"Sunday, Sunday here again..."

Just relaxing on a sunny Sunday morning and listening to a bunch of Blur songs. The band only has had one hit stateside, "Song 2," but for those interested in a sort of modern take on Kinks style British rock (mixed with a hint of Stone Roses), Blur is for you.

My favorite record of theirs is "Modern Life Is Rubbish." This record was a bit of a struggle to make. XTC's producer Andy Partridge was originally slated to produce the album, but they didn't hit it off, so Stephen Street (producer of The Smiths, and Blur's first record, Leisure) was brought in. However, Food Records rejected their first submission of the record. The label was pushing for a hit, which sent them back to the studio for two more songs even after the record was finished. These songs, fortunately, were well worth it for the band, as "For Tomorrow" was a hit in the U.K., and "Chemical World" was a minor underground hit in the U.S. (and is one of my favorite Blur songs). Even after all of this, their American label, SBK, asked them to rerecord the album with Butch Vig. The band flatly refused, and the album was released in May in the U.K., with an autumn release in the U.S. It charted at #15 in the UK, and is seen as the forefather of the Britpop emergence in the mid-'90's (including Blur's own Parklife album).

Blur are on a hiatus of sorts these days, with Graham Coxon doing solo albums and Damon Albarn singing with Gorillaz. It's rumored that an album could come together in '06, but I'm not holding my breath. Their last record, Think Tank, was released in 2003.















Blur: (L to R) Alex, Graham, Damon, Dave