The Matthew Herbert Big Band is an inspired gimmick if there ever was one. Herbert hired an orchestra for Goodbye Swingtime, a cut-and-paste protest record reflecting the ill feelings that the Bush-Blair tag team have inspired. Echoes of Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore find their way into the smoldering spare vocals of Herbert's long-time cohort, Dani Siciliano; they're sometimes clumsily obvious (the shrill chants of lyrics in "The Three W's" stir some painful winces) and other times rivetingly compelling and clear ("Simple Mind"). Gimmicks still abound (peep the 100-title suggested reading list on the liner notes). It will be interesting to see what other artists will have to say about the current direction of the world. It's great that Herbert got there so quickly.