Blur: Classic Or Dud

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

^ Podcast about the making of the new rekkid.

i love the great escape :)

but i am a miserable person

blur discog run revealed to me yet again that i only really love s/t, 13, and think tank, but i do have some nostalgic affection for great escape bc it was my first blur record, also any album with “the universal” + a bunch of garbage would be significant, and it’s more than that

I'm in the same boat, Blur up to TGE is a little repertory, a little camp, a little cheeky. And then Graeme decided he'd like to be in Pavement and so the albums became chaotic, dissonant and melancholy in response, which is much more interesting for me, and makes the pop jewels shine brighter.
I'm loving The Ballad of Darren, those folks calling it "subdued" need their heads read. "Barbaric" is one of those chord progressions which feel timeless, as if written in the fabric of music.

Thanks for the podcast link - really enjoyed it. The amount of media work that the band has done to promote this record is phenomenal.

“ And then Graeme decided he'd like to be in Pavement and so the albums became chaotic, dissonant and melancholy in response, which is much more interesting for me, and makes the pop jewels shine brighter.”

This is when I started to care about Blur

After being initially nonplussed by it, Darren is now comfortably slotting into my #3 Blur spot behind s/t and 13. How many comeback records are as good as this?

Spotify Wrapped just reminded me that Blur released an album this year lol. It would be interesting to see how listening figures went for this because I must have played it so much in the week it came out that it pushed Blur into my top 2 most played artists, only to never be played again

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/blur-add-ca-headlining-show-with-jockstrap-ahead-of-coachella/

I might have to go to this.

My wife was looking at it…

I saw Blur with Pulp and they both were so good live, the 90s ruled.

Ugh, so jealous. One of my biggest regrets was missing out on a ticket to perhaps my best chance to see Blur. They did a one-off show at the relatively intimate Brooklyn Bowl, which was a 15 minute walk from my apartment. ARRRRGH.

I forgot tickets went on sale today, I checked in two hours later and it was sold out.

My wife got two pit tix. She plans to take our son, for his first concert experience…

The show more or less sold out in minutes. Pit tickets were priced at $125 plus fees but quickly shot up to $400, $550, and then $600 per ticket (plus fees) via "AXS Premium" (the equivalent of Ticketmaster's Platinum). Later some single loge seats popped up for around $550 each, plus fees.

Unreal.

Wow… sounds like she lucked out

That's awesome morrisp, they should have a blast.

Watched the entire Brit awards thinking they were perfoming ;/

"So, in the spirit of clarity and truth. This is probably our last gig. And obviously the last time we play this song."

Damon Albarn at Coachella. April 20, 2024

Tender

I stand by what I posted upthread 12 years ago - that Blur will still be chugging along like Status Quo. Except Quo actually had a sense of humour about themselves.

Don't know if they did really, remember when they sued radio 1 for not putting them on the playlist?

Didn't one of their singles get put on the Radio 2 playlist instead of the Radio 1 playlist, and Damon had a shitfit about it?

I suspect he got his former bandmates together last year to 'Blur-ify' what was essentially a solo album, and now they've made enough money from the tours to sustain their lifestyles, Blur will go on indefinite hiatus again.

Speaking as the biggest Blur fan I know, I thought the last two albums completely sucked.

I have it on good authority that the first reunion in 2009 and the shows in Hyde Park etc were mostly organised to help Dave Rowntree out as he was financially in a bit of a state.

Dave has been selected as a Labour candidate at the next election, not an easily winnable seat but a chance he'll be busy with that quite soon.

I wish him nothing but all the worst luck he can possibly encounter on the campaign trail, hope he gets eaten by a dog!

Looks v unlikely he'll win even in a landslide - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_Sussex_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s

yep, he's wasting his time. 3rd place behind the LibDems even in '97.

he's just so excited by the possibilities of Starmer Labour that it means a lot to him to at least give it go

my spouse said Alex James used to be cute but that now he looks like a guy who poops on the street in the Tenderloin

Electoral Calculus currently has Mid-Sussex as Tories 29.6%, Labour 28.2% and Lib Dems 27.8%. He could win.

Speaking as the biggest Blur fan I know, I thought the last two albums completely sucked.

I've never listened to either of them in their entirety, but I wasn't interested in any of the bits I heard