Features Disc of the day
Blur
13
(Food, 1999)
Blur go bonkers with samplers and nasty noises. Required listening, post-Hyde Park.
Watching Blur live at Hyde Park last Friday (and yes, Jenny, they were magnificent - much more relaxed than at Glastonbury and twice as powerful) it struck me how much the band enjoyed playing songs off 13. Tender, Coffee & TV, even the mournful Trimm Trabb were delivered with abandon. Perhaps that's no surprise; 13 represents the last time the band were a quorate, functioning unit, and although it is haunted by sadness - there are loud echoes of Damon Albarn's still-raw break-up with partner Justine Frischmann - it has grown old gracefully. "Space is the place..." croons Damon at the end of the fuzzed out, psych-spazzed Bugman, and space is Blur's destination throughout on a record that bids to explore sound rather than impose order on it, and at Hyde Park, Tender and Trimm Trabb became vehicles for spontaneous extemporisation and in-the-zone grooving.
On plastic, its vibe is more impressionistic. William Orbit, fresh from producing Madonna's Ray Of Light, brought his rave-honed sensitivity to texture, and even the ever-unsettled Coxon claimed to dig the "bonnet-off" approach. Battle's nebulous dub-threat is typical, while Caramel - think Roy Budd sloshing about in a trip-hop sound-soup - is as far out-there as Blur ever went or (probably) ever wanted to, yet the brittle and beautiful Mellow Song re-emphasises Albarn's lack of fear of the simplest ditty, the mark of the pop genius. Consumer alert! There are two genuine shockers - the useless Swamp Song and Trailerpark - but Blur would have had to come round for tea and poo on mum's sofa to outstay the welcome extended on behalf of all-time-classic wheezy heartbreaker No Distance Left To Run. Hands up who's in bits when the battered Albarn sings "I hope you're with someone who makes you feel safe in your sleep" and Graham's exquisite guitars describe a fuzzy lullaby. No? Then, you, my friend, are a monster.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 10/07/2009
Further Listening
Blur – Bustin’ + Dronin’ (Food, 1998)
Dub Narcotic Sound System – Out Of Your Mind (K Records, 1998)
Beck – Mutations (Universal, 1998)
Previous Disc of the day
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Boo Hooray - Haunted
Rumpled velvet pop from weary Scots romantics. Out on Monday!
6:00 AM GMT 04/02/2010
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The Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness
"Prince Valium" leavens the badness with Bacharach/Fanclub tune gold.
6:00 AM GMT 03/02/2010
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The Walker Brothers - Nite Flights
Former pin-ups' last-gasp reinvention as art rock phantasms.
6:00 AM GMT 02/02/2010
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Chet Baker - Deep In A Dream
"The ultimate Chet Baker collection", they called it.
6:00 AM GMT 01/02/2010
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