What a cool album!
If you haven't noticed, I'm a sucker for 'power pop'. I was totaly smitten with the British invasion of the '60s and never got over it. The question is, am I a sucker for Blur? A: No!
I thought 1993's 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' and 94's 'Parklife' were gems but felt 'The Great Escape' was a downer and that 'Blur' and '13' were pure CRAP!
I'm happy to say that Blur is back! With an album as new and fresh as 2003! This album is NOTHING like 'MLIR' or 'Parklife' so it's not a matter of returning to a golden age for them, rather a new begining. (It's been 6 years since '13').
This is a 'groove' album with a couple of straight ahead rockers thrown in for good measure. But it's the grooves that shine here. Take a dash of techno-funk-grundge and a pinch of the Clash (circa Sandanista and you start to get the idea.
Not so much a great original album as much as a wonderful distillation of melody,chord, and beat to make any old hippie smile.
Grade: A hard B! (Best album of the year, so far)
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