Readymades (album)

Readymades is the tenth studio album by Chumbawamba.[5] It also features vocal samples from contemporary and traditional folk artists, some of whom Chumbawamba would go on to work with in the future. The album's title refers to the use of everyday objects as art by Marcel Duchamp.

Readymades
Studio album by
Chumbawamba
Released18 June 2002
Recorded2001–2002
GenreAnarcho punk, hard rock
Length48:33
LabelMUTT (UK)
Universal Records/Republic Records (US)
Chumbawamba chronology
WYSIWYG
(2000)		 Readymades
(2002)		 Un
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
No Ripcord0/10[2]
Robert Christgau[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

The album's artwork pays a homage to the I Have Nothing to Say And I'm Saying It poster designed by Alan Fletcher, which was in turn a self-portrait of German Dadaist John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfelde).

Critical reception

The album was met with mixed reviews from critics. While Allmusic praised the album's consistency and noted that it "basically follows the pattern laid out on their previous two albums," adding that "the pop is a little more forward, as is the political theorizing,"[1] music critic Robert Christgau dismissed the album as containing "faux-slick truths about real world horror."[3] The album holds a rating of one and a half stars in the Rolling Stone Album Guide, which called the album "skippable" and commented that it was "a vacant, hookless dud: folk song samples and bland singing pasted onto prefab dance grooves."[4]

Release

The album was released on 18 June 2002.[1] A special version of the album, Readymades And Then Some was released in 2003. It came with bonus track–peace anthem "Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name)" and a bonus DVD.[6]

Track listing

All tracks written, arranged and produced by Chumbawamba, except where noted.

# Song Name Length Sample(s) Notes
1 "Salt Fare, North Sea" 4:28 Lal Waterson & Olly Knight ("Salt fare, north sea"), from their song "Some Old Salty"[7] Released as a promotional single[8]
2 "Jacob's Ladder" 2:52 Harry Cox's vocals from the song "The Pretty Ploughboy" the album A Century of Song ("And they sent him down into the war to be slain, be slain... / And they sent him down into the war to be slain.")
Guitar from Davey Graham's song "Anji"[7]		 "(Not in My Name)" version released as single;[9] Written by Chumbawamba & Davey Graham
3 "All in Vain" 4:15 Janet Russell ("I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain...")[7]
4 "Home With Me" 3:56 Originally contained a sample from "Say Yes" by Elliott Smith ("I'm in love with the world...") at the beginning of each verse, but the band could not get the sample cleared and changed the line to "your world, my world".
5 "If It Is to Be, It Is Up to Me" 4:42 Coope, Boyes & Simpson, lyrics ("And as we sail, blows wild the gale") from the poem "Bound for Van Diemen's Island" by Jock Purdon[7]
6 "Don't Try This at Home" 4:02 Was promoted as a single on the exterior of some releases of the album; song was never officially released,[7] though it was later used as the theme song to the film Revengers Tragedy.
7 "Song for Len Shackleton" 3:36 Belle Stewart[7] See Len Shackleton
8 "Without Reason or Rhyme (The Killing of Harry Stanley)" 3:45 Joe Heany
Janet Russell ("I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain...")
Spoken introduction by Jeremy Hardy[7]		 See Harry Stanley
9 "Don't Pass Go" 4:18 Coope, Boyes & Simpson ("Didn't he know it was a waste of time / All stitched up by a thin blue line")[7]
10 "One Way or the Other" 4:02 Dick Gaughan's song "Prisoner 562" (also known simply as "Prisoner"), written by Oswald Andrae ("Peace won't come by words alone")[7]
11 "When I'm Bad" 4:21 Coope, Boyes & Simpson, lyrics ("They try in vain our minds to chain") from the poem "Bound for Van Diemen's Island" by Jock Purdon[7] Vocals by Sally Riozzi
12 "Sewing Up Crap" 3:45 Vocals by Michelle Plum & Abi Riozzi
13 "After Shelley" 4:29 Kate Rusby ("Sho lo, lu la lo, sho lo, lu la")[7] Written by Chumbawamba & Kate Rusby

Album detail

In a now-inaccessible statement on their website, Chumbawamba stated that "When we decided to mimic Moby's sampling of traditional black American blues singers on his album Play, we turned to British folk music and its great voices. Kate Rusby, Dick Gaughan, Coope, Boyes & Simpson, Harry Cox. Our album Readymades was put together in a skewed homage to some of those voices. We half expected criticism from the folk world for messing around with the music, but found that the folk audience is assuredly open to change and diversity. Since then – even in the last four or five years – the modern folk voices and players have multiplied and expanded, folkies are looking younger and cooler and there are loads of new folk albums out every month. Good or bad, the music's often inspiring and exciting. That there's still a radical voice in folk music (and especially in its audience) makes it easy for us to write and play the way we're doing right now. Trying to be part of a radical tradition that, for us, encompasses our own histories (mostly northern working towns, The Beatles and punk rock!) and the history of rebel songs in the places we've lived." [10]

Personnel
  • Jude Abbott – Trumpet, vocals
  • Dunstan Bruce – Vocals, bruitist sound collages
  • Lou Watts – Vocals, keyboards
  • Boff – Guitar, merz
  • Neil Ferguson – Bass, mouse
  • Alice Nutter – Vocals, propaganda
  • Harry Hamer – Drums, programming
  • Danbert Nobacon – Vocals, ukulele

with

  • Simon Pugsley – Trombone
  • Toby Greenwood – Saxophone
  • Rrose Selavy – Acoustic guitar
  • James Reiss – Scratching
  • Richard Mutt – Tea-chest bass
  • Michelle Plum (credited as Michelle Plumb), Abi Riozzi, Sally Riozzi & Janet Russell – vocals

References
  1. Gallucci, Michael. "Allmusic review". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. Coleman, David (9 July 2002). "Album Review - Chumbawamba - "Readymades"". No Ripcord. Archived from the original on 17 February 2005. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  3. Christgau, Robert. "Chumbawamba Consumer Guide Reviews". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  4. D.W. (2004). Rolling Stone Albums Guide: Chumbawamba (page 163). Google Books. ISBN 9780743201698. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  5. "Readymades at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  6. "Readymades & Then Some at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  7. "Readymades" album booklet
  8. ""Salt Fair, North Sea" at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  9. ""Jacob's Ladder" at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-15. Retrieved 2009-01-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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