| Anarchy | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Chumbawamba |
| Cover: | Anarchychumba.jpg |
| Alt: | a photo of a baby’s head emerging from a vagina. “Chumbawamba” is written in red all-caps on a blue background in the upper left corner; “Anarchy” is written in the same style in the lower right corner. |
| Released: | 25 April 1994 |
| Recorded: | January 1994 |
| Length: | 41:32 |
| Label: | One Little Indian/London |
| Producer: | Chumbawamba, Neil Ferguson |
| Prev Title: | Shhh |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Next Title: | Showbusiness! |
| Next Year: | 1994 |
Anarchy is the sixth studio album by anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba. Many of the tracks address specific social issues, such as homophobia, strikes or fascism.
Its graphic cover, depicting a baby's head emerging from a vagina, prompted the record to be banned from some shops and stocked in plain sleeves in others.[1] The Spotify and iTunes version, as well as the Japanese physical edition of the album replaces the baby picture with a painting of red roses.
In a review for AllMusic, Chris Nickson praised the album's "intelligence" and stylistic diversity, but the album was only awarded three stars. Music critic Robert Christgau regarded the album as "transient punk-style agitprop with announcements," awarding the album two honourable mention stars, and praising "Timebomb" and "Mouthful of Shit" as highlights. Gina Morris gave it 2 out of 5 in the June 1994 issue of Select and called it "disappointingly uninspired, pretty rather than poignant and flooded with lame clichés and, for the most part, feeble subjects."
The album was a commercial success, giving the group their first top-40 album on the UK Albums Chart. The album debuted and peaked at number 29 on the chart dated 7 May 1994; it spent a total of three weeks on the chart before exiting the top 100.[2]
Chumbawamba
Additional personnel