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Blur

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Blur, Oasis: Battle of the Bands — Old Turf, New Combatants

Overview by Simon Reynolds, The New York Times, 22 October 1995

RIGHT NOW, the British music scene is convulsed with patriotic fervor. For the first time in over a decade, young British guitar bands are penetrating ...

Audio interviews

Blur's Alex James (2007)

Interview by Maureen Paton, Rock's Backpages audio, 25 April 2007

The Blur bassist/cheesemaker on being rebuffed by Faye Dunaway and writing his autobiography... plus he looks back on Blur, his family and personal life; talks about being a (sort of) farmer; about rubbing shoulders with the West Oxfordshire glitterati; about pals like Damien Hirst and about London's clubland; about his love of P.G. Wodehouse and his great friend Marianne Faithfull... and quitting booze.

File format: mp3; file size: 61.4mb, interview length: 1h 03' 59" sound quality: ***

List of articles in the library

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Blur: Pop Club, London

Live Review by Push, Melody Maker, 26 May 1990

BLUR are precisely that. The antics of their vocalist have to be seen to be believed. ...

Blur: Pink Toothbrush, Rayleigh, Essex

Live Review by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, 27 October 1990

Opportunity knocks ...

The Soup Dragons/Blur: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 5 January 1991

FASHION: the question is, do you follow it or skirt round it? It's picked the bill, filled the venue and dressed the punters. Ignore it ...

Blur: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991

THE HYPE and shoddy promotional tactics surrounding Blur would surely stifle a lesser group. ...

Blur: The Astoria, London

Live Review by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 4 May 1991

RED ALERT ...

Blur: Leisure

Review by David Cavanagh, Select, October 1991

AND GUESS WHAT: they were right. It is special. The four Blur boys have guaranteed themselves a hefty leg-up in the being-taken-seriously stakes with the thrills ...

Diesel Park West/Blur/Jesus Jones: From The Soup Kitchen To The Stars

Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Vox, March 1992

Food Records' charity knees-up included tasty appetisers of Diesel Park West, an entrée of Blur and the piece de resistance, Jesus Jones. Stephen Dalton tucked ...

Blur: Blast Of The Famous International Game Boys

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992

It's not all Calpis Walter, Pocari Sweat and smoking Keiths while on a rock 'n' roll jaunt in Japan, y'know. Sometimes you rediscover BLUR, completely ...

Rollercoaster: Will and Jim's Excellent Misadventure

Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 April 1992

The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Blur: Glasgow SECC ...

Mother’s Litter Helpers: Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish

Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 1993

AND THE FOOLS laugh loudest. Blur’s rise and fall has all the comic nuances of Reginald Perrin’s. Two years ago they were pop’s champagne Charlies: ...

Blur: Modern Life Is Rubbish (Food)

Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 15 May 1993

CONTEMPORARY FAULT – ADJUST YOUR MIND-SET ...

London: Ditty Old Town

Overview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 22 May 1993

From The Kinks to Carter, Bowie to Blur, the Small Faces to Suede, British pop groups have eulogised, mythologised, criticised, glamorised, immortalised, romanticised and agonised ...

Blur: Modern Life Is Rubbish (Food)

Review by Keith Cameron, Vox, June 1993

Wasting Their Time ...

Blur: We Can Be Eros… Just For One Day

Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 5 March 1994

Breaking out of the Camden bootboy mould that brought more bovver than they’d bargained for, BLUR are back with more songs about penile dementia, lager ...

Park Psychosis — Blur: Parklife (Food /EMI F00D10)

Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 23 April 1994

Strike a light, guvnah. For thair fird al-bum, BLUR, the bin lids' faverits, 'ave gorn awl Lahn-dun on us, and no mistake. SIMON PRICE gave ...

The Blur of the moment

Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 1994

After several false starts, Blur have got it right with their album Parklife, which is set to leap into the charts at number one. ...

Blur: Parklife

Review by David Cavanagh, The Independent, 30 April 1994

BLURRY SHADES OF SGT PEPPER AT ABOUT seven o'clock this evening, if the midweek sales pointers are correct, Blur's third album Parklife will enter the chart ...

Blur: This Is The Modern World?

Interview by David Bennun, Melody Maker, 7 May 1994

BLUR believe themselves to be the most modern of bands, a four-man amalgamation of Nineties Britain. DAVID BENNUN reckons they're clever throwbacks, feeding on a ...

Blur: Diary of an LP

Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 14 May 1994

BLUR's Parklife is selling by the truck load, has loads of fabulous tunes on it and is really very good. TOM DOYLE talks to producer ...

Blur: Civic Hall Wolverhampton

Live Review by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 21 May 1994

THE (CL)ASS OF '94 ...

Blur: Parklife

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, June 1994

TO USE the vernacular of our friends in the American therapy industry, today's music business is not "a nurturing environment". One might use the expression ...

Now the Mercury rises

Report by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 16 September 1994

Jon Savage sees the north take its regional revenge ...

Bedsitters' night out — Blur, Pulp: Alexandra Palace, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 October 1994

Minimalist pop has its day as Blur and Pulp share the bill at London's Alexandra Palace ...

Blur: Who needs a used Merc, anyway?

Interview by Max Bell, Vox, November 1994

Mr Cholmondley-Warner may not have rated Blur good enough for the Mercury Music Prize, but Damon Albarn isn't losing sleep over it — hit singles, ...

Blur: Britain's Class Act

Profile and Interview by Steven Daly, Rolling Stone, 3 November 1994

BLUR stand up for their mod-rock roots on Parklife ...

Blur: Blurred Vision

Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 November 1994

They are the names on everyone's lips, the pop heroes from Essex. Blur are being mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles, and yesterday ...

Blur: Have a Go if You're Hard Enough

Interview by Susan Corrigan, i-D, December 1994

London lads on the pull or just taking the piss? Blur are this year's Brit pop sensations, defining a bold New Englishness out of smart ...

Lads and asses

Essay by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 16 December 1994

The media's love affair with football has spawned a huge culture industry. But is it to blame for the return of loutishness? ...

Blur: Darklife

Book Excerpt by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 24 December 1994

Blur had a brilliant 1994 — their album, Parklife, entered the charts at Number One and spent the rest of the year blaring from every ...

Britpop: Modern Life Is... Brilliant!

Overview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 7 January 1995

It was the year grunge died, the year of jungle... arses. It was the year that BRITISH POP found its feet again, and what's more, ...

Boys will be lads — Blur: Mile End Stadium, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 June 1995

A right old knees-up with Blur and their guests at Mile End ...

Blur: The Return Of The Fab Four

Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 12 August 1995

That rumble at the earth's core can only mean one thing — BLUR are back! With new single, 'Country House', out in ten days and ...

Blur: The Return Of The Fab Four: Part Two

Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 19 August 1995

Last week, BLUR talked long and hard about, well, everything, really. Everything, that is, except new LP The Great Escape, the R.E.M. date at Milton ...

Blur: England Expects

Special Feature by Chris Heath, The Face, September 1995

BLUR'S NEW album, The Great Escape, might be based around an imaginary retreat from the heady pop melee, but for Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave, ...

Blur: The Great Escape (Food/Parlophone 8 35235)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 8 September 1995

Blur put the grate in Britain ...

Blur: The Great Escape

Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 9 September 1995

DON'T PRETEND you saw it coming. In fact, don't even bother going back and combing the grooves looking for it. ...

Colditz A Knockout!: Blur: The Great Escape (Food)

Review by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 9 September 1995

If you thought 'Country House' meant BLUR were playing it safe, you haven't heard The Great Escape. Damon has laced his tales of commuter belt ...

Blur: The great escape — live!

Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 22 September 1995

Caitlin Moran catches up with Blur's whimsical tour of unlikely seaside resorts ...

Graham Coxon: I'm Completely at Odds With Everything

Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 23 September 1995

He hated the 'Country House' video and had doubts about it as a single. He thought of sabotaging his band's attempts to win that coveted ...

Blur: The Floral Hall, Eastbourne

Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 30 September 1995

ESCAPE TO VICTORY ...

Blur vs. Oasis: What's the story?

Report by Siân Pattenden, Select, October 1995

We know who won the Blur-versus-Oasis singles showdown. But who trounced who in the media-othon? Sian Pattenden adds 'em up. ...

Blur: The Great Escape

Review by David Cavanagh, Select, October 1995

THE JOY OF ESSEX. The suburbs are still rotting on the sequel to Parklife. ...

The Marketing Of Britpop

Overview by Jon Savage, Artforum, October 1995

RECENTLY I returned from the US into a British news media dominated by a by-election in the North West of England. The point about the ...

Blur: Floral Hall, Winter Gardens, Eastbourne

Live Review by David Quantick, MOJO, November 1995

"Blimey," says Damon Albarn as he takes the stage. How apt, Blur, as even tiny children in their prams know, are the current monarchs of ...

Can't Fight This Fleeing: Blur: The Great Escape (Parlophone)

Review by Paul Moody, Vox, November 1995

"I'm not walking out of this/I want to stay this way forever" — Blur, 'Blue Jeans', 1993 ...

Oasis: (What's the Story) Morning Glory (Epic); Blur: The Great Escape (Virgin), both 6/10

Review by Chuck Eddy, Spin, November 1995

THE MORE Blur and Oasis act British by pretending to be funny without punch lines on their long-awaited new albums (long-awaited in England, anyway, where ...

Time for the Blur to Fly — Blur: NEC Arena, Birmingham

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 November 1995

Blur a flagging, studenty band? Those memories are now long gone as screaming teenyboppers everywhere fight to hear their heroes ...

After Oasis, the desert

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 8 December 1995

Unless the music business pulls its finger out, we'll have nothing to look forward to once Britpop dies. ...

Blur: Stop The Band, I Wanna Get Off!

Report and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, March 1996

Are BLUR really going to the dogs? Behind all the adoring screams, we hear internal bickering, the tell-tale snii-ii-i-iff! of media-centric decadence, a hollow champagne ...

Blur In America

Report and Interview by Everett True, Melody Maker, 9 March 1996

BOSTON. IT'S COLD. Covered in snow. Twee. In the rarefied, tourist part of the city centre, fairy lights twinkle on the gaudy exterior of Doc ...

Britpop Football Special: Ooh-aah, Rossit-ah!

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 25 May 1996

Martin Rossiter as Eric Cantona? Liam Gallagher squaring off against Damon Albarn? Robbie Williams and Steve Pulp in the same footie team? No, you're not ...

Blur: Meet Damon, The Poet

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 July 1996

Blur's Damon Albarn tells CAROLINE SULLIVAN he is tired of being a star, tired of Yob Pop and tired off feuding. That's why he's reading ...

The Nineties: Going for Bloke

Comment by Johnny Cigarettes, The Face, September 1996

In the Nineties, we are all everyday people, says Johnny Cigarettes ...

Britpop: Let's Stay Together

Comment by Cliff Jones, The Face, January 1997

Britpop hasn't so much gone Pete Tong as Travelling Wilburys, says Cliff Jones ...

Blur: "We're an art school band and always will be"

Interview by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 7 February 1997

Damon Albarn has re-invented Blur: they don't drink (much), they don't like New Labour and they certainly don't play Britpop. MAX BELL meets the capital's ...

Blur: Blur (Reprise 9362-46236-2)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 February 1997

LOUDLY HERALDED as the pyre upon which their former Britpop selves have been ritually dispatched, Blur certainly takes some getting used to, though it's questionable ...

Blur: Blur (Food/Parlophone 14tks/57mins)

Review by David Bennun, Melody Maker, 8 February 1997

Get this. BLUR have gone lo-fi. They're slumming it. And they might just have made their finest album to date... ...

Blur: Blur (Food)

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 1997

Fifth album in six years; as ever a Stephen Street production. Change of ’direction’ hears Blur muss up their sound and back-pedal into the future. ...

Blur: Palace Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 21 March 1997

Blur Strays From Its Roots in Palace Show ...

Blur: Blur Knocks The Pulp Out Of Oasis, Right?

Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, Pulse!, April 1997

CLEARLY, Damon Albarn has studied his rock 'n' roll history. "When you start wearing tight trousers, you're fucked," notes the metaphorically astute 28-year-old. ...

Blur: Blur (Virgin)

Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 3 April 1997

ASIDE FROM a minor hit three years ago, with the perfect pop single 'Girls and Boys', England's beloved Blur have never quite killed alternative-era America. ...

Alive and Kicking

Report by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 31 May 1997

Sunday sunshine and a celebrity soccer shoot-out! A brace of top pop stars recently puffed their way around the pitch in a charity match. Some ...

Brit Pop: The Boys Club

Essay by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 4 July 1997

Pop music is booming, right? British bands are taking over the world, right? Wrong. The yobbish lads of Brit rock are about to hit the ...

Rejoice! Rejoice! Britpop is dead

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 28 November 1997

The jig is up, the hype exposed, and now Oasis, Pulp and the rest will have to do a proper job ...

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, and Damon

Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 19 December 1997

Look boys, it's Christmas — time to kiss under the mistletoe and call off the damaging Blur-Oasis wars ...

Labour's Love Lost

Comment by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 March 1998

According to this week's NME, the honeymoon between pop and the Government is well and truly over. Sean O'Hagan isn't surprised ...

This Must Be The Place: Newport, Bristol, Walthamstow, Colchester: Everybody's Talking About... The True Significance Of Location

Book Excerpt by Ben Thompson, 'Seven Years of Plenty' (Gollancz), October 1998

"A recent article in the New York Times proclaimed Newport as The New Seattle..." Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 December, 1996 ...

What Makes A Great Single?

Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, February 1999

Slade were good at it; Quintessence weren't. Ten rules of 7" engagement as decreed by Blur label boss Andy Ross and New National Anthem™ writer ...

Blur: 13

Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 March 1999

Down and outstanding ...

Blur: 13

Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 10 March 1999

TWO-AND-a-half minutes into the tenth track on his band's sixth album Damon Albarn is heard to ponder: "Where is the magic?/I've got to get better". ...

The Prehistory of Blur: 'We Were Very... Purple'

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1999

A mohican, Artaud, pyjama bottoms, The Cardiacs, sackings, Pernod, dressing up as the Ayatollah Khomeini: all of this and more in the story of Blur ...

Blur: 13 (Virgin)

Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 5 April 1999

Blur's Tender Mercies Shine Through Sheen of 13 ...

Blur: The Death Of A Party

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, August 1999

WE JOIN the story in the autumn of 1995. 'Country House' has beaten 'Roll With It' to Number One and the critics are in short-lived ...

Britpop: And The Beat Goes Off

Retrospective by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 17 February 2003

Britpop recalled the halcyon days of the Beatles and the Stones – but the party didn't last ...

Live Forever

Film/DVD/TV Review by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 1 March 2003

THERE ARE MANY reasons to see Live Forever, the new documentary about the 1990s Britpop years. Mostly they involve Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn being ...

Blur: Think Tank

Review and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 25 April 2003

Backstage at L'Espace Clacquesin, a former brewery 20 minutes from the centre of Paris, Blur are relaxing. The band has just performed for 200 invited ...

Blur: Think Tank

Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 9 May 2003

IT'S finally happened: Blur have become one of those bands. ...

This Is A High For A Refreshed Blur

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 May 2003

Blur: The Astoria, London ...

Justin Timberlake: NEC Arena, Birmingham; Blur: Astoria, London

Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 17 May 2003

Non-threatening boys: come and get 'em ...

Beck: Main Stage, Reading, Saturday 6.35pm; Blur: Main Stage, Reading, Saturday 9.30pm

Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 30 August 2003

Battle of the Old-Timers: Funky robots take on a chaotic Blur ...

Blur: The Great Escape?

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Bang, December 2003

Blur are no longer the centre of Damon Albarn's world and he says he finds the idea of turning into a career band like U2 ...

Britpop: Remember the first time

Retrospective and Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 12 August 2005

Without Britpop, would we have had hit guitar groups, stadium anthems or rock stars on Newsnight? Ten years on, John Harris looks back on how ...

The summer of Britpop

Retrospective by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 August 2005

Exactly a decade ago the British pop revival reached its zenith when Blur and Oasis battled it out for the number one spot. Nick Hasted ...

Brett Anderson and the real rivalry of Britpop

Retrospective by John Lewis, So London, March 2007

BACK IN the heyday of Britpop, the rivalry that garnered all the column inches was that between Blur and Oasis; the nice middle-class Essex boys ...

Alex James: Where There's Muck, There's Blur

Interview by James Medd, The Word, July 2007

Britpop pin-up, champagne-guzzler and gentleman farmer... Just how much of Alex James's extraordinary life has gone into his new book? ...

Damon Albarn: The Great Escape

Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Independent, 12 April 2008

THERE ARE GHOSTS at the Apollo. Bobby Byrd holds his master's cape, the amateur night regulars bawl and shimmy, and Fats Gonder asks: "Are you ...

Damon Albarn: From Pop to Opera

Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 2 November 2008

He's indifferent to money and drugs. He hates the celebrity circus. And he famously said no to Tony Blair – but yes to getting drunk ...

Blur Are Back

Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 December 2008

SIX YEARS AFTER they last played together, 13 since their epic chart duel with Oasis and almost three decades after the band's dominant figures met ...

From the life of Leisure to inside the Think Tank...

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, July 2009

As BLUR prepare for 2009's biggest comeback, Uncut goes behind the scenes of the sessions that produced their classic albums and reveals the conflicts that ...

Look Back In Anger: Britpop

Retrospective by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 13 August 2009

Fifteen years ago, a teenage Jude Rogers was enchanted by a new pop sound and a new politics, both of which promised to change the ...

Damon Albarn: "I'm Sort Of English Melancholy"

Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Quietus, 27 March 2012

With an upcoming Blur show and a number of albums set for release in the coming months, Damon Albarn's 2012 looks set to be as ...

Blur: Blur 21 – The Box

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 28 July 2012

Blur are marking 21 years, and possibly their final days, by re-releasing almost everything they have ever recorded. Andy Gill discovers a host of unheard ...

Blur: Maida Vale Studios, London

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 5 August 2012

AFTER BLUR'S 6 Music gig – the first of two shows they're playing for BBC radio tonight, to begin what they have suggested may be ...

Modern Life Isn't Rubbish: The Trouble With Britpop Nostalgia

Comment by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 10 April 2014

The mainstream media are currently engaged in a collective misty-eyed throwback to the 'glory days' of the mid 90s. Luke Turner, who was a teenager ...

The privileged are taking over the arts – without the grit, pop culture is doomed

Comment by Stuart Maconie, New Statesman, 4 February 2015

With school music spending down and the benefits system crippled, the voices of pop have lost their bite. ...

Who On Earth Are Blur? An Interview

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 27 April 2015

Will the real Blur please step forward, asks Jude Rogers after speaking to them (individually) recently. ...

see also Damon Albarn

see also Graham Coxon

see also Good, The Bad & The Queen, The

see also Gorillaz

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