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View Full Version : Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines


Psychocandy
05-23-2004, 10:08 AM
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Well i've been listening to this album for a few days now and it's already screaming masterpiece. I've heard Graham Coxon's earlier solo albums that he recorded when he was a member of Blur and the songs he recorded then were like fragments of complete ideas. There were a lot of good songs to be found but you really had to be willing to dig through a lot of pretty throwaway stuff to find it.

This album is the polar opposite of those albums. Being dropped from Blur by Damon Albarn seems to have galvanised Graham Coxon's songwriting talent. This album is very focused and at the same time one of the most musically diverse i've heard in some time. Opening track Spectacular comes on like a punk T-Rex and is quickly followed by No Good Time, a song that sounds like the sort of thing you would get if you fused the whimsical college rock of Pavement to the fucked up pop/rock of The Jesus And Mary Chain. Then the third track Girl Done Gone gives The White Stripes a run for their money. Then comes the first single from the album Bittesweet Bundle Of Misery that sounds like a not too distant relative of Blur's Coffee And TV...except better...much better. This is followed by a beautiful, spaced out ballad All Over Me. The album continues with song after song revealing a new side to Graham Coxon's song writing talent. As much as I like Blur's last album Think Tank this is a far more cohesive and enjoyable affair. This could very well be one of the best albums of the year and should also serve to highlight to Mr. Albarn how big a mistake he made by sacking Graham from the band.

A score? 5/5

Reigh Kaufman
05-23-2004, 04:19 PM
Sorry, P. As a mad Blur and Coxon fan, I wanted to love this. I don't - but I can see it's appeal. The problem is the tweeness of Coxon's voice, which, though it is not the selling point of the album, grates like parmesan in a fancy Italian restaurant. I love the single ...Bundle Of Misery, though it is most definitely not the progeny of Coffee And TV (by strange altruism my all-time favourite later-era Blur track), rather than it is the bastard child of Pavement. Still nice enough on a Sunday afternoon, but the album is, to me, something of a disappointment.

File under 'approach with caution'.

Jewbo
05-24-2004, 11:29 AM
I like it alot. id say its his best album. btw the first single was freaking out not bundle.

Psychocandy
05-24-2004, 01:13 PM
Originally posted by Jewbo
I like it alot. id say its his best album. btw the first single was freaking out not bundle.

Ah...didn't know that.

freekyd
05-24-2004, 04:19 PM
I listened to the preview on NME.com and it sounded great. Wish i could get it in the states, though. guess i'll have to order the import for $30 , ouch.