Tag: Blur

Posted in Album Reviews

blur – Leisure (Expanded Edition) (2012)

Posted on by Michael

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

Posted in Album Reviews

blur – Live at Wembley Stadium (2024)

Posted on by Michael

With little build up in 2023, blur released their 10th studio album The Ballad of Darren. What did have a lot of buildup and massive fanfare was the band’s return to performing live highlighted by two massive shows at Wembley Stadium on July 8th and 9th.  It’s the second of these, the Sunday concert that the band released to a wider audience in 2024 including a 2CD version.

The setlist does a stellar job of capturing most of the band’s highlights with roughly half the tracks coming from 1993’s Modern Life is Rubbish and 94’s mega selling Parklife. The energy gets amped up on a blistering take on the band’s fourth single, “Popscene” with Graham Coxon’s guitar acting as a buzzsaw.  One of the finest moments of the concert appears when Damon Albarn sings about heroin that originally flew over most people’s heads on “Beetlebum”, a UK #1 single from their self titled album from the mid 90s.  This leads into the atmospheric “Trimm Trabb” that has as crisp guitar line and one of the best vocals from Albarn on the disc before it segues into early album favourite “Villa Rosie”. An emotional take on “Under the Westway” closes out disc one. Sublime.

Since it’s a Sunday gig, the foursome pull out a spirited take on “Sunday Sunday” before performing the song that caused so much controversy for the band, “Country House”.  It was the one that amped up the Britpop wars with rivals Oasis but appears here as a throwaway track. Better is the Phil Daniels sung “Parklife” that seems to be in double time as the crowd receives it with bounding enthusiasm.  A classy take on “To the End” with bassist Alex James holding down the low end gives the crowd a rest before “Advert” once again amps up the energy.  An extended drum intro from Dave Rowntree on “Song 2” follows that sees Albarn later exclaim, “I don’t usually quote James Brown but I FEEL GOOD!”. The main set closes with a take on album track favourite “This Is a Low” that ends in a swirl of feedback.

In the encore, the keyboard riff of “Girls and Boys” blasts in from seemingly out of nowhere before the band pulls out all the punches including a gospel choir for a stadium singalong to one of their finest singles, “Tender”. New song “The Narcissist” fits in nicely with their already legendary classics before the customary closing track, “The Universal” brings it all to an end.  After the weekend, Albarn noted that the band were nervous for Saturday’s gig but once that was over and performed well, the band were able to let loose for Sunday night.  The live album keeps all it’s flaws in tacked, including Albarn forgetting words and missing cues at times. However, the discs capture the energy on an enthusiastic performance that sounds like an absolute blast for all involved.

8/10

Posted in Listed

Favourite Albums of 2023

Posted on by Michael

5. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes: As a middle aged Caucasian, it’s such a treat to listen to Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s Weathervanes. An album where Isbell tries to make sense of the world around him and how to be a positive force in it. “Cast Iron Skillet” made it onto Barack Obama’s playlist this year. The one on my playlist is “Save the World” whose beginning instrumentation already feels dreadful as Isbell sings of a(nother) school shooting. Remarkable stuff.

4. Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We: A late addition to the list was the very well received Mitski album that was released in mid September. A quietly powerful album, Mitski’s lyrics are beautiful as she drops line of wisdom and makes bleak thoughts sound poetic on tracks like “When Memories Snow”.  Third single “My Love Mine All Mine” also made it onto Barack Obama’s year end playlist, one of the better tips of the cap an artist can receive these days. 

3. blur – The Ballad of Darren: One of the best surprises of the year was blur releasing The Ballad of Darren last summer. As the band matures, so do their songs and themes. “Russian Strings” sees Damon Albarn sing, “there’s nothing in the end, only dust” before adding the uplifting line, “so turn the music up”. Songs like “Barbaric” and “The Narcissist” are classic blur tracks. While the album could use a bit more energy, the deluxe version that adds a couple of songs is the one to get

2. Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World: 17 studio albums in and the Yo La Tengo trio continue to release great music.  On this February release they include several songs that hit right away in “Apology Letter” and “Fallout”. They also leave room for the atmospheric closer sung by Georgia Hubley, “Miles Away”. A wonderful album that is still worth exploring in extended listens nearly a year later.

1. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Council Skies: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Bird’s fourth album returns the chief to areas that he and fans know very well.  While the single “Pretty Boy” had a different sound, songs like “Open the Door, See What You Find” and especially “Easy Now” have the feel of his first band. The fans who are still clamouring for an Oasis reunion are the ones not paying attention the excellent rock and roll music that both Gallagher brothers are putting out on their own.

Posted in Listed

10 Favourite Songs of 2023

Posted on by Michael

10. Slowdive – Alife: A mix of singing between Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, “Alife” was the last single released from Slowdive’s album, everything is alive. The ocean of guitar with buried vocals is a pop song from another dimension, one with a constant refrain of “two hard lives are hard lives with you”.  Love is in the air.

9. Lana Del Rey – A&W:  One of the most unique tracks in popular music in 2023 was “A&W” from Lana Del Rey.  Instead of hamburgers, the song instead refers to an “American Whore”.  A song of two halves, the track is an unusual mix of folk and trap music, two styles that have figured in her music throughout Del Rey’s career.

8. Belle and Sebastian – When We Were Very Young: Belle and Sebastian released another great record early in the year. Containing the classic Stuart Murdoch line, “I wish I could be content with the football scores”, “When We Were Very Young” is another B&S track for all the outsiders.

7. Emma Anderson – Clusters: From an album bathed in light and twinkling stars, last track “Clusters” from Emma Anderson is one of the best.  Her voice floats above the air with lines like, “all the pretty boys/all the pretty girls”, then when she sings “dodododo”, it’s impossible not to sing along.

6. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Save the World: Jason Isbell released one of the most powerful songs of living in America with “Save the World” about a school shooting.  Grappling with senseless violence is something virtually all of us deal with every week whether a personal story or one read in the paper.  Isbell’s track shows you’re not alone in trying to figure this out.

5. Yo La Tengo – Apology Letter: Not released as a single, one of the most memorable songs on the latest from Yo La Tengo is the song, “Apology Letter”.  Ira Kaplan sings the funny/sad line, “And then I got mad because you got mad/another one of my delightful quirks/what a jerk”.

4. Robert Forster – Tender Years: One of the highlights of the latest album from Robert Forster was his tribute to his wife, “Tender Years”.  The touching song is an easy going track lead by a strumming guitar and features the line, “I’m in a story with her/No, I can’t live without her”. Love is definitely in the air here. (Video released in November 2022)

3. The Beatles – Now and Then: One of the most haunting sounds of 2023 was hearing John Lennon signing the first words “I know it’s true…” in the “Now and Then” song released as an official single by The Beatles. A much better track than what the band released in the 1990s, the song was not without its detractors… but the rest of us loved it.

2. blur – The Narcissist: Like other “nostalgia acts” releasing new music in 2023, blur released a track sure to be one of their finest with “The Narcissist”.  One that will be sung loudly at future concerts, the line “I’ll be shining light in your eyes/you’ll probably shine it back on me” is spine tingling.

1. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Easy Now: One of Noel Gallagher’s best tracks of his solo career, “Easy Now” was released in early 2023 with a memorable video featuring Milly Alcock from House of the Dragon. One of Noel’s best vocals that he uses to great effect. The skyscraper chorus rivals his most lighters up in the air tracks with his former band, Oasis.

Posted in Album Reviews

blur – The Ballad of Darren (Deluxe) (2023)

Posted on by Michael

blur came back in a big way in 2023.  Recent sold out stadium gigs plus a live streamed event where the band played the entirety of new album The Ballad of Darren. Alex James’ bass grooves were a highlight on several tracks, as he lounged on a sofa in short pants. The new release produced by James Ford sees the foursome in introspective mode with mainly slower, atmospheric tracks.  Damon’s voice sounds calm and laidback on nearly every track barring the single “St. Charles Square” that shows off the band’s punkier side with shouts and Graham Coxon’s guitar squalls.

First song, “The Ballad” is the reworking of an older Albarn track that his friend Darren encouraged him to go back and finish.  The electronic beat compliments the contemplative track. “Russian Strings” claims that “there’s nothing in the end, only dust/so turn the music up”.  “Barbaric” is a catchy, jangly guitar track that asks, “now where are we going?”.  “The Heights” adds dramatic strings and more of a solid beat from Dave Rowntree that eventually turns to static before shutting down completely.

The highlight of the album is first single, the anthemic “The Narcissist”.  Partly based on an acid trip from many years ago, Coxon adds vocals on the verses before the chorus breaks in with the infectious line, “I’ll be shining light in your eyes/you’ll probably shine it back on me”. The deluxe version adds two tracks including the much needed upbeat “The Rabbi” and a better album closer of “The Swan”.

On blur’s return, the tracks on The Ballad of Darren could use an injection of energy which makes the deluxe copy the go to version.  Some of the songs can blend into one another but several of the singles will be played in all future reunion gigs to an adoring crowd.  Now playing to an aging Britpop crowd, the mature slant to the songs will see many identifying with the messages, leaving behind the cheeky chappy character sketches of the band’s past.   

8/10