Blur: Classic Or Dud

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I’ve just sung it a bit more in my head and realized I was singing Uncle Love actually. Had to look up the lyrics to Mr Briggs and now I remember- makes more sense with the new album tbh

she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 02:06 (nine months ago) link

listening to think tank again and it's a little inconsistent but most of it is some of the best music albarn had ever made, i wish he'd made more like it

ufo, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 11:37 (nine months ago) link

Think Tank is probably one of the most uneven albums I have in my collection. Totally agree that there's some of the best music of his career on there. It's hard to imagine Damon coming up with something as magical as Ambulance, Out Of Time, Sweet Song or Battery In Your Leg now. It's frustrating such gorgeous songs sit aside Crazy Beat, Jets and We've Got A File On You.

kitchen person, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 14:22 (nine months ago) link

here to once again be the only person saying that "jets" rules

ivy., Wednesday, 26 July 2023 14:25 (nine months ago) link

Interesting to frame this new album against The Great Escape, whereas at first I was comparing it to 13, Think Tank and Magic Whip. There are definitely similarities (and not just the album cover, which I think of as also being a reference to David Hockney)

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 14:50 (nine months ago) link

kitchen person OTM. I feel the same way about 13 too.

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 14:51 (nine months ago) link

I don't mind "Crazy Beat," to be honest...

afriendlypioneer, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 16:05 (nine months ago) link

All of Think Tank rules - except Crazy Beat, which partly rules

you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 16:19 (nine months ago) link

I've said it before but I don't at all mind the basic sound of it, and Fatboy's Kalifornia duck voice. Where it really slips are the yeah yeah yeah yuh YEAHs and the lyrics (esp second verse).

Nothing wrong with Jets. Damon folding in his jamming with Alex and Dave from the s/t and 13 with learned experiences with Dan the Automator and cast. The exact roomy breather that benefits being track 11. But groove is still not quite enough so in comes Mike Smith to scribble on it and it's the right accent colour.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 16:24 (nine months ago) link

listening to think tank again and it's a little inconsistent but most of it is some of the best music albarn had ever made, i wish he'd made more like it

If Crazy Beat weren't on Think Tank, I think that album would have an entirely different reputation. Maybe Albarn's most ethereally gorgeous album, for the most part?

Davey D, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 16:30 (nine months ago) link

and it's funky too

ivy., Wednesday, 26 July 2023 16:36 (nine months ago) link

sit aside Crazy Beat, Jets and We've Got A File On You.

Of these 3, only one was trying to be the poster child for the whole album, and it also happens to be the only annoying one of the three.
"We've Got A File On You" is a palette cleanser in the tradition of Bank Holiday, and it works perfectly in that context. The Ballad of Darren is completely missing that end of the spectrum, and it suffers for it.
"Jets" is noodle-y, and overstays its welcome a bit, but it meshes with the album's vibe much better than Fatboy Slim does.

Count me in the "Think Tank rules" camp.

enochroot, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 16:46 (nine months ago) link

Jets is fantastic until that sax solo stinks it up. Other than that and Crazy Beat, Think Tank is absolutely top notch

PaulTMA, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 19:23 (nine months ago) link

I’m legit amazed by how much the new one has grown on me. Top 3 Blur record?

Davey D, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 19:27 (nine months ago) link

oh my godddd I'm gonna have to listen to this and take some names aren't I

imago, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 19:30 (nine months ago) link

Interesting to frame this new album against The Great Escape,

there's absolutely no question that it's better than the great escape

ufo, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 21:43 (nine months ago) link

I haven't heard the new one yet, but The Great Escape is a good, not bad album.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 21:46 (nine months ago) link

This one has got a similar mood. It's Great Escape meets 13

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 21:51 (nine months ago) link

I like it but it’s a Damon album backed by Blur

PaulTMA, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 23:48 (nine months ago) link

I was thinking this, but then I started wondering how that might not apply to all Blur albums

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Thursday, 27 July 2023 07:01 (nine months ago) link

Only just learnt that Sweet Song is about Graham, and in that context it's rocketed into my favourite Blur songs

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Thursday, 27 July 2023 07:47 (nine months ago) link

it’s a Damon album backed by Blur with a bit of fan service thrown in…and that’s ok.

would be my hot take if I were reviewing.

Dr Drudge (Bob Six), Thursday, 27 July 2023 10:28 (nine months ago) link

There 's a good bit in the Apple Music interview for the album, where Alex and Damon are saying how the new record came together so easily, the old magic was there as soon as they started to play etc. It's undercut by Graham quietly saying "I've never done so many guitar takes for an album". He looks so vulnerable, you almost wonder if he's being exploited for forced labour.

Dr Drudge (Bob Six), Thursday, 27 July 2023 10:43 (nine months ago) link

Interesting to frame this new album against The Great Escape,

there's absolutely no question that it's better than the great escape

― ufo

There's nothing on here as good as The Universal, Best Days, He Thought Of Cars, Entertain Me or Yuko & Hiro. At the same time there's probably nothing as bad as Top Man or Mr Robinson's Quango.

Somehow The Great Escape is still one of the Blur albums I go back to the most.

kitchen person, Thursday, 27 July 2023 14:43 (nine months ago) link

Was thinking about Topman recently - could potentially have been great had they increased the BPM and lost that annoying low vocal that grates from the start

PaulTMA, Thursday, 27 July 2023 17:47 (nine months ago) link

OK let's do this now

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 17:49 (nine months ago) link

weakest opening track of their career. off to a good start here lads

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 17:52 (nine months ago) link

Jesus, that encore. That's only their second time playing "Clover Over Dover" live, ever! Possibly my favorite Blur song (it was my #1 in the Blur tracks poll) -- I would've flipped out. Gotta shout out "All Your Life" too. That's a top-tier b-side.

Not really into Ballad of Darren. Aside from "St. Charles Square" (which rules), the best moments just remind me of recent Arctic Monkeys stuff. I'm thinking, like, "So turn the music up / I'm hitting the hard stuff" from "Russian Strings," and a few other bits. Which just makes me want to listen to the last couple Arctic Monkeys albums instead. Whereas "St. Charles Square" doesn't necessarily make me want to listen to Scary Monsters, it just makes me wish there were more songs like it on the album.

Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:08 (nine months ago) link

Goodbye Albert is the closest thing to a good song so far imo, this has been sentimental energyless dreck

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:15 (nine months ago) link

there was something muted about St Charles Square, it never took off for me

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:16 (nine months ago) link

comfortably slotting alongside the magic whip in their bottom two albums, not that it's particularly close

the bridges of she's so high and slow down alone would put leisure above their combined virtues, the others absolutely no contest

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:20 (nine months ago) link

i mean leisure is pretty good, has loads of cool sounds and good songs, unlike this nonsense

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:22 (nine months ago) link

ooh it got noisy for no reason! really earned that noise! really built up to it! just like that battle-mellow song-trailerpark-caramel-trimm trabb suite that culminates finally in two colossal and contrasting outpourings of musical catharsis, except without literally any of the music

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:28 (nine months ago) link

i am the splash of cold water to the face that this thread hardly deserves

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:29 (nine months ago) link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turrican_II:_The_Final_Fight

PaulTMA, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:32 (nine months ago) link

lol, turrican probably loves this album

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:37 (nine months ago) link

At the same time there's probably nothing as bad as Top Man or Mr Robinson's Quango.

you know, Topman is the most TGE thing on TGE. it's like the sickly artifice underpinning the whole album extracted and enlarged under a microscope. they're not the highlights but if you take away those songs it starts to look a little more like "Parklife Part 2". whereas if you minus The Universal or He Thought of Cars it still has an identity.

idk the idea that albums would be better resequenced without the stage-setter tracks is all too prevalent on this board.

all this time I thought you were British (Deflatormouse), Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:31 (nine months ago) link

galaxy brain here, threatening to undermine all my good work being right about blur above: mr robinson's quango is undroppable from tge

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:37 (nine months ago) link

i mean Blur's albums are mostly uneven and this is maybe the worst thread for making this case since e.g. Parklife prob *would* be better if you cut at least a third of the songs.

all this time I thought you were British (Deflatormouse), Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:38 (nine months ago) link

that this thread hardly deserves

agreed

bulb after bulb, Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:43 (nine months ago) link

don't worry imago we were planning to erect a statue of you itt. i have the top ascii artists in the country working on it as we speak.

all this time I thought you were British (Deflatormouse), Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:47 (nine months ago) link

I hope the names of every Blur album actual sentient humans posting itt think this new one is better than are incorporated into said ascii statue

imago, Thursday, 27 July 2023 21:09 (nine months ago) link

the great escape has a few great highlights but is mostly them running out of steam & at their most annoying, so i never want to listen to it

ufo, Thursday, 27 July 2023 21:19 (nine months ago) link

It’s one of the most depressing albums I’ve ever heard, can’t say I ever really enjoyed listening to it but that has nothing to do with its quality.

brimstead, Thursday, 27 July 2023 21:25 (nine months ago) link

(the great escape)

brimstead, Thursday, 27 July 2023 21:25 (nine months ago) link

Deflatormouse OTM about TOPMAN. It is absolutely that album's "eye of the duck"

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Thursday, 3 August 2023 23:07 (nine months ago) link

The Great Escape always reminded me of something like Seven & the Ragged Tiger. Eye of the storm kind of records.
Very confident, but with more than a touch of hysteria beneath the surface, production tarted up to make up for the dip in song quality.
Overcooked... and interesting on occasion.

mr.raffles, Friday, 4 August 2023 14:51 (nine months ago) link

i like this album a lot! it's made me go back and listen to all of Blur's catalogue, which TBH I was not overly familiar with outside of the debut, s/t, and 13.

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 4 August 2023 15:34 (nine months ago) link

https://tapenotes.co.uk/project/tn119-blur-james-ford

MaresNest, Friday, 4 August 2023 23:58 (nine months ago) link

^ Podcast about the making of the new rekkid.

MaresNest, Friday, 4 August 2023 23:58 (nine months ago) link


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