Tag: Blur

Categories
Playlists

Playlist: 75 tunes from 1991

Here’s a good long Apple Music playlist that could get you through an afternoon of chores, painting, or cooking. Perhaps a road trip from Toronto to Montreal. Or keep you company on a flight from North America to Europe.

I’ve done a few playlists over the years on this blog but never any that focused on the music of a particular year in the past. I’ve chosen to start with 1991 because it was particularly pivotal year for me in terms of musical discovery. It was the year that I started to dip my toes into alternative rock, a brave new world for me, a wave of music that included a huge variety of styles, very little of which sounded like the music of my parents. So even though I wasn’t listening to all of these songs at the time, I’d say that the majority are old friends, intimate acquaintances.

There’s seventy-five great tracks, representative of how I saw 1991. It’s not a ‘best of’. I’ve already done the list of my top thirty favourite tracks on this blog here. Some of the songs in that list appear on this playlist but there’s plenty others here and some that are much deeper cuts. I know that there are those of you out there who might catch some obvious omissions. Some of these might have been because they were not to my tastes but there are others, like My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon” or The Real People’s “Open up your mind (let me in)”, that were not available to be added due to music rights and Apple Music or whatever. Still, there’s so many other gems that show the wide range of music that was coming out in those years just before Grunge exploded and changed everything for alternative rock.

For those who don’t use Apple Music, here is the entire playlist, with links to YouTube videos for each song:

  1. Primal Scream “Loaded”
  2. Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff “Dizzy”
  3. Blur “Sing”
  4. Teenage Fanclub “Star Sign”
  5. Lowest of the Low “Subversives”
  6. Electronic “Getting Away With It”
  7. Throwing Muses “Not Too Soon”
  8. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”
  9. James “Sit Down”
  10. Chapterhouse “Mesmerise”
  11. R.E.M. “Belong”
  12. Spacemen 3 “I Love You”
  13. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians “So You Think You’re In Love”
  14. EMF “Unbelievable”
  15. Crash Test Dummies “Androgynous”
  16. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go”
  17. Pixies “Alec Eiffel”
  18. Levellers “Liberty Song”
  19. Big Audio Dynamite II “The Globe”
  20. Spin Doctors “Two Princes”
  21. Depeche Mode “Death’s Door”
  22. Slowdive “Catch The Breeze”
  23. Rheostatics “Record Body Count”
  24. Siouxsie & The Banshees “Kiss Them For Me”
  25. Jesus Jones “Right Here, Right Now”
  26. Northside “My Rising Star”
  27. Primus “Tommy the Cat”
  28. Morrissey “Sing Your Life”
  29. Pearl Jam “Jeremy”
  30. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin “Grey Cell Green”
  31. Big Audio Dynamite II “Rush”
  32. Ministry “Jesus Built My Hotrod”
  33. Paris Angels “Perfume (Loved Up)”
  34. Barenaked Ladies “Lovers In A Dangerous Time”
  35. Saint Etienne “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”
  36. Primal Scream “Come Together”
  37. Teenage Fanclub “The Concept”
  38. Billy Bragg “Everywhere”
  39. The Farm “All Together Now”
  40. Crash Test Dummies “The Ghosts That Haunt Me”
  41. Inspiral Carpets “Caravan”
  42. Morrissey “Mute Witness”
  43. The Tragically Hip “Little Bones”
  44. R.E.M. “Me In Honey”
  45. Meat Puppets “Sam”
  46. The Wonder Stuff “Welcome To The Cheap Seats”
  47. U2 “One”
  48. The Charlatans “Over Rising”
  49. Erasure “Chorus”
  50. Lowest of the Low “Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes”
  51. Violent Femmes “American Music”
  52. Spirit of the West “D For Democracy”
  53. Blur “She’s So High”
  54. Spirea X “Chlorine Dream”
  55. Chapterhouse “Pearl”
  56. The Grapes Of Wrath “You May Be Right”
  57. The Dylans “Godlike”
  58. Lenny Kravitz “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over”
  59. Levellers “One Way”
  60. Revolver “Heaven Sent an Angel”
  61. Barenaked Ladies “If I Had $1,000,000”
  62. Swervedriver “Rave Down”
  63. Rheostatics “Aliens (Christmas 1988)”
  64. Billy Bragg “Accident Waiting To Happen”
  65. The Farm “Hearts & Minds”
  66. Spirit Of The West “Far Too Canadian”
  67. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin “Kill Your Television”
  68. Odds “Love Is The Subject”
  69. R.E.M. “Losing My Religion”
  70. Pixies “Head On”
  71. Northside “Take Five”
  72. U2 “Until the End of the World”
  73. Blur “There’s No Other Way”
  74. Lowest of the Low “Rosy and Grey”
  75. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

And here is the promised link to the Apple Music playlist. I hope you enjoy.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Blur “The ballad of Darren”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Blur
Album Title: The ballad of Darren
Year released: 2023
Details: 180 gram, blue

The skinny: From the ‘in case you missed it’ files, I’ve been replaying my top five albums from 2023, albeit in a ‘vinyl love’ post format, every weekend in January and just into February; partially because I love these albums and partially because I have them all on vinyl and want to show off their physical beauty as well. I’ve already shared albums five, four, and three, and today is my second favourite album of 2023. It is an album by one of my all-time favourite bands, reunited once again, producing something beyond expectations. “The ballad of Darren” feels like the culmination of everything Blur has done over the years. It is the sound of a band playing music together and for themselves. This 9th album doesn’t feel like a climax, or like a swansong, and yet, if this does turn out to be the last Blur record, I don’t think we’d have any cause at all to complain. I knew I would purchase it for my vinyl shelves, even before I’d heard the excellent song below, but hearing it cemented things. I was actually away from home on vacation the week it was released but I made sure to stop in at an indie record store in the city I was staying and wouldn’t you know, they just happened to have a copy for me to rescue. And on blue vinyl too!

Standout track: “The narcissist”

 

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 2023: #2 Blur “The ballad of Darren”

I trust you’ve all had a restful and joyous Christmas holiday, those who celebrate it anyway. Mine was spent with my wife and family, eating lots of good eats. My itinerary for Boxing Day today is to head out to support some independent record stores (avoiding the big shopping malls) and seeing if I can score some records at deal prices. But before I do, I thought I’d drop this little post here on my second favourite album of the year.

Ah yes, Blur.

The London-based quartet has seen a lot of mentions on these pages, appearing in a good number of my Best tunes lists, at least one Best albums list so far, and a special post highlighting my top five favourite tunes by the group. In every single post, I’ve mention that I’ve been a big fan of the group for years, inferring that I know their discography intimately. I saw them a couple of times in the early 90s, both on two separate legs of tours supporting 1994’s “Parklife”, and have often thought it would be great to see them again. So, yeah, I was quite excited when news broke late last year of plans for more live shows, an excitement that grew when a new studio album was also announced this spring, but as of yet, none of their shows have come close enough to my neck of the woods to be financially viable to procure tickets*.

I picked up a copy of Blur’s 9th album on vinyl the first chance I got, having only heard the first single, “The narcissist”. I figured that even if it wasn’t as good as their previous work that I would want it on my record shelves next to the rest of their albums. Luckily for me, “The ballad of Darren” is very good indeed, surprisingly so, and there’s no fear that it will become a dust collector. I’ve already put it through the paces a number of times on my turntable.

Written for the most part by frontman Damon Albarn while he was on tour with Gorillaz in 2022, it is considered by the group to be the most like their earlier work because it was recorded very much collaboratively as they did in their early days. For me, it is like a return to their Britpop haunts but viewed through the dusty and musty time machine windows. It is by far their shortest ever record but this doesn’t mean we feel short-changed. This is very much Blur but not a Blur we’ve heard before. They’ve reverted back from the art rock that has informed much of their last three and yet it hasn’t completely left the room. Indeed, “The ballad of Darren” feels like the culmination of everything Blur. It is a band playing music together and for themselves, loose and free from expectations and in so doing, exceeding them all.

This 9th album doesn’t feel like a climax, or like a swansong, and yet, if this does turn out to be the last Blur record, I don’t think we’d have any cause at all to complain. If you haven’t yet given it a chance, there’s ten great tracks here worth you time. If you’re still unsure, these three picks for you are a great representation of what you would find within.

“Goodbye Albert“: Track seven continues the trend that strings throughout, taking its cue from the album title, a mellower tone that didn’t frighten me at all. I’ve always loved Blur’s ballads and this one is typically Blur and so unlike a traditional ballad. The drumming is understated but complex, Dave Rowntree restraining himself but still putting on his stamp, while Alex James is doing the same with his heavy bass backbone. Graham Coxon plays guitar hero here yet again, dancing around the arpeggios one moment and flailing out grunge feedback the next. And Damon Albarn is seemingly realizing his pivotal moment, saying goodbye to what once was but hesitating with all the finality. “We crossed the world, we disappeared, and no one looks to see if we are coming back soon. I was not ready yet… Let it go.”

“Barbaric”: “I have lost the feeling that I thought I’d never lose. Now where am I going? At what cost, the feeling that I thought I’d never lose? It is barbaric.” If you thought it was all going to be mellow and low-key, this one proves it wrong. It’s peppy and catchy and quite jubilant despite obviously being about a surprise breakup at an inopportune time. James feels like the star with a bass line that bounces around and carries a lively presence and our wonderful drummer Coxon keeps pace with a nod of the head, a wink, and a jaunty smile. This one feels like a fan favourite in the making. Classic Blur and if it weren’t so late in the game, high hopes for future Blur.

“The narcissist”: As mentioned above, this is the one we all heard first and the one that convinced us all that “The ballad of Darren” would be an album worth our collective times. “I’ma shine a light in your eyes (in your eyes). You’ll probably shine it back on me, but I won’t fall this time. With Godspeed, I’ll heed the signs.” Though it sounds quite different, “The narcissist” reminds me a lot of their surprise single from 2012, “Under the westway“. It’s wistful and mature, looking back at what made Blur great but doing so with years of experience and the same amount of time to reflect on everything. It effortlessly fits alongside some of the band’s best work, getting deep into your bones and stuck in your head, and making you think about worth and existence and what’s waiting around the next corner. So, so, so, so good.

*And recent comments by Albarn suggesting it might be time wind up the group again make me think seeing them this time around is becoming increasingly unlikely.

We’ll be back in a handful of days with album #1. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Bodywash “I held the shape while I could”
9. Boygenius “The record”
8. Depeche Mode “Memento mori”
7. The Clientele “I am not there anymore”
6. Eyelids “A colossal waste of light”
5. Pale Blue Eyes “This house”
4. The Reds, Pinks and Purples “The town that cursed your name”
3. The Veils “…And out of the void came love”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.