The Library Book of the World

Former Chumbawamba member (and now Washington state resident) Danbert Nobacon won't win many prizes for either subtlety or singing in tune with this album. But that doesn't matter, since it's a great, politically-charged piece of rock & roll powered by Mekon Jon Langford and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, who give a wonderfully ramshackle, spontaneous feel to it all. Nobacon covers rock & roll and its oft-inflated place in the world ("Rock 'N' Roll Holy Wars") in a voice that recalls Tom Waits in its amount of gravel, American politics, global money and trade, equates "Christopher Marlowe" and art with the modern pop song, and goes to many places lyrically. It's an album with a lot of depth, even if the musical framework of the songs is quite simple. There's plenty of humor, as you'd expect from someone with his background, but that's a good way of getting his message across. It might only be roughly sewn together at the seams, but this is a very enjoyable disc, left of center (could it be anything else?) and a perfect combination of forces between like-minded musicians.