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Sunday, January 21, 2024

Chumbawamba – I Never Gave Up (12``, 1992) | Zerosounds

Zero G is worth never taking for granted from his personal cultural roots music to folk and blues classics we may think we have him pinned and then he posts stuff like this!

Always a CHUMBAWAMBA fan and have pretty mush everything (I think!) then he comes up with a 12” single I don’t have!!!?

 Formed in a squat in Leeds, England, in 1982 Chumbawamba released their first single, "Revolution", in 1985. Up to a point they self-released most of their material on labels they ran themselves, such as Sky & Trees and Agit Prop. Their musical style has changed through the years, initially a shouting punk band, later recording some folk songs, then, with the "Jesus H Christ" album, they discovered electronic music.

One of their best-ever songs (from Slap!) in two pretty great remixes, followed by a remix of another great song (the title track from Shhh, here retitled "Laughing"). The first "I Never Gave Up" remix feels more like a single edit (though it only reduces the seven minute original to six minutes) than a particularly exciting remix, while the second is clubby without being anonymous (making excellent use of the original's imitation funk wah-wah guitar). "Laughing" is a relatively brief, bass-heavy but still
breezy bit of pop that turns "Shhh" into an utterly different, and possibly better-than-it-was, song. Very nice.

Tracklist:

A I Never Gave Up (Rondo Mix)
B1 I Never Gave Up (Cass Mix)
B2 Laughing (Never Stopped Mix)


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