It took more than 10 years for Chumbawamba, an eight-person band from Leeds, England, to evolve from preaching anarchy and singing proletarian rebel songs to producing radiofriendly dance pop for a major label. In these placid times, Chumbawamba employ rousing electronic power chords and have toned down some of the radical rhetoric: Softly polished to a nice sheen, the lyrics on Tubthumper have traded the brusque directness of yore for oblique pathos. "One by One," for instance, is an elegiac tale of treachery – albeit one about political leaders. The coolly collected drum-and-bass of "Smalltown" could follow Everything but the Girl in well-apportioned living rooms, while "Tubthumping" has a fist-in-the-air quality that would work equally well at a union rally and in an arena. Tubthumper may not enlighten the masses, but it'll make them dance. (RS 774)

ELISABETH VINCENTELLI