Young People's Socialist League

When I first listened to New Model Army's "Carnival", I wasn't that thrilled. I initially judged it one of their weaker albums, and soon took it out of rotation in favor of old classics like "Thunder and Consolation" and "The Ghost of Cain".

But then I was able to catch the band on their recent tour, and hearing some songs from "Carnival" live made me get it out and give it another, closer, listen. Now it gets heavy play and I enjoy it as much as their older works. The sound is certainly different, but after a few listens it grew on me.

My favorites include the opening track, "Water", an extended and uplifting metaphor for humanity, with a chorus that goes:

We're only made of water
The full moon makes us high
We can change our shape into anything
As often as we like

"Carlisle Road", a song slower, sadder, and more troubled than the others, is an interesting attempt to look at the world from the other side of the plastic visor and explore the humanity of the riot cop. "Too Close to the Sun" mixes evocative and haunting lyrics with hypnotic keyboard lines underlying everything, reminding me of the best of Philip Glass. "Another Imperial Day" is the most confrontational political song I've heard from New Model Army in some time, and could serve as a rallying cry for the immigrants' rights movements that burst into prominence on 1 May 2006. Without a chorus, the growled-out lyrics tell a series of stories about those struggling to improve their lives in a world where

Goods are free to move, but not people
Oil is free to move, but not people
Jobs are free to move, but not people
Money is free to move, but not people

"Island" is a song about Easter Island. Neat as that is in its own right, the troubled history it relates echoes some of the band's feelings about their own home island of Britain. The last song, "Fireworks Night", is a great close to the album, whose final shimmering chords leave me holding my breath, on the edge of my seat. It features some truly moving spoken word segments that make me stop whatever I'm doing and listen:

"Our time was made up of confused emotions and little whirlwinds and all that stuff that we couldn't really talk about. But most of all it was sealed in sacred moments like these. And then it was gone."

Even better, while those are the songs I really enjoy, there aren't any on "Carnival" that I actually dislike. The others I generally found pleasant, but not as interesting, fun, or memorable as the ones I mentioned above. The sound, though different from the New Model Army of the past, is consistent throughout the album, and all of the songs work well together.

It did take me a few listens to get into "Carnival", but eventually it grew on me. Since I've heard several others relate similar experiences, I can only hope that the same will happen to you, if you give the "Carnival" a chance.