Blur: Classic Or Dud

Metacritic neatly demonstrates a problem with music criticism - almost ALL releases end up above 75% - there's maybe only one release each week that doesn't.

This is kinda true, but still this album has at the moment the highest score of the last 20 or so albums listed:

http://i.imgur.com/7HtbZFe.jpg

It's also pretty near the top of the albums released so far this year:

http://i.imgur.com/eAjxylc.jpg

So far, it's only getting very enthusiastic reviews. The lowest is 80. To some extent, this is to be expected: Uncut doesn't give less than 4 stars to any band who it might want on its cover, for instance. Pretty much the same with Q and Mojo. Maybe more realistic reviews will appear closer to release date.

oh how ridiculous it is for Speedy Ortiz to be lower than Blur.

Critics give high scores to beloved established artists out of reflex. The score means nothing.

my bloody valentine

not original lineup

same lineup as in the glory years

has any band ever come back with their original line up after such a long spell away, and done anything better than only half decent? i mean.. maybe but not many leap to mind.

― piscesx, Tuesday, April 21, 2015 8:35 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

let me just add Polvo to the list

Back to the album: I think it's great. I always liked Blur, never loved them, but this has a lot going for it: it feels loose, demo-like, even with the Stephen Street flourishes. Thought I was a Spaceman and There Are Too Many of Us could easily enter my top 10 Blur songs. I also appreciate that this doesn't feel like a statement album - like "we're back!". It's just a diverse collection of lovely songs with really stunning guitar sounds laid all over it. 5/5.

i think the album's especially disappointing because the previous reunion singles were much more promising. Fool's Day isn't fantastic but it's better than most of the album, and The Puritan and Under the Westway, while much more self-consciously Blur-sounding, have a stronger melodic sense and more developed arrangements than anything on the album by far.

yeah the melodies here are so weak and cloying

Critics give high scores to beloved established artists out of reflex. The score means nothing.

Damon is probably more indulged by British rock writers than nearly anyone else, virtually every side project is treated with automatic reverence, people say "genius" with a straight face. I suspect it's because they identify with him more than 99.9% of other pop stars.

Seems like critics just needing to appoint a current rock artist a genius, particularly one of Their Generation. I give Albarn a lot of respect for not taking the easy option, but nothing he's done has ever screamed out genius. It's more a case of someone putting a lot of effort in, having a lot of ambition, and really trying pretty much anything. So he's open minded, which is great, though not sure that necessarily equates with genius. All his projects also just make him more interesting/more easier to write about than most of his peers. A bit like a britpop David Byrne.

David Byrne's a good comparison. I really like the album btw. Coxon and Street make sure it sounds like Blur rather than Damon and friends.

He's so prolific which amazes some critics, perhaps. The Good, The Bad and The Queen album was the best thing Albarn was ever involved with imo.

https://33.media.tumblr.com/9efd6b765cfaf1cb72d5f9dd6172496b/tumblr_nn8ef9UUxR1rbitzio1_540.gif

Damon is probably more indulged by British rock writers than nearly anyone else, virtually every side project is treated with automatic reverence, people say "genius" with a straight face. I suspect it's because they identify with him more than 99.9% of other pop stars.

― Matt DC, Thursday, April 23, 2015 11:35 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's a bit harsh, whether I agree with various British rock writers or not, I'm sure they're not that charmless!

It's a conspiracy that it's getting such across-the-board great review! This thread must be the only source of TRUTH

I like this album a lot on first listen. I've never been a huge fan of anthemic Blur; it's the weird sketches and "let's build a song around this guitar tone" songs I like the most.

I'm astonished by how much I'm loving this record. Possibly second to the self-titled record for me, at this point. Might even top it. For me, it's a subtle, mature, and evolved version of the band in the best ways.

tbf

this album has a few more highlights than those already mentioned, but it is absolutely and utterly incapable of following up a good song with another good song - every time i'm led to think 'hey, this isn't so bad' it throws a brick into the gearbox

if this was an EP comprising Lonesome Street, Go Out, Thought I Was A Spaceman, MAYBE There Are Too Many Of Us (with altered lyrics) and Pyongyang, I wouldn't have anything bad to say about it, probably

but some of this is 'mature' in an intensely cloying way that latterday albarn has become infatuated with

'new world towers' is perhaps the worst blur song (there are other candidates here too)

Yeah, 'New World Towers' isn't a favourite of mine, it's very safe to say. Having it as the second track on the album is a really bad track sequencing choice, I think.

actually 'ghost ship' is the worst song blur ever did, fucking christ (i'm relistening)

it and 'new world towers' alone justify the hatred, although there's a lot of mediocrity besides imo

I adore Ghost Ship. It's Blur doing Lambchop.

the most charitable i can be towards 'ghost ship' is that it reminds me of when xtc would try something a bit wacky and it would go horrendously wrong

Yeah, 'Ghost Ship' is another one I'm not too keen on. I'd say 'Lonesome Street' and 'There Are Too Many Of Us' are my two big favourites from this record, the rest ranges from okay to being (to me) a bit on the dull side. I can understand why the hardcore Blur fans are getting excited about this record (after all, it's been such a long time since their last one), but I have to say I'm finding the positive critical reaction more than a little mystifying. I don't think there's anything here that stands out as something that one could comfortably file amongst their classics. It's possible that one or two moments on here may grow on me with time. However, for the moment it's just not doing it for me for the most part and I actually think Suede's Bloodsports was a much more successful comeback. I give it a high 2.5/5 to 3/5.

Part of the problem that I'm having with the record is that I'm finding a lot of the vocal melodies what Damon's singing to be a bit on the unengaging side, in pretty much a similar way to how I found parts of The Good, The Bad & The Queen and Everyday Robots unengaging. Some of the singing seems a bit ropey in places, too!

Bloodsports has one genuinely killer track (Faultlines) - the rest is a bit okayish, I thought. But doesn't seem like there's anything as good as Faultlines here.

Pyongyang, My Terracotta Heart, Thought I Was A Spaceman and Ghost Ship are exceptionally good songs

30 minute documentary on the album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG-2Vy5zZtU

to me this really seems to be like blur on autopilot. i always thought "modern life is rubbish" was their apex and "parklife" almost their nadir. this sounds like another "parklife" 20 years on, what a waste of time. maybe that's just me but i found the last damon albarn album much more interesting in terms of sound and songwriting.

has any band ever come back with their original line up after such a long spell away, and done anything better than only half decent? i mean.. maybe but not many leap to mind.

― piscesx, Tuesday, April 21, 2015 8:35 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

let me just add Polvo to the list

― meaty, desperate, and honest about the world we live in (ultros ultros-ghali), Tuesday, April 21, 2015 9:37 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

New drummer though!

I'm enjoying a lot of these songs in isolation, esp. Spaceman, There Are Too Many Of Us, Pyongyang, but my god, the album's a slog to get through as a whole.

I think it's the lack of variation in Damon's voice and the consistently slow pace of the songs. Even the fast ones seem to drag somehow.

Yeah, the track order is a bit all over the place and doesn't serve the record well in my opinion.

There's a Blur forum out there that's an absolute feast of hardcore fanboy LOLs surrounding this release. In particular, when Pitchfork had the sheer nerve to rate this album a 7.0(!) you could hear the collective hardcore fanboy explosion for miles around. It struck me as being more than a little over the top really, 7.0 isn't a bad score at all, and I actually think most of the reviews of this record (including Pitchfork's) have been a bit too generous.

Even Ned got a mention, I see, in this post!

Re: The Magic Whip Reviews
Post by AdvertBreak » 28 Apr 2015, 14:09

Maybe we should be glad they didn't get Ned Raggett to do it who has returned to them recently. Not only did he gives Wire's new s/t the same 7/10 but he hates Tender and IIRC he's not the biggest Blur fan.

I've listened to this once through. Don't agree with Alex In Manhattan - how does this sound anything like Parklife? Like imago says, every time it feels like it might be getting somewhere, it plunges back down into indistinct singing and workshop rhythms. You'd think that in all the time they'd been away, Blur would manage to pull together some songs, but this is so washy and nothingy. Maybe taken on its own terms, forgetting that this is Blur, maybe it's not so bad though?

Are they planning any singles from this at all? This sounds like what would have happened if Blur had made an entire album around 'Don't Bomb When You're The Bomb', possibly the weirdest single choice for a band of their stature at the time.

hang on, wiki says DBWYTB was a ltd edition 7"? I swear I saw it on CD and quite prominently on racks in HMV at the time...

oh that was music is my radar, which i can't even remember how it goes any more.

Metacritic should really take the three people posting prolifically in this thread into consideration

There's more than 3 people in this thread that have expressed disappointment with this record, and this thread isn't the only place on the internet where people are saying they're disappointed with it.

yeah but if the average reviews are positive, that's not metacritics' fault is it? that's down to reviewers being over generous.

genuinely think that if you like New World Towers you should be forced out of the crit game for life

'Ice Cream Man' surely must rank highly as one of the most annoying tracks ever to grace a Blur record.

amazing how such a B-sidey track is track 2.

it sounds no better than any of the tracks off the Gorillaz free Xmas Day giveaway album.

whatever the fuck that was called.

The Fall?

that's the fella.

the synths on this have to be the worst sounding on anything Damon's done except for maybe that

I'm enjoying a lot of these songs in isolation, esp. Spaceman, There Are Too Many Of Us, Pyongyang, but my god, the album's a slog to get through as a whole.

I think it's the lack of variation in Damon's voice and the consistently slow pace of the songs. Even the fast ones seem to drag somehow.

― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s)

This is so spot on for me. He sings in the exact same mopey style on almost every song. It doesn't sound like the same guy who sang so brilliantly on Parklife (The album) The three songs you picked are my highlights too.

Well, it has been 21 years since Parklife, but I agree... I'm not a big fan of the vocal style Damon's adopted on some of the tracks on here. That 'New World Towers', Everyday Robots, mopey, drifty, slow songs on The Good, The Bad & The Queen type of approach.