Actually it isn't, it is very good. I guess if you are a big fan of Country House, you may not like it.
I am a fan of Country House, but I don't dislike what I have heard of the latest Damon release. It gets better the more you listen to it.
Well there's hardly any point in arguing about it as taste is subjective, but compared to Albarn's other work I really do think it's poor. I also think it's an unfair comment to say that people who enjoy Country House won't enjoy this, almost as if they don't have to sensibility to like more solemn and morbid music.
One of my top 3 bands. I would like to see them do another album. Clearly Damon still has the talent. And Westway/Puritan and Fools Day range from great to very enjoyable. But even more I'd like them to do a real S tour. Playing a few shows in CA and NY(did they even play one when they were here for coachella?) ain't gonna cut it.
For those who think Damon's new album sucks, I felt the same way until I saw him live. The songs blew me away in a concert setting and listening to the album after I now "get" what he was trying to do. More than anything, it's Richard Russell's production that lets him down on the album.
I agree, it's not the best album in the world, and country house isn't the worst. They can live in harmony side by side.
I think another good Blur album is possible as long as Coxon is involved. The creative tension between Albarn and Coxon makes 13 their best album, in my opinion. Blur is good but is too much Coxon-influenced, while Think Tank feels more like an Albarn solo album. That push and pull between the two is necessary, like Plant and Page or McCartney and Lennon or Cale and Reed on the first two Velvet Underground albums.
quite a big fan of Blur, with Modern Life Is Rubbish as the favourite album funny that the thread is here, as I have just (literally!) come back from a Damon Albarn gig, which took place 500 metres away from my flat - did a beautiful piano-only version of Out of Time (he was backed by a band and an 8-piece gospel choir on the other tracks) - definitely inspired me to have another go at the solo album
Huge fan since day one.I have the complete blur/Gorillaz/Coxon/Fat Les/MeMeMe/GTBATQ/Albarn output on the original vinyl.All the UK promo vinyl releases,a bunch of the non UK vinyl releases,all the b***leg Gorillaz remix 12" singles,and I bought a Townhouse lacquer of 19-2000 when it came out.But like so many bands,I reached the point where I listened to them so much,I am just plain burned out on blur.It happened to me with The Beatles,Bowie,Lou Reed,and others in the past.Will I eventually come back to them?Sure,but there is so much else to explore.Right now,I am just starting to explore some of the countless lesser known Shoegaze bands,and Leisure was a Shoegaze record,don't let anybody tell you different.
I think Damon is the one of the best British artists in recent times. Anyone that can release 3 classic albums in as many years (Demon Days, Think Tank and The Good, The Bad & The Queen) is heading towards genius status in my humble opinion
Leisure -7 Modern Life Is Rubbish - 9 Parklife - 9 The Great Escape - 8 Blur - 10 13 - 7 Think Tank - 4
Like a lot of other Americans (I'm guessing), I didn't discover them 'til Song 2, but immediately began devouring their back catalog soon after. Of the older stuff, Leisure is my favorite, probably because I recognized a couple of tunes that I used to hear on 91x. When 13 came out, I was blown away. Still my favorite Blur album. Haven't really dug the one-off singles they've released since they started playing together again, but would jump at the chance to see them as a quartet performing in California. I think on their last proper NA tour (Think Tank) they played a mid-size theater here in SF (maybe the Warfield) and I was thinking that they sell out stadiums in Europe so why bother trying to make something happen in the states?
I just ordered Leisure, The Great Escape and Parklife on CD. This is one band I can't wait to sink my teeth into. This band is so critically-acclaimed that it only adds to my excitement to see if all of these professional journalists and millions of people that listened to them before me were right.
You should get Modern Life Is Rubbish, too -- great album and it makes the evolution from Leisure to Parklife more clear.
That (and the self-titled) are where I kinda got off the Blur train. The singles were great, but everything else just sounded like they were trying to be an American indie band. I don't begrudge them for evolving, but they evolved in kind of the opposite direction of where my tastes lie, I guess. I suppose next to Think Tank, 13 is probably a masterpiece though. Maybe I'll revisit it this week, I probably haven't played it in a decade, other than "Tender."
