As geopolitical chatter about World War III rises to a crescendo, one news organisation recently came out with a right old howler: how Russian aggression was leading to increased UK defence spending which would inevitably impact upon… The British Way Of Life.

The lesser appreciated social commentator/cult rocker Chris Pope wrote about TBWOL some 45 years ago when he joined punk-mod revivalists The Chords, mainly as their guitarist. Back then his main beef was that “nothing new happens here.” Talk about water under the bridge! Or ale down the hatch, another great line in the song being “I swallow my dreams with my beer.”

The band only released one album and a couple of minor hits but Chris has hardly been idle. During all that time he has released more than half-a-dozen albums and singles under a few different brands, latterly Chris Pope & The Chords UK, one of the original members having seconded the original name.

More important are the original fans, currently filling venues on the band’s nationwide tour. They’ve been returning to shows ever since Pope put together a new outfit in 2013, promoting regular single and album releases on his own E-pop label and publishing company. This month they have something more to celebrate – an unusually extensive ‘best of’ set, …But Then Again, named after one of its more reflective lyrics.

In contrast the music tends to be loud and rowdy, blazing around spitting verbals inspired by the singer-songwriter’s take on life and the world around him. Present and topically correct are the trademark, catchy choruses crowning tightly written sardonic verses, more bitter than tongue-in-cheek (‘Another Thing Coming’, ‘In The Land Of Milk & Honey‘) although there are many more courses on this beast of a menu.

Over the three CD/double vinyl package we find a bumper 44 tracks, unusually quite different from earlier versions. The third, bonus disc is a real tea-time assortment, ranging from the atmospheric ‘Bitter Sweet’ to the heart-felt ‘One More Minute’. It’s also a generous gesture given that the whole enterprise is self-financed (“No-one asked me to do it …so mustn’t grumble eh?”) Chris quipped during  our recent conversation.

Eleven new cuts interact well with the familiar material, live versions capturing the passion and raw energy of gigs past and present where fans rowdily sing along, football terrace-style (proud Londoner Chris is an Arsenal lifer). Then there are long forgotten b-sides, remixes, re-jigs and even re-made songs given an unexpected ska or choral flourish like the remarkable ‘Making Mountains‘ featuring soul veteran Ruby Turner. Another star guest is former Style Councillor Mick Talbot whose keyboards swirl beautifully around ‘Hipsters Of London’, a concise study in modern bad manners and attention-seeking, as captured by Ray Butler’s accurate graphic.

This mini-epic appears half-way through the first disc, which is one way of introducing the seemingly random track order. Chronology is out of the window in favour of dramatic changes of mood. So you have stained vignettes like the subdued version of ‘Man On The Northern Line‘ rubbing shoulders with the nastier ‘Gentrified The Elephant‘, both masterpieces of detailed observation. ‘Mutiny On The Thames‘ retains its fevered imagination, ditto new single ‘World Gone Crazy‘ blessed with an irresistible hook almost trumped by Pope’s home-made video.

Further faves include ‘White Van Man‘, based on the singer’s own back-story, ‘Somewhere Beyond The Rainbow‘ (think The Clash at their most yearning) and ‘Dreams of Yesterday’, shades of Ian Hunter rather than Ray Davies whose inspiration ghosts several of the songs. Yet there’s more going on than spot-the-influence. Chris is clearly a gifted song-writer in his own right, newcomer ‘Welcome To My World‘ managing to be a hard luck story that doesn’t descend into self-pity. His voice has also got stronger through the years, something apparent on the acoustic versions.

Mic Stoner on the bass

Without wishing to state the obvious the test of a fine tune is when you find yourself singing it days later. I never recalled ‘One More Minute’ being anything special but here it is, a vaguely ‘Pinball Wizard’ intro eventually giving way to a sudden melodic U-turn. As for humorously dismissive title track…

All of which begs the question… if you have the rights to such an auspicious back catalogue, why go to all the trouble of crafting alternative versions?  Record company politics meant the second Chords album never came out, which explains much of the previously unreleased material here. But why are all the cuts. as such, new?

 “My songs have always been of their time so in order to bring them up to date I like the idea of re-imagining them. There’s no point in bashing out the same old stuff when I prefer the new versions and don’t even enjoy listening to the old ones,” Pope claims, blithely dismissing decades of hard work before adding, “besides there will be plenty more songs where they came from. It’s too early for happy endings, seriously! …But Then Again isn’t a memoir or even a milestone. Let’s just call it a statement of intent.”

Well here’s a  man on a roll but also mindful of the band’s evolution.  “When we started touring again it was in front of fans chanting  ‘We are the mods! We are the mods!’ but we never saw ourselves as a mod band.  That was just the image the record company (Polydor) wanted in the early 80s, especially after Paul Weller came to an early Chord gigs and reckoned we were one of the best new bands of our generation (only a few years after The Jam). That led to us being signed to basically the same label which proved to be a double-edged sword.

“We were dropped after one album. The whole mod scene  moved on to new romantic or whatever which struck me how fashion was fleeting but how good songs never go out of style. The trick is to look after them and keep them fresh. That can be done by going to clubs or these days just listening to all the new radio stations. Add a funky bass line here or a brass section there!”

Which makes …But Then Again more than anything a tribute to self-belief. There’s insight and ingenuity and a fair amount of autobiography, especially when the focus is on his life spent swaggering around town (‘Twenty First Century Girl’), before the shift to evenings at home with wife, cat and bottle of red. It’s all there on the cover but it’s what’s inside that matters. ‘One Happy Man’, ‘Analogy Of Life’, the telling ‘Leave It All Behind‘… the hits just keep coming, or at least one day they will.

Fans old and hopefully new will be drawn to this labour of love – and not only because it’s a major distraction from everything else happening on the planet.

Catch The Chords UK on tour until 5 December 2025.

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