Blur

Having finally given Blur a chance to encroach on my musical tastes after seeing Graham Coxon and Damon Albarn reunite on stage at this years' NME awards, it was a delight to hear Coxon appear on The Guardian's weekly music podcast. Blur's last record, Think Tank, released in 2003, was largely absent of Coxon's influence, apart from on the final song, Battery in your Leg, which, ironically, is a parting eulogy to the band's 90s hay days. Albarn said the lyrics represented the first time he had actually written about the band. Eventually, however, after Coxon parted company with the band when they complained about his seeming nonchalance and alcoholism, Think Tank grew out of Albarn's creative arc and became riddled with sentimental notions of love, nostalgia, and betrayal. For example Battery in your Leg contains the lines:

Everybody's stopped believing,
But you know you're not alone.
You can be with me?
This is a ballad for the good times.

Similarly, their first single from the album, Out of Time, muses upon guilty delusion, as if Albarn is questioning his own certainty; "Tell me I'm not dreaming, but are we out of time?". He seems to concede that Blur can go no further without Coxon's impetuous, whilst refraining from acknowledging the rift that caused their parting.

But if we stop dreaming now
Lord knows we'll never clear the clouds,
And you've been so busy lately.

Finally, on what I think to be one of the most beautiful songs ever written, Sweet Song, Albarn unflinchingly addresses Coxon, providing a sense of closure for the listeners' suspicions. In the opening verse Albarn sings:

What am I to do?
Someone is really unhappy.
Put myself on the knife
It seems I never got through to you,
So I'll wean myself off slowly.

Further, as part of the chorus, Albarn references Blur's most successful track, This is a Low, which draws from the 1997 Parklife album that saw Coxon and Albarn derive some of their greatest creative chemistry. This is a Low parodies a shipping broadcast and soon became a classic. During Sweet Song Albarn echoes This is a Low's opening line, "And into the sea", with the admission, "everything's out to sea". Yet, Albarn's honesty and emotional turmoil reaches its crux in the final verse.

And now, now
It seems that
It's falling apart,
But I hope I see the good in you
Come back again.
I just believed in you.

Coxon spoke openly about preparing for the summer tour on the podcast, saying that it's difficult to look into each other's eyes when rehearsing things like Out of Time and Battery in your Leg, and from what I've said, I hope you can understand why. Coxon and Albarn's friendship goes back to when they were both eleven year-olds in secondary school, so it's wonderful to see them back together again. I've been an admirer of Albarn since his collaborative effort, The Good, the Bad, and the Queen in 2005, which didn't get the recognition it deserved. Meanwhile his efforts with Gorillaz paid dividends and his musical, Monkey: Journey to the West received as much critical acclaim as is possible, and still tops my wish list of things I'm desperate to see. For a list of short YouTube clips that you really must take the time to watch, see below:

Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon at the NME Awards 2009 - This is a Low.
Blur play at Bataclan, France in 2003 - Sweet Song.
Blur play at Bataclan, France in 2003 - Battery in my Leg.
Blur finish their Bataclan set in 2003 - This is a Low.