Never Mind the Ballots (occassionally called Never Mind the Ballots... Here's The Rest of Your Life by fans and distributors further expanding the pun upon which the name is based and also Never Mind the Ballots...) is an album by Anarchist punk band Chumbawamba. Most of the songs center around lying politicians and the need 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.
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Analysis
The lyrics to all of the songs are direct and 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.
Characters
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 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."
Imagery
The artwork used in the promotion of the album, its liner notes and its cover, was based on artwork designed by French artists in the late 1960s. The image on the front cover pictured above is similar to that which appears on the alternate cover, although the alternate cover features a starker image (closer to the one used on t-shirts) with the higher hand being identical, but nearer the lower hands, which are pointed straight up- the alternate cover also uses black and white as opposed to black and cream.
The slogan especially used on t-shirts promoting the album read (alternately in French and English) "THE VOTE CHANGES NOTHING! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!" or "LE VOTE NE CHANGE RIEN LE LUTTE CONTINUE". The liner featured other French images with slogans connected with anti-capitalist movements, including: "Continuons la lutte le capitalisme sombre" [Let us continue to fight the dark capitalism], Retour a la normale" [Return to the normal, possibly a statement about conformity], Brisons les vieux engrenages [Let us break the old gears] and many others.
This imagery was used prominently in performances by the band and the concept of the "Cross in the box" (as seen in two promotional images and referenced in the lyrics of Always Tell The Voter What the Voter Wants To Hear) was used heavily. One photograph taken at a concert depicts Alice Nutter, blindfolded (the blindfold has a red "X" on it), wearing a blue prize ribbon and a red "X" t shirt.
Track listing
Vinyl and CD
- "Always Tell the Voter What the Voter Wants to Hear"
- "Come On Baby (Let's Do the Revolution)"
- "The Wasteland"
- "Today's Sermon"
- "Ah-Men"
- "Mr. Heseltine Meets His Public"
- "The Candidates Find Common Ground"
- "Here's the Rest of Your Life"
Cassette demo version
(almost identical, but with differing track titles, lengths and cuts- significant differences from vinyl/CD release are noted in italics)
The cassette version also differs from the LP version in terms of production quality- the cassette features amateur production and it is quite obvious at many points that the music heard has been recorded live. While definitely not recorded at a concert, people speaking and shouting are audible in the background of side A track 5.
SIDE A
- "Prologue" (ommitted from other versions)
- "Always Tell the Voter What the Voter Wants to Hear"
- "Come on Baby"
- "The Wasteland"
- "Today's Sermon"
SIDE B
- "Mr. Heseltine" (Ah-Men and the first part of Mr. Heseltine Meets His Public)
- "Us & Them" (The second half of Mr. Heseltine Meets His Public)
- "The Candidates Find Common Ground"
- Epilogue (Generally included on other releases as the ending to The Candidates Find Common Ground)
- Here's The Rest Of Your Life is totally absent from the cassette version