Antidote - One Does Not Sell The Earth Upon Which The People Walk (1986)

Antidote - One Does Not Sell The Earth Upon Which The People Walk (1986)

No, not the New York hardcore powerhouse that gave us 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'. This is the British/Dutch collaboration between Chumbawamba and The Ex.

A bit of an oddity, Antidote are basically like early Chumbawamba. Good shit for sure, but while the Chumba records were known for longer, inter-weaved, tracks, none of the songs on this EP even reach one minute!

To say the guitar work is the highlight would be disrespectful to the other instruments. The guitars have that great mix of both chords and catchy lead melodies (Think Chumba's 'Revolution'), the bass bops along-with melody, groove and atmosphere, the drums range from spastic polka blasts to piercing stabs, and the vocals are antagonistic, bratty, and overlap in that classic melodramatic Chumba way.

The way they crafts their songs is incredible. While none of the songs reach the one minute mark each track is memorable, with certain tracks like 'Instrumental', 'The Sun' and 'R.T.Z. & B.P. ...Why?' offering ample twists-and-turns throughout the 8 minutes of anarcho fury.

Overall, this is an essential addition to the 80s Chumbawamba collection. Great, weird, experimental punk!

One Does Not Sell The Earth...