June 2012
30 posts
3 tags
3 tags
2 tags
2 tags
7 tags
2 tags
3 tags
TOP TEN BLUR RARITIES: 2 & 1
1. SHE’S SO HIGH (Rehearsal) Legend has it Blur wrote She’s So High during their first rehearsal together. Fans will be keen to hear what the embryonic version was like, performed by musicians who (for some) barely knew each other personally, let alone musically. Amongst the band’s archives are versions including Graham playing this alone on acoustic in front of the telly, a...
3 tags
TOP TEN BLUR RARITIES: 4 & 3
3. I LOVE HER (Alternative version) Many fans who attended early Blur shows recall this song fondly, mourn the fact that it was never included on early Blur releases, and reacted with disappointment when they heard the baggy Leisure outtake eventually released on the 2nd Fan Club single. This version, recorded during initial sessions for Modern Life Is Rubbish, is a much more accurate...
3 tags
TOP TEN BLUR RARITIES: 8 & 7
7. CROSS CHANNEL LOVE (home demo) One of a handful of titles which will be totally new to fans. This fully formed and great song never seemed to make it past the home demo stage and onto The Great Escape. The Stereotypes b-side, the far ballsier “Tame” has some melodic similarities, but otherwise Cross Channel Love appears to have been completely forgotten by its composer until...
3 tags
TOP TEN BLUR RARITIES: 6 & 5
5. SUNDAY SLEEP (Sunday Sunday Andy Partridge version) The aborted Andy Partridge session (one of many in an attempt to record album #2) have been in Blur folklore for many a year - the band never being in the frame of mind to release them - until now! This is radically different from the version released as Blur’s 7th single - with it’s carnival horns and Beatle-esque flourishes. ...
3 tags
TOP TEN BLUR RARITIES: 10 & 9
9. “1” (Bill Laswell Session) Again, a relative secret from Blur fans - most unaware that the band cut at least two tracks (“1” & “3” making it to the box - but whatever happened to “2”?) with bassist and producer Bill Laswell. This track will please Blur fans the most - a strong tune, tight performance and Graham Coxon on great form. ...
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
4 tags
3 tags
Blur: The Box Set Interview
“With Song 2, the original demo is quite a melancholic, slower song. It’s got much sadder chords. Graham said, “Let’s try that faster.” And my woo–hoo turned into something less mournful and plaintive and something more aggressive and easy to understand.”
Damon Albarn interviewed for the ‘Blur 21: The Box’ book.
3 tags
Blur: The Album
Britpop having taken its toll, and band relationships fracturing, 1997 saw Blur abandon English character song and look towards left-field American rock for inspiration, championed by guitarist Graham Coxon. Recorded partly in Iceland, Britpop is shunned in favour of abstract experimentalism, abrasive guitars and spoken work accompanied by a vacuum cleaner. Still present however, is Damon...
3 tags
Blur: On Your Own
So take me home, don’t leave me alone I’m not that good, but I’m not that bad No psycho killer, hooligan guerrilla I dream to riot, oh you should try it
Blur, On Your Own
3 tags
Blur: Song 2
I got my head checked By a jumbo jet It wasn’t easy But nothing is, no
Blur, Song 2
3 tags
Blur: Beetlebum
And when she lets me slip away She turns me on and all my violence gone Nothing is wrong, I just slip away And I am gone Nothing is wrong She turns me on I just slip away and I am gone
Blur, Beetlebum
3 tags
VIDEO: Coffee & TV Storyboard
Original hand-drawn storyboard for the Coffee & TV video.
3 tags
Video: The Universal
3 tags
Video: Good Song
3 tags
Video: Popscene
2 tags
Video: Chemical World
3 tags
Video: To The End
3 tags
13: The Album
Marking their ten years as a band, ‘13’ is the sound of Blur becoming, according to Damon, “completely free”. The album was created from lengthy improvisations around song structures, recorded and painstakingly edited by producer William Orbit. Lyrically, the songs are rooted in personal and emotional changes, most notably on two of the singles – ‘Tender’ & the...
3 tags
13: Tender
Tender is the night Lying by your side Tender is the touch Of someone that you love too much Tender is the day The demons go away Lord I need to find Someone who can heal my mind
Blur, Tender.
3 tags
13: Coffee & TV
So give me coffee and TV History I’ve seen so much I’m going blind And I’m brain-dead virtually
Blur, Coffee & TV
3 tags
13: No Distance Left To Run
When you see me Please turn your back and walk away I don’t want to see you ‘Cos I know the dreams that you keep Is where we meet When you’re coming down think of me I got no distance left to run
Blur, No Distance Left To Run.
