I agree with your point on Homophobia, but Amnesia and Drip, Drip, Drip aren't exactly political anthems. And sure, Anarchy was a political album, but it wasn't as well thought out as their first three albums, which not only were political but had a powerful and cohesive theme to them (Respectively world hunger and capitalism, the failure of democracy and the roll of mass media in our everyday lives). Anarchy (at least to me) was an amalgamation of all their previous themes into one mish-mash, which, for better or for worse, came off much less powerful than their previous albums (except for a few standout tracks, of course, like the aforementioned Homophobia as well as tracks like Timebomb).
I don't know if you follow their folk career, but I felt as if their earlier folk albums were much better than their most recent ones. Compare, for instance, A Singsong and a Scrap to ABCDEFG. Singsong is probably my favorite post-1995 Chumbawamba album, and it is full of both intriguing politics as well as surprisingly complex musical arrangements. Such songs as "Laughter in a Time of War", "By and By", "Land of Do What You're Told" and their cover of The Clash's "Bank Robber" are some of my favorites from Chumby. However, with their later folk albums, they seem to have fallen apart a little. The Boy Bands Have Won is very fragmented and is often confusing in its mangled themes and 1-minute-long songs.
Also, do you know what happened to that distinctive male vocalist from their first few albums? I could never find his name anywhere. He had a very nasily voice and would often do spoken word segments in their earlier works. He was the "announcer" on Slag Aid and was the left-leaning politician character on "Never Mind the Ballots". Just curious, seeing as his role has completely diminished over the years. I'm not usually one for yelling and screaming, but his voice, in my opinion, gave the early albums character.
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