BLUR
by BLUR
It had to happen. Losers in the great Britpop wars, Blur returned to lick their wounds, becoming less cheeky cheery Cockney chappies and more lo-fi slacker art-rock artistes in the process. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends largely on your point of view. If your first taste of Blur was "Parklife" or "Country House", and you thought here was a group to replace Madness, then you're probably a bit disappointed in their new direction. If however you have been familiar with Blur from the "Leisure" days, songs such as "This Is A Low" and "Popscene" will have always hinted at this kind of thing and you will be less surprised; even delighted. And if, like me, you weren't a great fan of all the Britpop palaver in the first place, "Blur" (the LP) will come as an even more welcome and refreshing jolt in the arm from Damon and his gang.

Opening with the majestic creeping grower of a single that is "Beetlebum", the album contains roughly three types of song. Firstly, the much-vaunted Pavement-inspired stuff like "Country Sad Ballad Man" or "I'm Just A Killer For Your Love". Secondly, the punk-rock blasts of "Song 2" and "Chinese Bombs". And thirdly, the Blur songs. No other way to describe these languid epics such as "Death Of A Party" and "Strange News From Another Star", this is the kind of material that Blur have always excelled at: strong, poetic and literate pieces of pop-rock class.

As a whole, the LP is impressive - certainly miles away from "Parklife" - and cohesive. Guitarist Graham Coxon has been credited with prodding the band along this new path, and he contributes vocals as well to one of the record's stand-out tracks: "You're So Great". A strumalong slacker pop song, it also allows Coxon to run the full range of his effects pedals, making the track on a par with some of Sonic Youth's more accessible moments. Another highlight is the aforementioned "Song 2", a joyous grunge yelp of a song; all crunching guitars and histrionic vocals.

A couple of tracks don't really work - forgivable really, given the eclectic mix of stuff on offer here. "Theme From Retro" is one of those tedious Blur b-side fairground organ instrumentals, and "Essex Dogs" is an ill-advised spoken word piece (admittedly over a strong guitar-based backing). In general however, "Blur" is an immensely listenable and varied selection of strong and alternative pop and rock songs, all wrapped up in a refreshingly laid-back slacker attitude. It will see them losing legions of fans, and gaining perhaps only a few, but I get the impression Blur don't care, Damon and Graham in particular being much happier now they are two steps away from the limelight and producing the kind of material they've always wanted to.

4

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