
Since *Free* Negativland have not released a full album and their lack of creative growth is starting to show (one might argue that their *Dispepsi* release in 1997 was a full release but I wouldn't--it contains a few great songs but savaging Pepsi for 60 minutes is not a very complete artistic concept). Unfortunately, their style is "regressing" in many ways as they rely more and more on amusical sampling. In 1998 they released their *Happy Heroes* EP which contained some very clever art parodies (the green giant parody was not only brilliantly self-referential to their earlier *Helter Stupid* but straight funny on its own) and an extended look into Orson Welles' tremendous ego. But so what? There was other funny bits, and tons of inside jokes, but not of it held up on repeated listening; the OJ material was embarassingly outdated and unfunny (what is funny about stabbing?).
So now comes another Negativland novelty record that is about a serious subject: Anarchism (Chumbawamba does not appear to contribute any original material but is excessively sampled in the first two tracks). It is an attempt to give us a thought provoking collage on anarchism while parodying the Teletubbies. The concept is as usual great. A primer on Anarchism and a great Teletubby parady parable in the liner notes. Throw in some in some "dead on" political sampling (particularly Doris Lessing and Noam Chomsky), the Weatherman wryly defending Anarchism ("Anarchism is the best thing ever"), Chumbawamba music; and its a can't miss, right? No.
Adding Chumbawamba to the mix should have added a more solid musical foundation for the collage, but no such luck. Chumbawamba has had its own sample heavy albums (the never released *Jesus H. Christ* being the most obvious) so the combination is sort of a natural. The two don't appear to have even worked together in any collaborative sense.
Negativland actually regress in a technical sense. Their collage shows alot of its seams. Their is no attempt to provide a consistent a musical sense. Too many samples are repeated unnecessarily (a technique that wore out its welcome in 1987). With the evolution of computer and studio techniques this release sounds really dated technically.
"Smelly Water" is the best song on the EP, it has a tighter musical theme (fusing Chumbawamba's "Drip Drip Drip" with Maxwell's House auditory signature). They use samples from *Swimming With Sharks* to great effect but even in this work they add plenty of extraneous material to muddy the "Smelly Water". This is a good song but I can't say it is enough to warrant product consumption.
If you are a Negativland fan you will undoubtedly want to have this (so what else is new) but I wouldn't recommend this for "new" fans or any of the various types of Chumbawamba fans.
Peace,
Jim
"How was I to know that gravity and rhythm were linked?" --Dickie Diamond