Abcdefg

this, the band's 17th album, is another concept album...above all, ideas is what chumbawamba thrive on, an album full of ideas specifically about music. music both good and bad, music celebrated and music ridiculed. 'abcdefg' is musically eclectic and wide-ranging, from acapella to pop to folk to jazz, a mix-up of ideas to reflect its subject matter. that subject matter includes a gentle hymn to teenage under-the-pillow discovery of music heard on late-night transistor radio; a celebration of the marching songs written by soldiers in the first world war; the story of how people had to battle against state communist ideology to play their music; a poke at the folk world's obsession with collection and authenticity; the story of the concentration camp survivor who disrupted the first playing of wagner in israel by swinging a football rattle.