Defend the Indefensible: James Blunt

"i'm getting that james blunt album 'cos he's fit"

this is why james blunt sells and antony and the johnsons do not.

sometimes i wonder why they even bother putting a cd in the case.

i suppose so, if you're not counting elvis.

xp- I've met Antony. He's not all that chinny.

HOwever,

On TV, Cat (I think) mentioned that he'd played for the queen and asked how it went. He said "She said, "Off with his head"" in a funny voice.

Also some otherwise dull interview, the song was mentioned and how it was written about a previous g/f seen with a new b/f. "Did she like having a song about her?" was the Q. "You'd think so, wouldn't you!" exclaimed Mr B.

What a prat.

(Umm, I'm not exactly defending him here, am I?)

If, however, he becomes omnipresent, then he can join Colin (not edith) and Chris Martin on my spaceship to the sun.

What a yessed out opus that promises to be!

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

Well done James you've made eyes at a hot chick on the subway, a bit like on that tic tacs ad. She was with another bloke but well that shouldn't stop you eh? You've got a plan. So let's hear this plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

What do you mean you "don't know what to do?" I thought you had a plan now you're all negative? What's happened here?

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

Wait a minute you were high? Were you gurning at her James? You "shared a moment that will last till the end?" Yeah right, couple of mitsi's was it?

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

Comedowns suck.

Especially the one he does from that cliff in the video.

xpost

If that's the actual lyric, he's home safe.

though blunt's status definitely ain't hood.

'I saw her on the subway...she was...wthnthrmn..' Wonder what it would sound like sung by someone with less of a nails-down-the-blackboard voice.

However, my vote goes to Cervantes.

Which just proves that not all soldiers are untalented. But Blunt is. Tit.

I just checked the CD in HMV, and it is true. The single has (edit) on it, so I guess that's not the version.

It reminded me of those young NME writers who throw 'fuck' in every sentence as an indication of their rock cool but come across like prefects on a night out with the rude boys. I diskard them uterly.

he was on SNL today (feel free to make fun of me for watching SNL, but there was actually a good sketch tonight with lettuce!)...

I'm afraid he's taking over America now....

The only thing funnier than Blunt's voice/songs are his facial expressions as he's singing them.

i didn't like it much. but it was strange to hear him do another song,

Not a lot of defending going on here is there?

How else could it defeat all borders and take over like that?

1) Is he 'fit'? (Not especially)
2) Interesting personality? (uncheck)
3) stunning vocal performance? (strongly disagree)
4) Speak of a shared experience that the listener may well empathise with? (ah now....!)

"High" isn't too bad.

I was WONDERING when someone would make the joke. First thing I thought of too.
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), June 30th, 2005.

haha.

but does he REALLY say 'fucking high'?

He changed his name so's as not to get people confused with our own.

but does he REALLY say 'fucking high'?

Yes.

--Sasha Frere-Jones in this week's New Yorker

Actually, you aren't supposed to do that when you sing; if you do, you are much more likely to fall off-pitch.

So, um, he can form his vowels correctly when he sings. I guess that's a defense.

hahahaha SO not otm!

-- jaymc (jmcunnin...), March 2nd, 2006. (jaymc)

Yeah, Sash, but the same accusations of banality & timidness could easily be directed towards your pet artiste, Keren Ann. It don't get more Starbucks than that, dude!

(i have yet to hear Mr. Blunt, but his name is classic if only as an irritant to Mr. Blount)

But his real name IS James Blount!

http://www.cbmr.org/pro/images/Sun-Ra.jpg

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=26931089&blogID=52032004&MyToken=14240ca5-75ed-4b29-9505-e65c503f2051

You thought he was shit, but you thought you could make a heap of money out of him and his limp, lifeless songs and ridiculous voice by selling it to people who don't like music, and, oh, boo-hoo, someone else poached him from you before you could squeeze the cash out of him. Cry me a river! That's a pretty self-interested version of "karma" you've got.

Sonned.

I still think he's doing something wrong with his vowels.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4701924.stm

what i want to know is how many people has he killed ? he said in an interview with a Sydney paper that when he was doing "recon" his seargent told them they were'nt doing there job right if they returned with all there bullets

All the singaporean girls in my office love him. They sit around a pc together and listen to the song and get emotional. I don't mention this because it has any significance vis a vis quality, but it's interesting.

Shot at. Not shot -- shot at.

James Blunt delivered a blunt message to his “bastard” detractors yesterday – telling them at least his music is “getting me laid”.
http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=17616

He said, “To all those bastards who don’t like my music who don’t like my music – you’re all adults, you can switch your radio off.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !

i guess that was his plan.

Did he say "who don't like my music" twice because he came in too early for his backing track?

the pussy bank, that is.

you can saee them now can't you - staring moodily into their coffee in the mountain fastnesses of Kosovo, haunted, not by what they did during the war, but by what they didn't do........ as 'you're beautiful' comes on the radio.......again

"We will license these records, in movies, TV and commercials...Trust me, you will hear these records."

Good thing President Bush doesn't negotiate with terrorists who make threats like this. A black helicopter is hopefully on its way to Warner Music Group right now.

so awful.

I quite liked his version of Young Folks.

I don't hate the recent single. Quite like it, even.

Oh, I do hate that because it's tarnished my year of birth forever.

i haven't heard his new stuff. wake me up when it disappears.

Looking forward to that 18-month coma then?

i'm slightly scared that i don't find 1973 utterly execrable. i'm either over the hill or he's actually got better.

i kind of feel that gwen, justin, and xtina all undershot last year and maybe mankind will luck out and blunt will also fade sooner than anticipated.

rockismgonemad.com

There are a huge number of acts that annoy me more, and I don't understand the outright hatred.

That being said, I'm pretty indifferent towards the entire guy, and there are numerous musically similar acts that would have deserved his success way more.

Man, if even Geir isn't going to defend the guy....

...then it means ILM has a consensus.

That's fucking dead set frightening.

The weird thing about that NYT article is that they talk to Linda Perry about how he had a huge song that everyone hated without even bringing up that she wrote fucking "What's Up."

Charlie's right that "1973" is unsettlingly OK.

Someone who knows about these things told me recently that he doesn't even write his own material, which surprised me. But then, given that Blunt probably wasn't even born in 1973, that kind of makes sense.

"You're Beautiful" is definitely this decade's "What's Up" though, ie the worst song of their respective decade.

Are there people who now champion 70s soft-rock who wanna argue that this kinda stuff in its 70s incarnation was good but Blunt is bad? Just curious

Are you arguing that there were no 70s soft-rock acts that were substantially better than James Blunt?

Did the question mark at the end of my sentence fail in its mission?

I dunno, it just seemed like an odd rhetorical stance to make unless that was your implication. Aren't there obviously tons of people who would make the argument your asking for? Were you trying to get a show of hands?

James Blunt is not Mondeo Pop. No way.

Alex get a cup of coffee or a something, it's a question

if I'd known I was writing for professorial scrutiny instead of asking a question on a fuckin message board though maybe I'd've been extra careful about the "rhetorical stance" I'm taking by wondering something out loud

I think the issue is clearly that I've already had a cup of coffee.

I remember some interview (Linda Perry?) where she says something about "ah, he'd pretty much finished it" about her contribution.

So, why was her contribution necessary? It's not like it's a wonderful song afterwards either.

Is he still 'not completely writing songs' now?

there was another songwriter employed on 'you're beautiful'. suzy knew her.

this suzy knows a lot of lame people huh

I utterly detested 'You're Beautiful' but, nevertheless, I do think James Blunt has talent. The only other song of his I know * is 'Wisemen'. Although it has that multi-writer, corporate pop/rock stamp to the arrangement and production, I think it's a great song (especially for some evocative, unexpected chord progressions - from the verse, into and through the chorus). It's spoiled by an acoustic guitar solo that doesn't end on the right note (and which also feeds into the wrong section - ie the chorus - lacking a feeling of chordal twist at that point); also suffers from slightly annoying Natalie Imbruglia/'Torn'-style, 'hip hop-influenced sessionman' drumming. But, still, a lovely song.

* actually, reading the favourable comments above about '1973' I had a listen to that as well, just now, but I didn't like it.

I can actually see where you're coming from re: 'Wisemen'; some of the chord progressions are nice, even if the vocal delivery/instrumentation/concept are utterly repellent.

When you say 'the concept' do you mean the lyrics? I haven't actually sat down and tried to work out what they mean. Maybe I'm scared that if I did I'd end up hating the song. There's a reference to someone living 'in a semi by the sea' (which sounds a bit dodgy * but just reminds me of 'The Sea' by Morcheeba, a reference compounded by the bleepy mid-90s keyboard twiddles in the background of the chorus).

* there being nothing wrong in living in a semi by the sea, in my opinion.

The concept = the cynical AOR marketing, and all the baggage that comes with it. I know you should judge music purely by its sound, but I can't help but hate what Blunt stands for.

I know think you should judge music purely by its sound

Sorry, I need to be more scrupulous sometimes!

also suffers from slightly annoying Natalie Imbruglia/'Torn'-style, 'hip hop-influenced sessionman' drumming.

hi geir

Wrong (not geir).

I've nothing against actual hip hop. I just have never liked that corporate session drummer style that is vaguely shuffley and 'hip hop influenced', but somehow too tasteful and technical sounding (especially when the actual drums have that nasty, hard, grainy, ambient-mic-ed 'live' sound very common today and over the last ten years or so).

"You're Beautiful" is definitely this decade's "What's Up" though, ie the worst song of their respective decade.

That'd be "The Ketchup Song" and "Macarena".

I actually think this hip-hop/electronica kind of effects added to otherwise AOR style music is often great. Has worked well for Dido and Lene Marlin among others. But obviously not for James Blunt.

About.com sez:

Just because an artist is not particularly cool doesn't mean their music is unpleasant or even of poor quality. James Blunt's music is of very high quality, but it's those Bee Gees flashbacks his voice inspires that place him on the uncool list. It's possible that songs like the current mega-hit "You're Beautiful" will endure as treasured pop classics, but it's also possible it will eventually elicit the same snickers as Barry Gibb's wailing falsetto on "Tragedy." While he is comfortably selling millions of CDs to his fans, there are millions more that liken Blunt's high pitched voice to fingernails on a chalkboard.

Antony is actually mancute when he has a wig on, but in his chemo Studio 54 get-up he's nothing to write home about.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 30 June 2005 12:29 (3 years ago) Bookmark

remember him this way

His second album's really good for a posh bloke!

His version of Where is My Mind? by The Pixies is really good too, he makes it into a real epic.

http://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/28536211731648512

<3 <3 <3

Singer James Blunt 'prevented World War III'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11753050

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49934000/jpg/_49934426_010636299-1.jpg

Singer James Blunt has told the BBC how he refused an order to attack Russian troops when he was a British soldier in Kosovo. Blunt said he was willing to risk a court martial by rejecting the order from a US General.

But he was backed by British Gen Sir Mike Jackson, who said: "I'm not going to have my soldiers be responsible for starting World War III."

Blunt was ordered to seize an airfield, but the Russians had got there first.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 live, broadcast on Sunday, he said: "I was given the direct command to overpower the 200 or so Russians who were there.

"I was the lead officer with my troop of men behind us...

"The soldiers directly behind me were from the Parachute Regiment, so they're obviously game for the fight.

"The direct command [that] came in from Gen Wesley Clark was to overpower them. Various words were used that seemed unusual to us. Words such as 'destroy' came down the radio."

That's an old story

So it is. Apols.

So, why is it in the "Top 20 news stories of Today" ?

Yeah, I wondered that myself. Something to do with Syria or, more horrifically, he has a new album coming out?

i bet its in Top 20 news stories of Today because people keep visiting it esp after its posted on messageboards and that

He has got a new album coming out, can't Obama do something about that too?

This is weird tho, from Wikipedia:

Blunt has just finished[58] recording his fourth studio album, entitled Moon Landing, as revealed by the singer in an email to fans.[59] It was released in October 2013 and featured production from Back to Bedlam producer Tom Rothrock. The lead single, "Bonfire Heart", was released on 7 October 2013.[60]

we don't think about this enough but at this point wikipedia literally knows everything about everything, obv including the future

Oh, it doesn't matter what I'm loking for, it just knows.

e.g. I was looking for "Clinic"

top google search gives me "Clinic (group)" yep, that's the exact Clinic I wanted.

ymmv, obv.

Strange - it's actually an old story with an old date. I'd assumed it was being trotted out as a new story to coincide with a new album. Still, if true, I can't really begrudge him his music making anymore.

https://twitter.com/JamesBlunt/status/753618984659025920

@JamesBlunt
If you thought 2016 was bad - I'm releasing an album in 2017.
https://twitter.com/JamesBlunt/status/808599054989070336

He really is terrible.

A public service announcement:

During lockdown, while many other artists are doing mini-concerts from their homes, I thought I’d do you all a favour and not.

— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) March 25, 2020

When you laugh about people thinking you're shit to show what a good sport you are, but you're still shit

Just overheard this song at the supermarket after years of not thinking about it, but this year has turned to dogshit so yeah why not?

Anyways... is the false start with “my life is brilliant” an accident? I had never noticed it before but it seems like he starts singing it by accident, stops and then starts again and I don’t understand why they didn’t edit that part out.

why didn't they edit the entire song out

Forget it I just checked the wikipedia article and it’s in fact an accident left on the album but not on the radio version guess that’s why I didn’t notice it before.

Apparently Weird Al even references it in his parody.

Male Adult Contemporary Artist Is Amusingly Self-Aware On Social Media

^ richard marx has been similar on twitter occasionally iirc, there may also be others i'm not remembering atm

Ah, of course.

James Blunt developed scurvy after adopting an all-meat diet to assert his masculinity https://t.co/n6m9dNwSqc pic.twitter.com/zarV44uH9v

— Jezebel (@Jezebel) August 20, 2020

Not a fan of this guy's music, but I love his sense of self irony.