Blur

Product description ------------------- Blur: Blur - CD - Parlophone 7243 8 55562 2 7 .co.uk ------ Having found himself at a creative cul-de-sac with 1995's The Great Escape ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000024J7B/${0} ), Damon Albarn bought a flat in Iceland and set about re-evaluating his role in Blur. What emerged was a more soulful, democratised sound. Gone were the Kinks-influenced vignettes about life in suburban England, to be replaced by a more cathartic approach. Grunge influences, for so long off-limits, were now detectable in the loose, angularity of tracks like "Country Sad Ballad Man" and "Song 2". Sensing that this might just be his moment, Blur's resident hard-core fan Graham Coxon is the driving momentum behind much of the band's fifth album. And yet, accidentally or not, some sense of Englishness lingers--be it the Specials ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Specials/${0} )' "Ghost Town" on "Theme from Retro", early David Bowie ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/David%20Bowie/${0} ) on the desolate "Strange News from Another Star" or the Beatles ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Beatles/${0} ) on "Beetlebum". Ambitious it might have been, but the sheer quality of these songs made Blur their biggest seller to date. This truly is the great escape. --Peter Paphides P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review ------ This was the point when the Britpop dream - which had started to sour on previous album, The Great Escape - was finally laid to rest. In the space of three years Britain's favourite mockney lads had proven themselves not only capable of running musical rings around the so-called 'sition' of Oasis, but also doing something which the Mancunians have always had a problem with: evolving. And for a while it was all seen as a big, big mistake. On the holiest of perennial quests to crack the States, Blur had come close to tearing themselves apart. Albarn and Coxon the creative chalk and cheese at the heart of the band were at each others' throats. But this was probably more to do with the sinking feeling that they'd always be tied to some ersatz Estuary 'knees-up' genre that, having perfected, they now tired of completely. By this point they were listening to Pavement and all their heroes were across the pond. The song "Look Inside America" said it all. With its referrals to lovers conversations over the long distance crackle of a phone, here was Albarn taking the Beatle-esque vibe and re-tooling it for a wider market, less bothered about the snaps of Olde Englande. Blur serves as a sampler of all these new influences and urges. "Country Ballad Sad Man" is taken from Beck's lo-fi template while "Beetlebum" and "I'm Just A Killer For Your Love" take the rattling drones and add a weary menace that's light years away from Parklife's cheeriness. The fans were not amused. Failing in the UK despite universal praise, it took the clarion call of "Song 2" to both get them accepted into the American heartland and to resurrect the album's fortunes six months later as it finally attained the #1 spot in Britain. Blur had, like all the greatest bands, moved on. Oasis never would... --Chris Jones Find more music at the BBC ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/syn//albumreviews/-/music/ ) This link will take you off in a new window See more ( javascript:void(0) )

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