Blur were always at their very best when their songs were ridiculously
cartoonish, pretentiously conceived, and completely immersed in English
culture to the point where they ruined any chance of success in America.
Parklife was the pinnacle of Blur's exploration in vintage pub
singalongs, and ever since, they've been creeping further into the night.
The Great Escape had some fantastic tunes that could have easily
been on Parklife but, unfortunately, the majority of them were
simply monotonous songs seasoned with engaging sounds which fashioned them
mediocre at best. Blur is a record that is stylistically diverse,
ranging from lazy ballads ("Beetlebum"), to Parklife mayhem
("M.O.R."), to dark indigestible noise ("Essex Dogs"), but never really
comes together. Those quirky sounds and very English lyrics of the past
have taken leave to a more barebone production and a global language of
nonsense.
"Beetlebum," the first UK single off Blur, starts off strolling
along to a lethargic guitar riff until progressively louder chopstick
keyboards launch its short lived climax "And when she lets me slip away"
and fittingly Beatlesque chorus. Certainly the most uninspired track on
the record, it still manages to lull the listener into an unconscious
state of singing it's meaningless lyrics. Potential smash "Song 2"
consists of a tasteful repetition of the same chords played soft then
loud, and clocking in at just over two minutes. It's their first American
single off Blur, and may well be MTV's wet dream, geared towards
their attention deficient audience, but it's an old Blur fan's worst
nightmare. After that energetic explosion we come down to "Country Sad
Ballad Man" which moves along at a lazy pace contrasting its whacked-out
nature. The song is essentially in the slacker style of "Beetlebum" but is
more ambitious with interesting guitar licks, weird sounds, and Albarn's
delighting alternating falsetto.
"On Your Own" is a song where Blur, out of nowhere, gain every ounce of
strength they've ever had and write one of the best pop songs of their
career. It is a flourish of feel-good melody and harmony bouncing around
to a martial beat that sounds especially glossy in the context of this
dark record. A potential pub rock anthem full of off the wall lyrics like
"No psycho killer, hooligan guerrilla; I dream to riot, oh you should try
it" and classic Blur belching cheese like "And we'll all be the same in
the end." "You're So Great" is a tremendous solo effort by the often
overlooked guitar genius Graham Coxon. The song is characterized by a
plain acoustic guitar garnished with '50s vinyl fuzz and toped with
beautiful coy vocals peeping through the background. A heartfelt novelty
number which produces the same sort of feel as the Small Faces' classic
"The Universal." "Look Inside America" is the last song that has it's
roots deep in the Parklife-era and at times sounds like a
compilation of all of that record's material. It's brilliant chorus "Look
inside America, she's all right" displays the fact that Albarn has indeed
been looking across the Atlantic for musical inspiration - although
clearly not for this song.
"Strange News From Another Star" successfully develops a dark atmosphere
while maintaining its listenability which other tracks on the album of
this nature fail to do. It's a relaxed acoustic number with melancholic
lyrics and mad keyboard noises, reminiscent of David Bowie's "Space
Odyssey." The murkiness of this and "Death of a Star," "I'm Just a Killer
For Your Love," "Theme From Retro," and "Essex Dogs," (A.K.A. The Gear
Changing Song) are something that Blur rarely did prior to the release of
this record. These songs seem to have the intention of creating "Art as
Noise", which may leave many Sonic Youth fans drooling and Britpop lovers
sobbing.
Blur as a record is best described with the analogy of lacking
transitional sentences from one paragraph to another (This review as a
body reflects the record itself). The contents of each song individually
are sometimes startling but, nevertheless, there is no underlying theme
consistent to the unit as a whole. This is one of those records where you
most likely won't want to play the whole thing straight but yet will still
provide a handful of gems to cherish.