review the musical decade (III): Blur Think Tank (2003)
bands that are just a pile of rubble, often indeed something else to offer.
Abbey Road ,
Dig Out Your Soul ,
St. Anger undsoweiterundsofort ...
After the big "
13 " left in 1999 guitarist
Graham Coxon , who was instrumental in that from the Britpop idiots of "
Parklife " with the
self-titled album from 1997 and that same "13" a serious artist group matured. With Damon Albarn
he was just business partners, the friendship of the old days was gone,
Alex James drank every day, 2 bottles of champagne and
Dave Rowntree devoted to New Labor. Albarn was swimming in these days on the waves of the surprising success
Gorillaz and Blur's gathered the other two still in the studio and recorded all sorts of wonderful melodies.
Good Song ,
Out Of Tim e and
Sweet Song these lovely melodies that Albarn so relentlessly well controlled. In the opener
Ambulance is experimenting with drum-mashine,
Crazy Beat is a hit brand
Song 2 by Albarn any president (only the album title is an attack on Bush), Extasy offers,
Caravan is a bittersweet love nothing and end with snow Coxon
Battery In Your Leg (Ballad For The Good Times) but in the studio over and contributes a guitar solo. Otherwise, the album, apart from the Crazy Beat, almost guitar-free. Among the recordings, the band flew to Morocco, the influences are everywhere scattered: between the songs in Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club
and
We've Got A File On You . A melancholy, quiet and mature album that cries for peace and love. Maybe now but not the last of the band ...