22nd February 1999


Single of the Week

"Tender" by Blur

The undisputed best part of "Tender" is when Graham Coxon starts singing "oh my baby, oh my baby", an indie Fagin talent to Damon's pop Artful Dodger charm. This surrounded by a bass drum so deep and resonant that it makes your bones crack; muted guitar as sensual as a field full of crickets rubbing their legs together during mating season; gospel backing slipping beneath a Beatles-influenced mesmeric tune: "Tender"'s only failing is going on a few minutes too long. But at least that saves you from reaching for that "repeat" button too often. As brave a first single from an LP as "Paranoid Android" - and almost as good, "Tender" bodes well indeed for forthcoming LP "13"....unlucky for some, but not it would appear for Damon and the gang.

"All We Want" is the first b-side, a new wavish number with a big blustering chorus, infused with distorted punk guitars and drunk bluebottle noises. At least as innovative as anything on "Blur", it again shows signs that Blur haven't grown complacent in their old age. "Mellow Jam" does exactly what it says on the tin, with a new age style musical melange floating beneath a spaced-out lyric - not a million miles away from the same space Spiritualised find themselves floating in. In fact, all the new material seems to be a bit more on the laid-back side than before, implying the band have changed drugs - or at least cut back on the coffee.

No Blur single would be complete without a cheesy fairground style instrumental, and "French Song" steps into those big novelty clown shoes with ease, serving as a (overlong) interlude before the alwalys-welcome 2-minute napalm thrash of "Song 2" syringes the wax out your ears (and if you have a supadupacomputa, it plays the video too). Woo hoo, indeed.

Rating: 10/10

The Rest

"Erase/Rewind" by The Cardigans

Away from all the hyperbole and excited exaltings of the UK music scene, The Cardigans carry on regardless, producing some of the slinkiest, sexiest and most seductive female-led music since the days when Blondie were good. Whilst "Erase/Rewind" lacks the killer riff that made "My Favourite Game" something that you ended up needing almost as much as air, it still contains a fantastically slithery and luxurious tune into which you can slide, behind closed doors with the curtains drawn. Extra marks for a video that nods a wink in Star Wars' direction too.

A remix of "Explode" follows, which with its speak-and-spell voice and synth melody, is a cross between Air and Jean Michel Jarre, and as such is b-side of the week. Next and last is the aforementioned "My Favourite Game", complete - for those with the necessary equipment - with the banned video, an ace hybrid of Mad Max and Natural Born Killers. Which, despite coming from the same ends of the earth, is about as far from Abba as it is possible to be.

Rating: 9/10

"Just Looking" by Stereophonics

I have a recurring nightmare about driving a car into water (and no, the mattress isn't wet when I wake up), so the video to this slow-paced number from the Phonics is hard to like for a start. However, we're here for the music, maaaan, so it's just as well this powerful ballad is so strong and euphorically powerful, despite owing more than a little to Radiohead's "Street Spirit". In fact, it's the best this trio of Welsh whippersnappers have dealt up for quite some time, and again another forthcoming LP looks like an essential purchase/tape/shoplift.

Especially if the likes of "Postmen Do Not Great Movie Heroes Make" is on it, a stomping bit of rock confectionery complete with theremin and Scandanavian movie actor voice over (let's face it, you have to hear it..). Last up is "Sunny Afternoon", a cover of The Kinks classic that is a bit too reverential to be anything more than musically competent. A band like the Phonics should rip the song's guts out, not bow down to the shrine of Ray Davies. Hell, that's what happened with Britpop - we don't want to go there again thank you very much.

Rating: 8/10

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