1991 saw the release of the debut album from London’s blur. The prevailing music trends at the time – baggy Madchester beats, shoegaze and grunge all helped form the songs on Leisure. Led by 3 singles, the first being the stoner indie rock with a slight Manchester feel of “She’s So High”. The track adds a swirling keyboard and psychedelic guitar from Graham Coxon while bassist Alex James keeps the low end in a constant groove. The song scraped into the UK top 50 singles chart.
Building on that success, the band released one of their finest early singles in “There’s No Other Way”. A UK Top 5 hit, the distinctive guitar opener from Coxon is added to with an organ line and dancefloor filling beat from drummer Dave Rowntree. The band’s fortunes sagged with third single “Bang” that didn’t hit the top 20 and has been largely disowned by the band. While not as strong as the other singles, the bored slacker lyrics from Damon Albarn and inventive drumming from Rowntree does make it a decent track.
The most distinctive song on Leisure was never released as a single. Later rescued by the Trainspotting OST, “Sing” is a surreal atmospheric track that manages to be both experimental and tuneful. 30+ years on, “Sing” is still a band and fan favourite. Another atmospheric track closes the album with the grungy guitar driven “Wear Me Down”. Albarn’s vocals sound otherworldly with an excellent layered vocal chorus.
In between these tracks, the foursome assembles a decent set of it’s time indie dance rock with “Bad Day” and “Fool” being particularly upbeat, catchy album tracks. Like the single “Bang”, the band has doesn’t have much good things to say about this album as they would strive for far greater heights in just a few short years. Like other blur fans, I have a soft spot on this album after discovering it a few years after release. It was a regular pregaming disc to blast in my bedroom while getting ready for a night out. While lyrically slight and following rather than leading on the music side – Leisure does boast several banging tracks to listen to while downing the first lager of the night.
When blur released their blur 21 boxset in 2012, they included bonus discs with each album featuring b-sides, rarities, and extended tracks. “I Know” appears in extended form and is memorable number while the band’s remix of “There’s No Other Way” adds some spacey atmosphere in a dubby like sound. “Luminous” has a dreamy guitar and “Explain” might be the best of the bunch. Unlike contemporaries Suede, there are no early lost gems or should have been singles. The band picked the best of the bunch that made the actual album.
Leisure – 8/10
Expanded Extras – 5/10
The Light Appears 