Tag Archives: think tank

#1322: Blur – Sweet Song

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Blur’s Think Tank is the one album of the band’s that sticks out like a sore thumb to many a Blur fan. Why? Well, ’cause Graham Coxon isn’t on there. When the band started work on what would become the album in 2001, Damon Albarn didn’t really want to do it anyway because of the success he’d had with Gorillaz earlier in the year. But when Coxon didn’t show up, he was in rehab for his alcoholism but this hadn’t been communicated to the other members, Albarn took it as a slight and started work with bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Coxon eventually joined them, but the mood was tense and unsettled. They made ‘Battery in Your Leg’ during this time, the track marking the end of the band as we’d known it in its place as the close on the album. Things fell apart though, and Coxon left, leaving Blur with an unusual-looking three-piece lineup.

The band carried on the recording sessions in this new configuration. But although he probably wouldn’t say it out loud, Damon Albarn was missing his best mate. He was in a waiting room one day, saw this picture of Coxon on the cover of a magazine and was inspired. The inspiration resulted in ‘Sweet Song’, a sad, sad number all based on Albarn’s disappointment in the whole falling out situation. A few songs on Think Tank allude to his and Coxon’s relationship. But it’s ‘Sweet Song’ that lays it all on out on the table. “What am I to do? / Someone here’s really not happy” – the first lines of the song – sets the scene rather plain and simply. The track centres around a piano loop, harmonized ‘oohing’ backing vocals and a pulsing kick, making everything sound like a warm hug to the ears. Albarn concedes that he has his own faults, making it clear that he never wanted to hurt Coxon and leaves an offer of reconciliation if ever the time was right. As we know now, this is all water under the bridge. But it was looking very bad for a while.

I heard Think Tank in full the first time in 2013, so I’d obviously heard ‘Sweet Song’ then. I don’t think I really listened to it, though, if you understand what I’m saying. Would have been years later, I want to say 2019, I really can’t pinpoint it, that I think I just searched the track up in YouTube or something. I listened again, and it was an immediate feeling of “Oh, well, I should obviously put this one on the phone now,” ’cause it was obviously a very good song. Should have been listening to it for years up to that point. I’m all for songs about friendships. I’m sure I’ve written about a few on here. But there’s something about this one, especially. Albarn got all vulnerable on the previous album 13 regarding the breakup with his ex, and here he was again (with the producer of 13 working only on this one track) dealing with the cut ties with his mate he’d known since secondary school. And with such sincerity. It’s all too much.

#1004: Blur – Out of Time

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The beginning of the new millennium was a weird one for Blur. They were all over the ’90s. The band’s singles and albums were a mainstay in the charts, and that whole Battle of Britpop thing with Oasis happened. But then that decade ended, they were all sort of dishevelled and in their ’30s. The band members weren’t sure which direction to go in. The band released a ‘Best of’ compilation (with great artwork), released a new single, and did some promo appearances. Search up ‘Blur 2000’ on YouTube, and it’s a bit of a trip. Kinda strange seeing the band performing ‘Girls & Boys’ with Gorillaz very much around the corner. By 2001, it was all about ‘Clint Eastwood’ and Gorillaz shot off into the stratosphere.

Couple years later, Blur got back together. Much to Damon Albarn’s hesitance as he stated in the No Distance Left to Run documentary. Graham Coxon left the band because of miscommunication, his own problems with alcohol and some strange handling by their manager. Blur continued as a three-piece. ‘Out of Time’ was the first taste of this new lineup as the first single from the then upcoming album Think Tank in 2003. I was eight years old at the time, I didn’t have a clue who Blur was. I didn’t hear Think Tank until 2013, going through Blur’s discography. I wonder how people must have felt hearing the track upon its initial release. It’s such a lowkey, very minimal track to choose as a first single. It does have a breezy groove, the percussion’s light and very tasteful. The thing that blows me away every time I hear it is Albarn’s vocal. Just so pure, clear and sincere, could bring a tear to your eye.

Released at the beginning of the Iraq War, the track asks the question of where civilisation is going with all the madness that was going on, stating that humanity was forgetting how beautiful life can be and that we may have gone too far into the deep end to recover from the devastation. That specific war’s over, but things aren’t going so well these days for anyone, so I think the song’s message still has as much poignancy now as it did then. You may across comments that harp on Think Tank because of how unlike Blur it sounds. To be fair, those may be justified. Coxon did play a massive part in the band’s sound. But this track came out of it, so I don’t complain too much. Contains a couple great ones that I’ll never be able to post about, and a few more that I will.

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.