Defend the Indefensible: James Blunt

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,

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.