Chumbawamba - Never Mind The Ballots (1987)

"Never Mind the Ballots" (occasionally called "Never Mind the Ballots... Here's the Rest of Your Life" by fans and distributors) is the second studio album by anarchist punk band Chumbawamba. Most of the songs centre on lying politicians and their search for more voter control. It was originally released as a cassette and LP, then re-released in the '90s as half of the Chumbawamba compilation CD "First 2", which was a combination of their first two LP albums released on a single CD.

The lyrics to all the songs are direct, largely undisguised political commentary describing at the same time the futility of democracy in general and the political situation of the three major parties in Britain at the time of recording. This piece, like the band's earlier album, "Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records", is all based on a single theme, rather than confronting a range of themes, issues and ideas as was typical of their later albums. In terms of style, lyrical content and political focus, it was a follow up to the earlier album and is more similar to it than any subsequent work by the band.

To about the same extent as their earlier record, the album features "characters" that the vocalists assume for certain songs. The two most prominent characters are "The Candidates". The Candidates appear together on two tracks, "Always Tell The Voter What the Voter Wants to Hear" and "The Candidates Find Common Ground" (as well as in the Epilogue on the cassette version). The male candidate, or at least a character very much like him and also played by Danbert Nobacon, appears on "Today's Sermon." The female candidate, played by Alice Nutter, appears alone singing some parts of "The Wasteland."

The male and female candidate are shown to be two equally uncaring political candidates who seem to have opposing view on subjects at first, but essentially want the same things. This issue is discussed in "The Candidates Find Common Ground" where the two discuss how their means of solving a problem may differ, but they seek the same ends; for example, while one candidate wants "conventional weapons, to kill people nicely," the other candidate wants "nuclear weapons, to keep the peace". In the end they reason that they need "weapons, definitely; either way, [they] must defend [them]selves."


Tracklist:
"Always Tell the Voter What the Voter Wants to Hear" – 2:51
"Come on Baby (Let's Do the Revolution)" – 1:39
"The Wasteland" – 4:23
"Today's Sermon" – 2:28
"Ah-Men" – 2:29
"Mr. Heseltine Meets His Public" – 3:51
"The Candidates Find Common Ground" – 4:29
"Here's the Rest of Your Life" – 13:22


Chumbawamba - Never Mind The Ballots (1987)
(192 kbps, cover art included)