WYSIWYG

When the direct-action anarchist collective Chumbawamba signed to EMI, released Tubthumping and earned lorryloads of cash a while back, there was talk of how they were going to "subvert the system from the inside". Many believed them; millions wouldn't. Their credibility is further tested with WYSIWYG, a dismal failure from the standpoints of songwriting and of old-fashioned rabble-rousing alike.

WYSIWYG does not work as agitprop because its targets are too obvious (socialites; boy bands; Jerry Springer) and its methods about as sharply satirical as a rolled-up copy of the RTE Guide (lyrics such as "With a W/And a W/And a W dot" and "We're dumbing down, dumb-de-dumb-dumb" are as incisive as it gets). These lyrics, as usual, are 'supplemented' by a foldout sleeve covered in small, angry text, wherein the world's problems are dissected in informed but depressingly sub-collegiate language. You nearly don't want to be on the side of the right-minded as a result.

WYSIWYG doesn't work as a straight pop record either: it simply doesn't have the tunes. Its 'anarchic' ragbag of musical styles - sometimes several per song, and none executed convincingly - kill any momentum and render the album disjointed and schizophrenic.

The exception, of course, is 'She's Got All the Friends', the follow-up single to 'Tubthumping', which is relatively straight-up musically and has the familiar males-bellow-the-chorus/females-chirrup-the-verse format which worked such financial wonders for them first time round.

How much more cynical can you get?