The Great Escape? Is it really that bad...?

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Maybe you have to be in the mood.

dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Really you had to be there.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:52 (eighteen years ago) link

didn't Graham write Best Days? I think in the latter days at least, Graham managed to save a lot of their albums. Coffee and TV remains a firm favourite amongst the world of rubbish that is 13.

dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Really you had to be Damon.

xpost blummin TIMING!

mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Not really the right thread, but could someone tell me this:

What are the lyrics to the backing vocals during the last verse of Clover Over Dover?

Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:54 (eighteen years ago) link

I always loved "Yuko and Hiro" better than anything else because it was Damon being properly sad and bereft without being all bloody heroic about it ("To The End", "This Is A Low" etc), it was a lovely plastic-y synthetic shrill thing that (musically) seems to be consciously playing into the hands of everyone who decided that it was an infuriatingly 'artificial' record. I wanted them to go off and do lots more things like this. They didn't. Although, "Dare", maybe?

Alex in Sheffield (Alex in Doncaster), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:55 (eighteen years ago) link

didn't Graham write Best Days? I think in the latter days at least, Graham managed to save a lot of their albums. Coffee and TV remains a firm favourite amongst the world of rubbish that is 13.

Coffee and Tv is great, but 'world of rubbish' is a bit harsh. Most of the songs on there are great, they just go on twice as long as they ought to.

Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:56 (eighteen years ago) link

yeh, that's fair enough - i guess i also like Battle and Mellow Song, but tracks like Tender and No Distance Left To Run are in retrospect appauling self-polluting buckets of semen dripping down the Blur catalogue and did Damon absolutely no favours in rendering him as a hand-pump in the eyes of the general public (who still bought these songs in their droves). Far too many generic Blur!Punk!Attempts! on there too as well as the loping drudgery of 1992 and Swamp Song.

dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:02 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost

dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:03 (eighteen years ago) link

oops sorry, not xpost.

dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:03 (eighteen years ago) link

i never really listened to '13'. or side 2 of 'blur'. or 'the great escape'.

N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:04 (eighteen years ago) link

side 2 of "blur" is wonderful.

mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:06 (eighteen years ago) link

If you don't believe me, pretend it's side two of "Low"

mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:06 (eighteen years ago) link

hahaha, i don't like side 2 of 'low'!!!

N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:08 (eighteen years ago) link

er, plus 'blur' came out twenty years after 'low'. i think this is important.

N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:09 (eighteen years ago) link

ANYONE WHO DOESN'T LIKE SIDE 2 OF LOW IS NO FRIEND OF MINE

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:11 (eighteen years ago) link

OH NOES

N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:17 (eighteen years ago) link

Side two of Blur is ace! It's just Blur being as far away from Blur as possible - there's even a song about them LIKING America (a bit).

dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:19 (eighteen years ago) link

which is blur doing 'more songs about buildings and food', really.

N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:33 (eighteen years ago) link

"Look Inside America" vs "The Big Country"

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:45 (eighteen years ago) link

Just went and had a listen to the album for probably the 1st time in 8-9 years, and 'Yuko & Hiro' is properly stunning! I don't remember it being that good...

Citypark, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:57 (eighteen years ago) link

which is blur doing 'more songs about buildings and food', really.
-- N_RQ (bl0cke...), September 13th, 2005.

boy, i must hear that track again.

piscesboy, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:11 (eighteen years ago) link

"Country House" is the only Blur song I like. And its basically a Kinks song.

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:12 (eighteen years ago) link

I think it's a great record. Its excesses can grate, but is there really any denying "The "Universal" or "He Thought of Cars"? I think the hate for this album stems in large part from the band itself. During the Blur era they came to embarrassed by their former image, and were keen to write this album off. Critics took their lead, and voila!

D. Bachyrycz, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:31 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll keep it if only for "The Universal" and "Mr. Robinson's Quango." I still don't know what a quango is, or maybe I did once, but I forgot. Is the answer among the 28 older messages that are are hidden?

k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:35 (eighteen years ago) link

I guess in keeping with the Britishness I should have said amongst.

k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:35 (eighteen years ago) link

quango = quasi-autonomous non governmental organisation.

Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:39 (eighteen years ago) link

honest!

I can't remember the exact details, but IIRC they were a load of regional semi official organistations, many of which were shut down by thatcher in the eraly '80's as a kind of populist move, b/c qango had become synonymous w/profigat govt spending at that point.

Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:41 (eighteen years ago) link

Plus, I think "The Great Escape" is OK. It's not all that bad, but it isn't anywhere near as good as "modern life is rubbish" or "parklife".

Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:42 (eighteen years ago) link

"but is there really any denying "The "Universal" or "He Thought of Cars"?"

Yes. Three times, like St. Peter.

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:13 (eighteen years ago) link

This is like saying you'd rather wear a dress than have your testicles torn off by wild dogs.

This is also true.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 17:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Your agonizer, PLEASE, Mr. Soto!

k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link

six years pass...

http://www.nme.com/news/blur--2/59677

piscesx, Sunday, 9 October 2011 03:11 (twelve years ago) link

This may well be the best Blur album ever.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Sunday, 9 October 2011 12:16 (twelve years ago) link

nice to hear about that! man, I love this album so much, though I can understand why people find it too obnoxious, over-the-top etc. Damon Albarn at his most sarcastic, I guess.

V79, Sunday, 9 October 2011 13:13 (twelve years ago) link

'The Great Escape' is a good album. I don't think Blur ever made a great one - the closest that they came was 'Parklife' IMHO. Most of their albums suffer from being at least quarter of an hour/three or four songs too long. Tracks which, if they were cut, would have made the albums just that little bit stronger. I've never had a problem with the 'The Great Escape' though. When it's 'on' (which it is most of the time), it's fabulous. When it's 'off', it's the pits.

Turrican, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 20:22 (twelve years ago) link

five months pass...

"Best Days" is an obscenely fantastic song, I will say that much. There is some rather slight stuff on the album as well, though.

Freedom, Sunday, 18 March 2012 18:25 (twelve years ago) link

Country House seems to define a moment; in the middle of all this ironic Benny Hill 90s lads comedy, and that great scribble of a guitar solo, it all stops while the singer tells us how depressed he really is. Then its back to the page 3 girls and the coke...

Dr X O'Skeleton, Sunday, 18 March 2012 21:01 (twelve years ago) link

Pretty much every track has something going on musically, a great riff, killer hook, good idea in the arrangement, to recommend it, and almost every song is catchy as hell. But there are some awful, awful, hateful lyrics and vocals.

Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 18 March 2012 22:37 (twelve years ago) link

^^^^ yep

Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 18 March 2012 22:49 (twelve years ago) link

three years pass...

Has anyone ever hated humanity as much as Damon did on this album?

Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 26 November 2015 07:33 (eight years ago) link

Damn, twenty years old.

Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 26 November 2015 07:57 (eight years ago) link

xpost, yes, Damon Albarn now.

canoon fooder (dog latin), Thursday, 26 November 2015 10:33 (eight years ago) link

Pretty much every track has something going on musically, a great riff, killer hook, good idea in the arrangement, to recommend it, and almost every song is catchy as hell. But there are some awful, awful, hateful lyrics and vocals.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 18 March 2012 22:37 (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

100x yes. It would be such a great record if it hadn't been for the lyrics.

In a weird sequence of events, we decided to watch The Krays movie the other night, which promptly lodged the lyrics to 'Charmless Man' in my head. The next day, we sang it as we walked up the hill to a pub quiz where, during the music round they played 'Charmless Man' in reverse. To add to the coincidence, just as I was writing this post, I went to Google something completely unrelated and the first result was about the Kray Twins, but not what I was looking for.

canoon fooder (dog latin), Thursday, 26 November 2015 10:54 (eight years ago) link

six years pass...

Did anyone see B-Roads *finally* leaked yesterday? Maybe it was a private obsession for us Blur forum vets but it's rather like Carnival of Light has come out.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Thursday, 24 November 2022 16:08 (one year ago) link

People were very weird about this. Mods demanding it must not be discussed. Show-offs who had somehow seen it informed the rest that it wasn't much cop and no one else needs to see it, yet describing every scene in great detail

PaulTMA, Thursday, 24 November 2022 18:51 (one year ago) link

B-Roads? What's that?

the pinefox, Thursday, 24 November 2022 18:54 (one year ago) link

Late 1995 tour film / documentary, mentioned in the music press as something that was in the works. The band decided they didn't want it to come out and was quietly shelved. There wasn't too much fanfare/hype about it to begin with, but it slowly became something of a holy grail. The version that leaked could be just a rough cut, not sure

PaulTMA, Thursday, 24 November 2022 20:12 (one year ago) link

Wow. Thanks for this. I had Starshaped on video back in the day. It's odd seeing Matt Lucas in the tour party.

cajunsunday, Thursday, 24 November 2022 21:02 (one year ago) link

https://vimeo.com/774782708

cajunsunday, Thursday, 24 November 2022 21:05 (one year ago) link


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