Tag Archives: blur

My iPod #407: Blur – Gene by Gene

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The first time I heard “Think Tank“, Blur’s last album to date, was a few years ago when I listened to the band’s discography in chronological order a few years back. When “13” was over and it was time to listen to “Tank”, I held a few factors that were to affect how much I would like it. It was the band’s first album of the 21st century, four years after 1999’s “13”. But Graham Coxon had left the year before. And Damon Albarn had started his work on Gorillaz in 2001. Would this affect how Blur and their songs would sound?

Well, yeah it did. Guitars don’t have as much of a presence in “Think Tank” tracks as they did in all the albums preceding it. And recording the album in Morocco must have had an affect on Albarn’s visions of his track as there is a wide variety of instrumentation utilising instruments from around that region, and resulting in general experimentation along the whole album.

In my opinion, “Think Tank” is okay. You can’t be blamed if you hear it and think of it as almost being a Gorillaz album or Damon Albarn solo record if it wasn’t for the word “BLUR” on the front cover, and Alex James and Dave Rowntree being credited in the liner notes. That’s enough about that, though. Let’s talk about the song.

“Gene by Gene” is the penultimate track on “Think Tank”. This was the one I remember listening to and simultaneously thinking, “Hey….. this song’s quite good!” I dug it. It’s a feel-good song-for-the-summer track featuring sweet “oooooh” gospel backing vocals, a very prominent bass, and a twangy high string guitar lick that is repeated throughout. It’s big beat sound is also definitely the result of the production by a certain Norman Cook. Or Fatboy Slim, as he is more commonly known as.

Despite the track’s positive vibes, it is a bit strange too. The lyrics are quite random. Even though the lyric is “I’ll never forget”, I am still very sure that Damon Albarn sings “I never doggy” in the chorus. And those panning mechanical noises at the beginning, and jolting squeaks near the end are supposedly the band members hitting metal and jumping on top of a car. (Certain I’ve read that somewhere, but I can’t find the link).

In terms of the album it’s the last time there’s a sense of positivity and optimism, because “Battery in Your Leg” follows afterwards and a bunch of feels comes along with it.

My iPod #326: Blur – End of a Century

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Have you ever gone on casually going about on your daily routine knowing that something big and life changing was on the horizon, but you’re just that person too wrapped up in your own life or what’s happening on the television to realise it? Well, I think that’s what Damon Albarn was thinking about when he was writing the lyrics to “End of a Century”, the third track and last single from the 1994 album “Parklife“.

If I was a little older in 1999 – maybe ten or eleven (around those ages) – I would probably be able to tell you how much people were going crazy for the start of the new millennium. I can’t because I was about four and I can barely remember living in the nineties anyway. The only thing I remember vaguely around the start of 2000 was the “Millennium Bug” where all the electricity was supposed to go out and there would be no more power. Even now, I have no idea what it was about.

While there was obviously a large majority of the world who did care that the world was entering a new era, you can’t say that there weren’t some people existing then who didn’t. Thought it was ‘nothing special’. Saw it just like any other day, and were more interested in carrying on with their lives.

So listen to this track, because it’s coming from a guy who was very much aware of what was going on at that time. Well, six years before anyway.

My iPod #237: Blur – Dan Abnormal

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“Dan Abnormal” is a track from Blur’s fourth album “The Great Escape”.

I listened to the song way before actually listening to the rest of Blur’s discography. The band had performed in Hyde Park for the Summer 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, and decided to remaster all their albums for their 21st anniversary as a group. So I thought I would listen to “The Great Escape” out of all of them, even though it’s not Damon Albarn’s favourite nor is it the favourite of the majority of Blur fans.

Albarn once said that all the songs on the album are about him in one way or another. “Dan Abnormal” is probably the one that you could say is explicitly about him. Look at the title and then rearrange it. Does that mean it’s the centerpiece of the album? Naaaaaaaah.

Apart from obvious tracks (Country House, Charmless Man, The Universal, Stereotypes), Dan Abnormal was one that actually stayed in my head after listening to the album for the first time. Not really sure why. The chorus was quite memorable, a lot of “la-la-las” are involved and the overall melody wasn’t hard to forget.

It might not be very impressive for some, but I like it and that’s all that matters.

My iPod #213: Blur – Country Sad Ballad Man

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I’m back in uni! Yaaaaaaaaaay.

The three weeks back at home were good, well they were okay. It was nice being with the family but it did get very dull within a few days. Home just doesn’t compare to university. I am sorry, sis.

“Country Sad Ballad Man” is the third track from Blur’s self-titled album from 1997. Blur decided that they were done with the whole ‘Britpop’ scene by this time, and instead wanted to make some standard indie rock, Pavement influenced material instead of the character narratives that Damon Albarn had written for the last three albums.

I listened to “Blur” the whole way through during the late summer last year. I was lying in bed and was starting to fall asleep but I do remember hearing this tune. Coming after “Beetlebum” and “Song 2”, the first and second singles which I knew inside and out, “Country Sad” was the first that left me in the place where I had no idea what was going to come next.

It takes quite some time to start. A steady, ticking drum beat along with an mouth harp start things off sluggishly, and then the deep bass and almost mono-aural guitar comes in. It all sounds very enclosed and compact. Damon alternates his pitch going from high to sounding weary and tired, whilst singing about self-pity and isolating himself from society. Entertaining stuff.

Weary and tired is very much the atmosphere that “Country Sad” achieves; that is until Graham suddenly brings in the guitars for the last minute or so which raises spirits for a bit but in the end, this song is not one to listen to if you want to make yourself feel better about something.

If you’re disappointed with my ‘thesis’ on the song, here are some funny arrangements that you can change title too:

“Country Bad Salad Man”
“Country Mad Ballad-San”
“Country Mad Salad Ban”

………Those aren’t funny.

My iPod #212: Blur – Country House

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“Country House” by Blur was the first single from the band’s fourth album “The Great Escape”. Released at the height of ‘Britpop’ in 1995, the single went head-to-head with Oasis’ song “Roll with It” for the number one spot. “Country House” won, and stayed number one for two weeks before Michael Jackson knocked it off.

The song is about a man who buys a house in the country (no….. really?) to get away from the city but still isn’t very happy with his life. You wouldn’t be able to tell though. It reminds me of one of those songs that, when you’re really drunk, you grab your mate and put your arm around their shoulder and start yelling the words along to it. Then the brass coda kicks in near the end and you start doing the can-can and stuff.

It never fails to cheer me up, even though it can become a bit grating if you were to repeat it over and over again. Just because of the over emphasised English accent and the cheery music. It just shouts out, “Hey! We’re soooo British, look at us!” and that could annoy some people.