Blur: Classic Or Dud

Agree about "She's So High" and also some of the lesser known tracks on the album. Not so much in song structure as in production.

"Popscene" was kind of shoegazing-influenced too. Then, on "Modern Life Is Rubbish" they discovered Kinks and XTC.

"Popscene" was kind of shoegazing-influenced too.

the hell, boy.

they discovered XTC and then told him to fuck off

Nasty, Brutish and Short is right to point to "Oily Water" as an example of Blur's better, shoegazer side in those days. But if read into the band's history (esp. helpful was an article Select magazine did in '95 imitating the Revolution in the Head book on the Beatles - i.e, track-by-track) there was an album they mostly had completed in '92 which was rejected by Food and consisted mostly of their more experimental stuff. "Pressure on Julian" is other obvious example, but there's a few other B-sides to point to.

'13' - if you take out the relatively simple songs, "Tender," "Coffee and TV," "BLUREMI," and "No Distance Left to Run" - would be a quite coherent, totally freaked-out electronic-pop record that makes a lot of the comparable stuff of the time seem like the trite young-yuppie BS it was.

I can't seem to decide if they really sounded like other bands of the time when they released their first album Leisure or not. I'm leaning only slightly towards not. At the very least it was clear upon hearing their first 12" that at least they were talented, which was not exactly always the case with these Brit indie bands of the time. As ludicrous as it is to say Popscene was inspired by shoegazing, I do think it's true She's So High was.

Also, people who don't like 13 can't be my friend. Sorry.

'13' - if you take out the relatively simple songs, "Tender," "Coffee and TV," "BLUREMI," and "No Distance Left to Run" - would be a quite coherent, totally freaked-out electronic-pop record that makes a lot of the comparable stuff of the time seem like the trite young-yuppie BS it was.

Sounds more industrial than electronic to me.

'Trimm Trabb' is actually a cover of a little-known KMFDM b-side

graham's guitar is the one redeeming feature of 'leisure' and the one distinctive thing about 'there's no other way'.

if that's shogazey or late 80s US indie-y, i don't know.

"She's So High" has touches of shoegaze, perhaps the more 'rocky', trad-psych end (think 'Falling Down' by Chapterhouse, which amusingly enough Blur were later to kinda rip off...10 points for whoever can tell me what with), but the layering of guitars and wordless yodels in the middle-eight is straight out of the shoegazing textebook if you ask me. And that's before I get onto the backwards bit...

The thing is, when 'She's So High' came out (in about Sept 90 IIRC) there was no such thing as 'shoegazing' for Blur to have been influenced by. We'd had the early Ride EPs, some stuff by Lush, an album by the Pale Saints, and that was about it. People only started talking about some kind of scene in 1991. There hadn't been any 'wordless yodelling' at that point (Polar Bear was probably the first instance of that) or backwards guitar that I can think of. If 'She's So High' was influenced by anything it was probably the backwards Stone Roses tracks, especially 'Don't Stop'.

"Popscene" "Sing" was kind of shoegazing-influenced too.

Fixed.

xpost: Yeah, that's a great shout. I think SSH is more overtly 'psychedelic' and riff-loaded than Don't Stop, which strikes me as being more of a blissful, jam-based loop, but I can see where the comparison comes from. Both are excellent songs. Actually, Second Coming's increased reliance on Squire's psychedelic guitar licks may have been a response to Coxon's technicolour displays of aptitude, but that's only wild conjecture for now.

Trimm Trabb' is actually a cover of a little-known KMFDM b-side

Enter Tarantino film mode:

Puts gun to your head:

"Name it. Name the KMFDM b-side. NOW."

The thing is, when 'She's So High' came out (in about Sept 90 IIRC) there was no such thing as 'shoegazing' for Blur to have been influenced by.

Holy shit! Dude is right!

xpost: "Wehrmacht Deserters"

THIS IS THE SOUND OF RADIOHEAD BEING BEATEN AT A GAME THEY WEREN'T EV...oh fuck it, i'm drunk

-- Just got offed, Saturday, July 14, 2007 7:47 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

lyrics:

I wanna know you
This country
Will force a war
Come closer and I'll make you work it
Ranks of citizens
Dance with rage

They have deserted us
They have averted us
From war
I wanna see you scream
If this is love then give me Goering
All lined up in parade
The men all laugh at your execution

I wanna know you
This country
Will fuck you up in war
Come closer and work me
Ranks of citizens
Dance with rage

I'm a workman with my bare hands
On your bare ass
Honey
Don't worry, I'm armoured

Which song is that??

"Wehrmacht Deserters", of course. Have you not heard it?

No I don't think so, kind sir. But I will look it up pronto.

Currently I'm blaring the Peel Session version of "On Your Own" and thinking Blur were the greatest band ever, even if I know that is a total illusion.

AKA "Leisure lovers can go fuck themselves"

The thing is, when 'She's So High' came out (in about Sept 90 IIRC) there was no such thing as 'shoegazing' for Blur to have been influenced by.

Not the term, no, but MBV's first album was released in 1988, and Jesus & Mary Chain debuted as early as 1986. Both typical examples of the more song-oriented kind of shoegazing that Blur's debut was influenced by.

That's not MBV's first album.

AND J&MC WERE NEVER SHOE GAZERS!!!!

Has anyone else read "Bit of a Blur" by Alex James?

I mean, no real surprises there, but he's a lovely and engaging writer.

how could i forget...one of my very favourite blur songs, 'resigned', has a stunning 3-minute shoegazey outro :-D

Actually, Second Coming's increased reliance on Squire's psychedelic guitar licks may have been a response to Coxon's technicolour displays of aptitude, but that's only wild conjecture for now.

-- Just got offed, Monday, July 16, 2007 1:42 AM (21 hours ago) Bookmark Link

nah.

geir is right -- also spacemen 3.

I saw Blur on the Rollercoaster tour in 1992. They were bottom of the bill with Dinosaur Jr, My Bloody Valentine, and Jesus & Mary Chain

They may have been bottom of the bill that night, but when I saw them in Glasgow D Jr were first on. I'm sure the running order changed at each venue with JAMC headlining each night.

> Not the term, no, but MBV's first album was released in 1988, and Jesus & Mary Chain debuted as early as 1986.

by 'as early as 1986' do you mean '1984'?

Hmmm. Their first album was in 1985, and there may have been a single before that too.

koogs, plz collect yr 50 credos

xpost. Upside Down (1984), Never Understand and You Trip Me Up (both 1985) were all released as singles prior to Psychocandy.

That's not part of the Blur story anyway, except for a loose connection via the indie-sphere. When Blur debuted I recall there being a lot of buzz about what a great live band they were, at a time when most bands were pretty bad entertainment. They definetely had a superior reputation right from the start.

I'm just wondering what direction they'd have gone in if it weren't for Britpop, the whole Oasis stigma, and the rest of that crap. They were always vastly superior to 99% of their peers at any given time; there's a case to argue that they were sucked into a battle for popular supremacy rather than artistic integrity, which in turn sparked such violently creative reactions as Blur and especially 13. Their populist work still bears the hallmark of quality, as they were far too good a band to release crap, but I markedly prefer their more individualistic, exploratory material.

Here's one for you, Everything: would they have gone in the direction of Cardiacs, a band Damon Albarn has self-confessed love for? Except with crazier guitar effects?

hmmmm. Well, they do have one or two pronky moments, though I can't remember them at the moment. A couple of songs/b-sides on Parklife and The Great Escape I remember crediting to a Cardiacs influence, but this was mostly because I was aware he was a big fan. Like most of Blur's emulations, it becomes very vague when filtered through their own creativity, lyrics etc (they are probably the most talented and creative pop band of their time imho). "Ernold Same" could be maybe considered as being inspired by a mid-80's Cardiacs track for example but it's really nothing like it.

Had they done a full-on, messy indie-prog double album with 10 minutes long tracks etc, it would probably have been amazing. But I doubt that would have ever happened. I don't think Coxon's into it so much, and Damon's always got an eye on the mainstream. He's very similar to (pre-1985) Paul McCartney - cherry-picking genres and commercializing them with a hefty dose of his own style and marketable reputation to make something that transcends the original in terms of commercial appeal.

Without Britpop, they would not have made 13, as it was a concious, "violent" move away from all that, and hammered a few nails into it's coffin. For which we can all be truly thankful.

Had they done a full-on, messy indie-prog double album with 10 minutes long tracks etc, it would probably have been amazing.

don't torment me!

although i'd prefer it to be a single album. 70-75 minutes, 10-12 tracks.

i'm going to make this album myself one day, so i don't know what i'm complaining about.

i mean, the problem with most 'epic' albums w/10-minute tracks is that they get lost in their own import and forget a) how to surprise and b) how to have fun. albums that combine surprise, fun, epic, and ambition (and then execute it well) are ftw.

(and i think blur would do it more or less like that, being my point)

don't worry folks, i'm off on hols tomorrow morning, so this overposting will be compensated for!

p.s. pronk-influenced blur song off 'the great escape' = "dan abnormal"? one of my favourites, that.

I've got to hear that album again. My cassette of The Great Escape got melted on the dashboard about 5 years ago and I haven't heard it since (though I've still got the box for some reason). It's got some of their best stuff. I realise I have no Blur albums at all now. I traded in Modern Life Is Rubbish, never owned Parklife except from taping it from a friend (tape got left at a restaurant I used to work at) and lend the b-sides compilation to someone that I never see anymore.

I remember three things about Blur's apperance on the scene:

Them getting hassle from some university student unions/feminists groups because of the cover art for She's So High.

Them being described as remniscent of Syd-era Pink Floyd.

Ian McGlashan coming into our 6th form common room the morning after their TOTP appearance and scoffing at "the lead singer of that band rolling his eyes around and pretending to be on drugs."

I'm just wondering what direction they'd have gone in if it weren't for Britpop, the whole Oasis stigma, and the rest of that crap.

If there was no such thing as Oasis, then Blur would still have been playing roughly the same style they did in the mid 90s.

(I don't remember anyone thinking they came from anywhere near the same place as MBV or JAMC)

xpost

haha 'you're so great' just came on and i thought it was guided by voices

There's a new reality show on the BBC called Maestro, in which celebrity contestants including Alex James learn how to conduct an orchestra! I won't lie, I downloaded the first episode so I could check it out..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/maestro/

Yeah, I watched that on Tuesday. Go Goldie go!

If there was no such thing as Oasis, then Blur would still have been playing roughly the same style they did in the mid 90s.

-- Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 21:25 (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

This is wrong. What Damon did/does has nothing to do with Oasis.

yeah i don't agree with this. MLIR came out well before Definitely Maybe and was the benchmark of their sound. Anything else that came after was entirely independent of what Oasisever did.

I can sort of see why he thinks this: The whole Oasis escapade could make someone run a mile from making more 'commercial stuff, but Damon's always been a musical butterfly really.