Reviewed by Clare and BlurNM
Little did I know that as I put this silver on one side, blue on the other shiny disc into my CD player, I was about to listen to the best album ever created by anyone in the universe ever. For this is an album of superhuman proportions, whether you like this sort of thing or not. And it betters anything Blur have ever done before - A landmark achievment in itself. The spectacular "Beetlebum" opens the album. Although it is maybe the laziest-sounding number 1 ever, (As claimed by NME), it's a classic all the same. Then there's "Song 2". Enter feedback-mania and loads of rip-roaring guitars, along with the now famous "Wah-hooooooooooo" chorus. Anyone who had never heard Blur before could be easily led into thinking they were some sort of rock band in the mould of Pavement, only heavier, if "Song 2" was played to them. Which is no bad thing as Pavement are possibly the greatest band to emerge out of America, alongside REM. "Country Sad Ballad Man" is one of those tracks that grows on you. At first I thought it could be a blot on an otherwise perfect landscape, but it turns out it's one hell of a grower. Listen to this three times and it'll take more than a "Country House" to get it out of your head. So far, So perfect. Next single in America "M.O.R." is up next... It's a fantastic journey through more of Graham Coxon's superb guitar playing, eveident at the start of this song. "On Your Own" is the 5th song, and it is really excellent, probably single of the year, if not "Song 2" or "Beetlebum". Guitar effects ahoy as Damon leads us in a chant of "So take me HOME! Don't leave me ALONE!" etc. It is on this track that you realise that Blur have not only perfected yet another style of music that most English bands wouldn't even touch, but have experimented with it more than it's pioneers. The first eight or so seconds of "Theme From Retro" may lead you to think it is "The Debt Collecter" part 2, but it seems deeper and darker, and less happy than it's "Parklife" predecessor. And the sound of it is different although at first it seems similar. "You're So Great" is Graham's solo song, about, amongst other things, giving up drink. It is the album's most affectionate track, yet it isn't a ballad. It's too fast to be a ballad... The re-recorded version of last year's Blur Fan Club single "Death Of A Party" is next. It was written around the time of "Modern Life Is Rubbish" (Probably their second best album, although it's hard to decide), but it fits in perfectly here. Perhaps this is a sign that on this album they've went back to their "Modern Life..." roots: a new, fresher, sound. And that is the first side of the tape, or roughly half of the CD, been and gone. The question is, can the second half follow it up? Let's see. Turn the volume up to full, and prepare for a bit of a shock. "Chinese Bombs" blasts out of your sound system. It is another of those great heavy guitar songs, but is rockier and faster than "Song 2". And Damon's vocals are even harder to pick out, but who cares? If you're gonna sing along, you might as well shout along. "I'm Just A Killer For Your Love" has been described as a hip hop type song (By NME), but it's far above anything vaguely hip hop. It does sound different to everything else on the album. Track 11, "Look Inside America" is another one of those that would have suited "Modern Life..." perfectly, even though at the time "Modern Life..." was written, Blur were sick of America after being forced to tour it too much. It drifts along, and even has a bit of that Blur advertising in the first line: "Good morning lethargy/drink Pepsi it's good for energy". I always did prefer Pepsi to Coke. Thre more tracks to go. "Strange News From Another Star" would also fit on "Modern Life..." quite nicely. It begins quietly, goes quietly for about 2 minutes, and then reaches a quite impressive climax. The lyrics are excellent, too: "All I want to be/Is washed up by the sea/No Deathstar over me", "But the crazies on the street/Give them guns and feed them meat/They'll shoot the Deathstar down/Dig a hole and put it down/A thousand miles underground". "Movin' On" is probably the catchiest and possibly the best song on the album. It's a bouncy song not in the style of some of the songs on "The Great Escape", but more like the ones on "Leisure". It's even got one of those Verathon (Probably the completely wrong name for it) things in it. Great. The words are fantastic: "No matter how low there's always further to go/We're movin' on we're movin' on/Won't be long before we're gone". All that remains of the best hour or so of music ever recorded now is "Essex Dogs". It begins with another piece of guitar you've probably never heard anything like before on a guitar (I haven't), then when it gets going it's really great: "I remember thinking murder in the car, watching dogs summersault through sprinklers on tiny lawns. I remeber the graffiti. We're you're children coming with spray-cans of paint" speaks Damon as an atmospheric tune lies under it. When the vocals finish, Graham Coxon, Alex James, Dave Rowntree and Damon Albarn play on for about 2 or 3 minutes. And just when you thought you could listen to the album again, you discover a secret track, and it is catchy and quite spectacular as secret tracks go. As most album tracks go even. So there we have it. The best album ever... Even the secret track is better than most of the stuff I've heard this year. We can only guess what department of music Blur will explore, perfect and stretch to it's limits next. Whatever it is, It'll be so great and I'll love it. (10) - BlurNM
'At The Club'
Kenickie are young! and pop! and sparkly! and exciting! If you don't agree with that statement, then it perhaps we'll never see eye to eye and you better stop reading now. It's not as easy as it looks though, I don't want to fall into the trap, as many have, of presenting them as the Spice Girls with indie credibility and a token drummer bloke. Of course that side of things is all present and correct: on 'PVC' they extol the joys of clothes made from this delightful fabric ("it's nice and shiny...and completely waterproof") and hot on it's (no doubt, high) heels follows 'Come out 2 nite', a chronicle of girly nights out with your girlfriends. It all sounds very familliar to your's truly (except the bit about getting a record deal). There is no doubt that the Kenickie lasses (and lad, lets not be sexist here) enjoy themselves. If you let the CD play on you will find Emmy-Kate singing to a "fancy piece" (as they might put it) that "I like your face, I like your groove, so come on", before collapsing in giggles. It's not a bad song, and the good time seemingly being had by all is infectious. I challenge you to listen to this track and not smile even a little bit. But there is more to Kenickie than this. Yes they wear spangly dresses, yes mention of them may conjure up images of fake leopard fur and yes they are named after that bloke in 'Grease', one of the great pop films of our time, but give them more than a glance and you'll see a darker side. 'Robot Song' has some of the saddest and scariest lyrics that I've heard in a long time, and a slightly electronic feel that you might not have expected. 'Acetone', which close the album has a much more mature sound than you would have guessed Kenickie were capable of if you'd only heard the singles. It has lovely harmonies and a cello accompaniment which gives the whole thing real depth. I didn't even know that the divine Ms Lauren Laverne played the cello, so there you go. We all know that songs like 'Punka' and 'In Your Car' will live forever, with their wit, criminally catchy choruses and loud guitars, but the rest of this album deserves a listen as well. There's more depth here than is apparent on first hearing and several of the tracks are definately growers. I doubt that the question "Who's your favourite Kenickie?" (Lauren ;-) - BlurNM) will be asked as often as "Which is your favourite Spice Girl?", but perhaps it should be. Maybe 'At The Club' isn't the bast album ever (as claimed in the letter I was sent by the mailing list), but it's still pretty damn good and if life was fair, this band would be absolutely huge. (8) - Clare
A Short Album About Love.
The Divine Comedy. We all know the comparisons that have been made: Scott Walker, Burt Bacharach and I've even heard one person mention Barry Manilow. Whilst it may be true that Neil Hannon has a talent for reproducing sixties type, sugar-sweet ballads, there's more here than meets the ear. 'Someone' and 'Timewatching' are slightly darker sounding than the rest of the album, despite containing none of the bitterness and bile which characterised much of the previous album, 'Casanova', and 'I'm all you need' which closes the record is as poppy and singalong as anyone could wish. Lyrically, it's much more straightforward and (one suspects) personal than it's predecessor, but still finds room for humour amid the rather touching, if you're that way inclined, string-soaked declarations of love. Lines such as "If you were a horse/I'd clean the crap out of your stable/and never once complain" from 'If...' or "I told the passers by/I made a small boy cry" from 'Everybody Knows (Except You)' inject an element of cynicism which would otherwise be missing, giving the seven love songs on offer here a sort of flawed perfection. You'll be pleased to know that Neil has kept his obsession with horses, dogs and frogs healthily alive, with several references for each throughout. The only moment here that makes you go "eh?" is the guitar solo on 'Everybody Knows...' which sounds slightly out of place amid the sweeping orchestral arrangements, but other than that (and Neil's beard, which admittedly doesn't seem to have affected the music) I would highly recommend this album, albeit with a large, fluorescent "if you like that sort of thing" warning sticker. (9) - Clare
"Attack Of The Grey Lantern"
Chad, Stove, Andy, Paul. Cheshire. Who'd have thought that a bunch of local peaceful cheshire people could have hidden sides of them darker than X-Files lighting? Well, innocent as their background may sound, Mansun are quite possibly the maddest band on the planet, and no mistake. Just look at the titles. "Egg Shaped Fred", "Strippar Vicar", "The Chad Who Loved Me" and, the now nearly as famous as the Spice Girls "Take It Easy Chicken". Well, "Take it Easy Chicken" isn't on the album, but it was worth a mention. And then there's the songs themselves. "You can't deny/that your shit tastes just as sweet as mine." terrific lyrics there, Paul. But hang on one minute, because as the secret track at the end of the CD version stresses: "The lyrics aren't supposed to mean that much/they're just a vehicle for a lovely voice'. Well, that's the lyric thing sorted out. In fact, some of the songs do have meaning. Although it's nearly impossible to tell, "She Makes My Nose Bleed" is about bondage. "Mansun's Only Love Song" is a love song, (With that Mavis character in, again) although it's their only one. "Strippar Vicar" is about a vicar that strips, and dies, and later in Dark Mavis (Eight minute finisher) we find out that Mavis was the Strippar Vicar. Or at least she/he is a transvestite. So what is this obsession with Mavis? She/he appears on no less (Or should that be more?) than four songs. The music is some of the best that any band have revealed in a long time. Keyboards here, spectacular catchy guitar riffs there, utterly brilliant vocals everywhere else. Even the drums are quite spectacular. So musicallly and lyrically, this could well be the album of the year, except for 'Blur' by Blur. "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" is the next step in the Mansun success story. And the story is going to be huge. (9) - BlurNM