Blur
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That December, Circus fired two members and James joined as the group's bassist. This new group named themselves Seymour in December , inspired by J. The only concern held by Ross and Food was that they disliked the band's name. Food drew up a list of alternatives, from which the group decided on "Blur". Food Records finally signed the newly christened band in March The resulting single release, " There's No Other Way ", became a hit, peaking at number eight.
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The band's third single, " Bang ", performed relatively disappointingly, reaching only number Blur attempted to expand their musical sound, but the recording of the group's debut album was hindered by Albarn having to write his lyrics in the studio. Although the resulting album Leisure peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart , it received mixed reviews, [6] and according to journalist John Harris , "could not shake off the odour of anti-climax". Featuring "a rush of punk guitars, '60s pop hooks, blaring British horns, controlled fury, and postmodern humor", [13] "Popscene" was a turning point for the band musically.
We put ourselves out on a limb to pursue this English ideal and no-one was interested. During the two-month American tour, the band became increasingly unhappy, often venting frustrations on each other, leading to several physical confrontations.
I missed everything about England so I started writing songs which created an English atmosphere. The sessions with Partridge proved unsatisfactory, but a chance reunion with Stephen Street resulted in him returning to produce the group.
Blur completed their second album Modern Life Is Rubbish in December , but Food Records said the album required more potential hit singles and asked them to return to the studio for a second time. The band complied and Albarn wrote " For Tomorrow ", which became the album's lead single. The announcement of the album's release included a press photo which featured Blur, dressed in a mix of mod and skinhead attire, posing alongside a mastiff with the words "British Image 1" spraypainted behind them.
At the time, such imagery was viewed as nationalistic and racially insensitive by the British music press; to quieten concerns, Blur released the "British Image 2" photo, which was "a camp restaging of a pre-war aristocratic tea party". The success of Parklife revived Blur's commercial fortunes. Blur began working on their fourth album The Great Escape at the start of James reflected, "It was all more elaborate, more orchestral, more theatrical, and the lyrics were even more twisted It was all dysfunctional, misfit characters fucking up.
Partly due to increasing antagonisms between the groups, Blur and Oasis ultimately decided to release their new singles on the same day, an event the NME called "The British Heavyweight Championship". The debate over which band would top the British singles chart became a media phenomenon, and Albarn appeared on the News at Ten. The Great Escape , which Albarn told the public was the last instalment in the band's Life Trilogy, was released in September to ecstatic reviews.
An early Q magazine interview revealed that relations between Blur members had become very strained; journalist Adrian Deevoy wrote that he found them "on the verge of a nervous breakup".
Blur's Damon Albarn demands 'citizens' assembly' to fix Brexit
James for his playboy lifestyle, and Albarn for his control over Blur's musical direction and public image. Blur biographer Stuart Maconie later wrote that, at the time, "Blur were sewn together very awkwardly". Although he had previously dismissed it, Albarn grew to appreciate Coxon's tastes in lo-fi and underground music, and recognised the need to significantly change Blur's musical direction once again. Coxon, recognising his own personal need to—as Rowntree put it—"work this band", wrote a letter to Albarn, describing his desire for their music "to scare people again".
After initial sessions in London, the band left to record the rest of the album in Iceland, away from the Britpop scene. The result was Blur , the band's fifth studio album, released in February Although the music press predicted that the lo-fi sonic experimentation would alienate Blur's teenage girl fan-base, they generally applauded the effort. After the success of Blur , the band embarked on a nine-month world tour. Among the tracks, the band were most impressed by Orbit's effort and enlisted him to replace Street as producer for their next album, [49] citing a need to approach the recording process from a fresh perspective.
The band refused and the record was released in May in Britain; it appeared in the United States that fall. While The Great Escape entered the U. Blur perform at Provinssirock in Finland. Released in April , Parklife entered the charts at number one and catapulted the band to stardom in Britain. With Damon Albarn 's wry lyrics and the group's mastery of British pop tradition, Blur were the leader of Brit-pop, but they quickly became confined by the movement; since they were its biggest band, they nearly died when the movement itself died.
Released in March , Blur's sixth studio album 13 saw them drift still further away from their Britpop-era attitude and sound. Orbit's production style allowed for more jamming, and incorporated a "variety of emotions, atmospheres, words and sounds" into the mix. While Q called it "a dense, fascinating, idiosyncratic and accomplished art rock album", [51] the NME felt it was inconsistent and " at least a quarter-of-an-hour too long". The album's lead single, the gospel-based " Tender ", opened at the second spot on the charts.
In July , in celebration of their tenth anniversary, Blur released a CD limited edition box-set of their singles.
The accompanying tour saw Blur play the A-sides of the 22 singles in their chronological order of release. The Best of , which debuted at number three in the UK and received a Platinum certification for , copies shipped. The Best of were determined on the basis of market research and focus groups conducted by Blur's record label, EMI. In an otherwise highly enthusiastic review of the best-of for the NME , Steve Sutherland criticised the band's "sheer disregard" for their earlier work; "Just because these songs embarrassed them once they started listening to broadsheet critics and retreated wounded from the big-sales battle with Oasis doesn't mean that we're morons to love them.
After 13 and the subsequent tours in —, band members pursued other projects.
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Graham Coxon recorded a string of solo albums, while Damon Albarn dedicated his time to Gorillaz , the animated band he had created with Jamie Hewlett. Recording for Blur's next album began in London in November , but concerted work started in June , with the sessions moving to Marrakech , Morocco soon after, and then to Devon back in the UK.
Not long after the sessions began, Coxon left the group. The song is largely electronic, and was part of the band's protest against war in the Middle East. Albarn, however, attempted to assuage fans' fears that the album would be electronic by providing reassurances that the band's new album would be "a rockin' record", and also said that it has "a lot of finely crafted pop songs". Think Tank , released in May , was filled with atmospheric, brooding electronic sounds, featuring simpler guitar lines played by Albarn, and largely relying on other instruments to replace Coxon.
The guitarist's absence also meant that Think Tank was almost entirely written by Albarn. Its sound was seen as a testament to Albarn's increasing interest in African and Middle Eastern music , and to his complete control over the group's creative direction. Overall the band kept a low profile and did no studio or touring work as a three-piece. After Coxon significantly thawed on the subject of rejoining Blur, [69] in band members announced that they would reunite, and that they intended to record together first in August, with the date later being pushed back to September, then October.
All the shows were well received; The Guardian ' s music critic Alexis Petridis gave their performance at Goldsmiths college a full five stars, and wrote "Blur's music seems to have potentiated by the passing of years Reviews of the Glastonbury performance were enthusiastic; The Guardian called them "the best Glastonbury headliners in an age".
A Beginner's Guide to Blur in June Blur also headlined at other summer festivals, including Oxegen in Ireland, [76] and the Scottish outdoor show of T in the Park. Their T in the Park headline slot was put in jeopardy after Graham Coxon was admitted to hospital with food poisoning. Ultimately, the band did play, albeit an hour and a half after they were scheduled to appear. He said, "I just can't do it anymore", and explained that the main motivation for participating in the reunion was to repair his relationship with Coxon, which he succeeded at.
Conceived over five days in Hong Kong after a cancelled Japan tour in , the album was inspired by the city as well. The Guardian also noted that at times during its first week of release, The Magic Whip sold "more than the rest of the top five combined". Blur have been on hiatus once again since the tour promoting The Magic Whip. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Blur's official website with news, audio and video clips, photos, downloads, tour dates and more. Blur are an English rock band formed in London in The group consists of singer/keyboardist Damon Albarn, guitarist/singer Graham Coxon, bassist Alex.
Alternative rock Britpop indie rock. English rock band fronted by Damon Albarn and one of the pioneering groups of the s britpop scene.
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