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Thread: Blur-The Magic Whip

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    Mod or rocker? Mocker. Frumious B's Avatar
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    Blur-The Magic Whip

    So my favorite band of the nineties, bar none, put out their first new album in twelve years this week. I loving it so far. It's in much the same vein as 13 and Think Tank. I figure if Radiohead and Elbow are "PE main forum" worthy then there's no reason Blur's new one shouldn't be as well. Anyone else snagged it?
    "It was a cruel song, but fair."-Roger Waters

  2. #2
    I listened to it and it's not bad.
    It goes a little downhill towards the end, but it's better than i expected, expecially after listening first to Go Out which i didn't like at all. Anyway it works better in context.
    A good album, i'd say, i rate it 7.5/10.
    If it truly belongs to the "PE main forum", well, i'm not so sure, but anyway...

  3. #3
    I always loved Blur, especially as they are my hometown boys done good, but have not heard this one yet, although reviews I have seen have been mostly positive. I thought they were finished as a recording unit, and I saw their "farewell" Hyde Park gig in 2012, though think they have performed a few elsewhere since! I will pick this one I am sure, as I've got all of the others.

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    I don't get any comparison with Radiohead or Elbow, who show some genuine prog credentials. Blur have made some good records, and I like Alex James & Graham Coxon, but I never took to Albarn - if prog is sometimes labelled pretentious then maybe he should be on PE - more "mockney" than Dick van Dyke. On anything I've seen them do live he seems like the weak link to me, but there's no doubting he is a talented songwriter. Just not really my thing, I suppose

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    cunning linguist 3LockBox's Avatar
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    Blur was so influencial that they were the blueprint for a lot of Brit-pop that came later in the mid-to-late '90s and early '00s, so much so that most of those bands are awash for me along with Blur. Song 2 must have have been soley responsible for bands like The Hives and The Vines, each band having a lead off track that plagiarized it. Other than a handful of songs I've never really placed Blur among my favorites as albums go.
    Compact Disk brought high fidelity to the masses and audiophiles will never forgive it for that

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    I'm firmly a Modern Life is Rubbish man. Their stylistic volte-face post Great Escape left me cold I'm afraid.

  7. #7
    It will take repeated listening far more than any of their previous output. After a few days of listening to it, i like it a lot ... it will probably grow on me even more and i may get to love it. There's a definite sense of dislocation about the entire album and i actually think Albarn's vocals add to this feeling. Possibly due to the fact that most of it was put together without him after the original recording session and he's come back to it much later to add lyrics/vocals. If he'd 'lived' with it during recording there may have been more conviction about the vocals, but maybe that's what he was aiming for. Its a fairly maudlin record - similar to the work he did with The Good, The Bad & The Queen rather than Blur of the past. However, as a comeback (and an unexpected one at that), its more than worth its almost unanimous good reviews so far.

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    What's their most Proggy album?

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    I'm still hopeful that one day Blur will perform on a double bill alongside Focus.

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    Mod or rocker? Mocker. Frumious B's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    What's their most Proggy album?
    With Leisure they started in sort of a Stone Roses mixed with My Bloody Valentine mode. Then they made three albums, Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife and The Great Escape, built around Damon Albarn's fascination with classic UK songwriting...Beatles, Kinks, Syd Barrett etc.. Next they went in a more of a Pavement influenced lo-fi indie rock direction for Blur which finally broke them in the U.S. via "Song 2". Then then got more experimental for 13 and Think Tank which have more electronics and some trip hop too, paving the way for Albarn's next big project, Gorillaz. The Magic Whip sounds most like the band of Blur through Think Tank but with Albarn developing sort of a spooky "prophet of doom" type thing with some of his vocals and lyrics that reminds me a lot of Bowie. Listen to "There Are Too Many of Us" for the best example of that.

    As far as proggy goes I guess I'd go with 13, Think Tank and the new one as they definitely inhabit the same aesthetic ballpark as Radiohead from Kid A and beyond. However, the Blur song I think would sound most at home on a 70s prog album is "This Is A Low" from Parklife.
    "It was a cruel song, but fair."-Roger Waters

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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    What's their most Proggy album?
    They don't have one.

    But, their most lush, intricate arrangements are definitely to be found on albums 2 to 4.

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    What's their most Proggy album?
    Quote Originally Posted by lovecraft View Post
    They don't have one.
    Then I object to their presence on the main board!

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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Then I object to their presence on the main board!
    Quite rightly so to be honest.

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    Mod or rocker? Mocker. Frumious B's Avatar
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    Mod or rocker? Mocker. Frumious B's Avatar
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    IMHO most off-the-rack "lookie here y'all it's a Mellotron" type prog bands would be damned lucky to be half as talented as Blur.
    Last edited by Frumious B; 05-04-2015 at 07:22 PM.

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    Member MarKco's Avatar
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    I think 13 - albeit hated by almost everyone - is a great album (including "Tender is the soooong, that goes on way too loooong") and quite psych, if not proggy, in its own kind.
    The magic whip is really good, in my opinion. Get it on vinyl if you can, it comes with an outstanding packaging.
    http://www.marcozanetti.it

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  17. #17
    Cannot stand Blur - Small Faces copyists. Certainly not prog and sum up the awful musical decade that was the 90s.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by MarKco View Post
    I think 13 - albeit hated by almost everyone - is a great album
    It's their best i.m.o. and the only one I own...
    Macht das ohr auf!

    COSMIC EYE RECORDS

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    Quote Originally Posted by everyday View Post
    Cannot stand Blur - Small Faces copyists. Certainly not prog and sum up the awful musical decade that was the 90s.
    replace BLUR with OASiS and we're talking. other than that, this is a sweeping generalisation. BLUR were one of the finer/finest bands out of that decade, although it took me a long time to realise just that. never progressive, but always progressing. damon albarn is also known as a CARDiACS diehard (C supported B in 1995 to similar indifference by the brit pop yob crowd as the MARiLLiON fans ten years before that) which should gain them some acceptance here. they always had the deadpan homour and intellectual abrasiveness which totally escapes OASiS – just to reenact the old mid90s battle between the two. i look forward to hearing the new one.

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    The way people bang on about the comparisons between Blur and Oasis, one would think they were the only two bands in the UK during the 90s.

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    Mod or rocker? Mocker. Frumious B's Avatar
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    I liked Blur, Oasis, Pulp and Suede way better than the joyless grunge bands that were so dominant in the US back then.
    "It was a cruel song, but fair."-Roger Waters

  22. #22
    Member chalkpie's Avatar
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    Really digging Blur recently. Been hitting Parklife, Modern Life is Rubbish, Blur (97) and 13. Some quirky tunes, always melodic and very English. Great stuff.

    PS - their fans can suck a rotted moose egg for booing Cardiacs at Mile End in '95
    If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.

    "And it's only the giving
    That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson

  23. #23
    Member chalkpie's Avatar
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    Outstanding tune.
    If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.

    "And it's only the giving
    That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson

  24. #24
    Member Piskie's Avatar
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    ^^ Great stuff.
    'I would advise stilts for the quagmires"

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by chalkpie View Post
    Wow, nice...jealous! What are 'yer favorite Blur albums?
    Don't be too jealous -- I've got a good friend in Chattanooga who's a huge Blur fan, and he doesn't even have the box. I'm just a chronic music splurger. It's a sickness, really.

    In all honesty, I still haven't spent enough time with their whole catalog to be very familiar with stuff beyond Parklife. My favorite is still probably Modern Life is Rubbish, as that was the first one I ever heard and it's got a special place in my heart. But their first CD has some gems on it still, and Parklife is brilliant. Those three are at the top of my list.

    But man, if I could pick only one Blur song to take with me anywhere, it would be "Villa Rosie". That tune is killer; what a chorus...

    I am going to get more acquainted with all their music. That box is really an embarrassment of riches, between all the studio discs and B-sides and the included book.

    I'm so glad you're liking them, man. What are your favorite albums/songs so far?
    "what's better, peanut butter or g-sharp minor?"
    - Sturgeon's Lawyer, 2021

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