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| Much like oil and water, or Bailey's and, well, pretty much anything really, politics and pop music rarely mix successfully. This goes for politics of left and right-wing, conservative and liberal varieties, whether it's Billy Bragg earnestly singing about taking down the Union Jack, or Busted announcing their support for the Conservative Party (and isn't it always slightly horrifying when a really good band like Busted announce Tory leanings, in much the same way as eagerly switching on Popworld one morning and realising with alarm that you are wearing the same jumper as somebody out of Rooster?). |
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Despite this chequered legacy of popular musicians voicing opinions about anything other than drugs and Ginsters pasties, Do Not Be Afraid - the debut release from Midlands three-or-four-piece Koala - doesn't beat around the political bush. "All The Way" kicks off with the disturbing lyric "D:Ream said things could only get better / From where I'm sitting, things have only got worse" (which perhaps illustrates how easily people forget just how grim things were in 1997), while "Guantanamo Bay" is built around a joyous refrain about "catching the sunshine" in the eponymous human rights abomination. Best of all, "Let's Make War" - apparently inspired by the walking evil that is Donald Rumsfeld - goes "No UN peacekeeping force can keep us apart / I know both your barrels are aimed straight at my heart". Bloody hell.
The music, happily, is as brash as the politics. "Mna Mna Mna" and "Feels Like You're Falling In Love (Again)" are big glam-rock stompers, while "All This (And It's Only Monday)" fits neatly into the tradition of big dumb songs which feature prominent references to days of the week (anybody remember "She Left Me On Friday"? No? Just me then). The most striking similarity is to SFA, although most definitely in their "Golden Retriever" or "International Language Of Screaming" mode rather than Mwng, say. Despite the record company's description of the album as "unobvious pop songs", the album is in fact highly obvious and predictable in places, and more than once you get the impression you've heard a particular part of a song at least once before - but this is undercut by the sparkly production and the sense of sheer fun which the record is shot through with, and which also lessens the impact of some of the more ill-advised lyrics. Great sleeve, too. |
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| Mat Beal - 6/10 |
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