Blur

Obviously, you can't have Oasis without Blur, so let's see how their albums hold up.

Leisure (1991)

Blur's first album is a bit of a mish mash of Madchester and shoegaze, and is not very good. The Madchester-type songs are all awful barring single 'There's No Other Way', and the shoegaze songs aren't much better, though they do account for the other two good songs on the album, 'She's So High' and 'Sing'. This is fairly mediocre, sounding like a band without an identity, trying to shoehorn themselves into the two most relevant British music scenes of the time. And failing.

Rating: 1.5/5

Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)

Blur's second album is seen by many as the beginning of Britpop. Influenced heavily by British rock acts of the past, especially The Kinks and The Who, this is a fuzzy, melodic pop-rock album, which, unlike their debut, sounds focused and like a band who know what they want. It also features some of Blur's best songs such as 'For Tomorrow' and 'Chemical World', that still sound fresh and exciting today. The album is let down by some poor songs though, and "The Who Sell Out"-style attempts at adverts and intermissions fail badly. The album is too long, and if it had trimmed some of the poorer songs, could have been a cracker.

Rating: 3/5

Parklife (1994)

"Parklife" perhaps sums up the Britpop sound and scene more than just about anything else; from the obvious and unsubtle references to British music of the past to songs about the present, including the emerging "lad and ladette" culture. Despite featuring a series of era-defining singles, 'Girls & Boys', 'To The End', 'Parklife' and 'End of a Century', this album has the same main failing as "Modern Life Is Rubbish" - it's overlong and needs editing. That said, for two-thirds of the way, this is excellent, and you can't accuse it of being boring; sonically, it jumps around all over the place, from classic rock to synth pop to punk and more.

Rating: 4/5

The Great Escape (1995)

After the massive success of "Parklife", Blur's next album, released only a year later, was much anticipated. Unfortunately, this was that album. Featuring four excellent singles, the rest of the album is terrible, and once more, overlong. Whether it was hurriedly put together or the sound of a band who had taken their sound as far as they could take it I don't know; either way, this is very forgettable stuff, and the kind of album that makes you grateful for "best of" or "greatest hits" collections.

Rating: 2/5

Blur (1997)

The ironic thing about Blur's fifth album being their best is that they had built their success and reputation on looking back to classic British rock for inspiration, criticising American culture and music in the process, whereas this album looked much more to America for inspiration, especially Pavement. The album itself has a kind of sleepy charm interspersed with some more uptempo and melodic songs such as 'Song 2' and 'Chinese Bombs', it flows well, and even though it's quite long, the quality is such that it doesn't overstay its welcome like some of their previous albums.

Rating: 4.5/5

13 (1999)

Continuing the sounds of "Blur", but adding some looser experimental works, "13" is something of a nearly album. Half of it works well, especially the songs more like those of the previous album, but the experimental songs seem too loose and unfocused and sound like they need more work to bring them together. It's not bad but feels like a bit of a comedown form the heights they reached on their previous album.

Rating: 2.5/5

Think Tank (2003)

Blur's final album is something of a stinker. Continuing the experimental sounds of "13", but without Graham Coxon's guitar sounds (he left the band at the start of recording), this is a bit of a mess, sounding like a fairly random collection of studio sketches that were never fully formed. Many of the songs sound like they would be more at home on a Gorillaz album and sit uncomfortably with Blur. best to avoid.

Rating: 1/5

Oasis

Where else to begin my Britpop odyssey than with the biggest Britpop band of them all?

Definitely Maybe (1994)

Oasis's first, and best, album is a veritable classic of Britpop and the 1990s. A heady and uplifting album with tales of rock 'n' roll dreams, youthful positivity, friendship and hedonism, this album is such a joy that you turn a blind eye to the many rip-offs and references to other songs and artists (especially The Beatles) throughout. This is proper rock'n' roll and was the moment when Britpop and British "indie" music crossed over fully into the mainstream, for better or worse.

Rating: 5/5

(What's The Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

Eschewing the swirling rock sounds and guitar riffs of "Definitely Maybe" in favour of sing-a-long choruses, ballads and poppier and melodic songs, "Morning Glory" is a very good follow up, though let down by a couple of stinkers; 'Wonderwall' is an especially annoying song and still haunts me to this day due to its seemingly universal playing on TV/radio throughout the second half of the 1990s. The release of this album would make Oasis superstars and its more radio-friendly gentle indie rock sounds would become the template that many other Britpop bands would aspire to copy over the following years.

Rating: 4/5

Be Here Now (1997)

The hype ahead of this album was probably as big as I can remember for any album in my life; after lead single 'D'You Know What I Mean' was premiered, I remember Jo Whiley playing the song and its b-sides for most of an hour of her Radio 1 show that day. Sadly, the album didn't live up to the hype and Oasis's reputation and album sales in the UK would never really recover after the disappointment of this release.

The album itself is an overlong, self-indulgent mess, attempting (I assume) some sort of bigger, Led Zeppelin-esque sound. The songs however are not that great and the album seems terribly produced; the drumming is especially bad and watered down in the mix, not something you want on a "big" sounding album. Most of the songs also last way too long. This is also the moment at which the band's "dadrock" tendencies overtook the youthful exuberance and positivity of the previous two albums.

Rating: 2/5

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (2000)

After the attempted bombast of "Be Here Now", Oasis toned things down a bit on their fourth album. Back are the more anthemic songs, and even some attempts at experimentation; the trippy 'Who Feels Love' and industrial-sounding 'Gas Panic!' hint at attempts at trying something new. Sadly, the band wouldn't try anything out of their comfort zone again until their last album. The album also features 'Little James', Liam's first Oasis song, and a rather terrible one at that. It is essentially just a big, bad rip-off of 'Hey Jude'.

Rating: 3/5

Heathen Chemistry (2002)

Going back to a more straightforward rock sound, and featuring only six out of eleven songs written by Noel, Oasis's fifth album is something of a return to the dadrock of "Be Here Now", though it is enlivened by a couple of cracking singles, 'The Hindu Times' and 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' and one or two other decent songs. The rest is all fairly forgettable stuff, though it never gets as bad or overlong as most of "Be Here Now" was.

Rating: 2.5/5

Don't Believe the Truth (2005)

Oasis hit a new low on their sixth album, which features almost no good songs and snores along like the most mediocre dadrock imaginable; this is what "phoning it in" sounds like. The whole album is filled with all the worst things about Oasis; Liam's singing is terribly strained and unfocused, the sound is muddy retro rubbish and there's a whole bunch of plodding, mid-tempo, tuneless dirge which served the band as filler in the past, but here, is the main focus of the album. This is truly dreadful and is actually quite painful to listen to when you remember that this was the same band that made "Definitely Maybe".

Rating: 0.5/5

Dig Out Your Soul (2008)

On their last album, Oasis throw in a big mix of psychedelia, Indian sounds and, as had become their norm, some rather terrible dadrock. The album doesn't really flow that well, typical of the latter Oasis albums that weren't written entirely by Noel. Despite the return-to-form lead single 'The Shock of The Lightning', the album can be described as "patchy" at best. Still, at least they tried something a bit different on some of the songs and it's better than the woeful "Don't Believe The Truth". They at least went out on something of an upward curve.

Rating: 2/5

Britpop Revisited

Weren't things so much better when you were young? The weather was better, films were better, TV was better, and the music was, of course, better.

I was young during the Britpop years. I remember Blur vs Oasis, Jarvis Cocker getting onstage at The Brit Awards during a Michael Jackson performance of some god-awful song or other, I remember Euro 96, and I remember the feeling that anything was possible and that England was the coolest place on Earth. Again.

Obviously, I was young and stupid then, and years of the crushing monotony of working for a living in the real world in the intervening time have made me question how good some of the things from that time really were.

Lots of people claim to have invented Britpop, from NME/Melody Maker writers to Radiohead, Blur and Suede. Most of those same people also say they destroyed Britpop too, so I don't know what to think of their claims. Certainly, I think the resurrection of manufactured pop bands like The Spice Girls and pop artists like Robbie Willams embracing the Britpop sound probably did more to kill it off than Suede getting a keyboard player did.

As someone who was there at the time, I think the Britpop "era" really began in 1994 when Oasis released "Definitely Maybe" and Blur released "Parklife". I'm not reallty sure how it came about before that, but given that it the preceding years, we'd already had madchester, acid house, shoegaze etc meant it was only a matter of time before one of the music "movements" took off in a big way, and it was probably more luck than judgement that Britpop was the one that crossed over, although the fact that it was generally poppier in sound helped too, I think. Damon Albarn claims it came about because of a negative reaction to the grunge scene in America, which he famously called "disgusting", but the British music scene generally operates and progresses in a way that generally ignores what's happening in America at the same time, so I think he's talking shit personally.

Obviously, the biggest Britpop bands were Oasis, Blur, Suede and Pulp. Interestingly, Blur and Pulp had both been around for a while before Britpop but got their biggest success during that period. In the wake of these bands we got the likes of Sleeper, Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene et al and the career resurrections of artists like Paul Weller and Echo & The Bunnymen as well.

The answer is "no".

Like all parties it had to end, and it had done so by the end of the 90s, to be replaced by "The New Acoustic", and the rise of shite like Coldplay, Travis, David Gray, Keane etc, though I'm sure people who were teenagers then probably look back at that time the same way Britpop teenagers look back at the mid-90s. There's been something of a Britpop revival of sorts in recent years (or at least a nostalgia cash-in) with Blur, Pulp and others reforming and touring again, and pieces in magazines like The Word looking back at the period.

Having lived through that time, I definitely have fond memories of it, though not necessarily as one might expect. Lots of my favourite music is from the mid-90s, though it's mainly American acts like Liz Phair, Tiger Trap, Belly, The Breeders and others; these artists were slightly ignored in Britain because of the time's obsession with Britpop, which is a bit of a shame really. There was some excellent TV ('Northern Exposure' and 'The X-Files' - both American - in particular), but you could say the same about TV from just about any age. I doubt that people will be buying 'This Life' box-sets ten years from now. And while people like me love Alan Partidge, kids of today will love 'The Inbetweeners' just as much.

I think what made the Britpop years so memorable was that the music coincided with other things (purely by chance?). The removal of the Tories after so long in power, the creation of the Premier League and Euro 96 and the perceived resurrection of British cinema (especially with 'Trainspotting') all helped to create what was in effect a perfect storm, several things that people really wanted and enjoyed all happening at the same time, topped off with a handy soundtrack of successful British artists. The fact that because of these things (especially Euro 96), it also became OK to be patriotic again in Britain (after years of "Britishness" being associated with far-right racist groups) added to the general good feeling of the time

Anyway, I'm gonna be revisiting a lot of Britpop music over the coming weeks to see/hear how it holds up...

Super

Director: James Gunn

Writer: James Gunn

Starring: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon

Released: 2010

Released around 6 months after Kick-Ass, and suffering because of it (it wasn't compared favourably and didn't do very well at the box office), Super features Frank (Rainn Wilson), whose recovering addict wife (Tyler) leaves him for a drug dealer (Bacon). After getting a vision, he decides to become a superhero named The Crimson Bolt, with the ultimate aim of "saving" his wife, and fighting crime along the way.

Meeting psychotic comic book shop worker Libby (Page), who discovers his identity, then joins him as sidekick Boltie, he sets out to get his wife back, now on drugs again.

The first thing to say about Super is that it is a lot darker and more adult than Kick-Ass. The violence is more brutal and simpler, and a lot less choreographed; The Crimson Bolt basically justs hits people he thinks have done wrong (including people cutting queues at the cinema) in the head with a wrench. As a result, the violence is a lot more realistic.

Made on less than a tenth of the budget of Kick-Ass, and filmed in just 24 days, the film has a kind of bleak look to it, which only adds to the grimy realism. The film also doesn't really explore the media reaction to The Crimson Bolt, save for a brief news snippet, though it does mock the notion of superheroes not being noticed when in costume; several people recognise Frank when he is The Crimson Bolt.

This is a very good film in its own right. The comparisons to Kick-Ass are obvious to see, but this is kind of like Kick-Ass's darker, older, weirder cousin. The cast are all excellent, especially Wilson and Page, and the film is very funny, especially when Page is onscreen. I can see how people get unsettled about the film, mixing comedy with swift, brutal, realistic violence is an odd combination, and the joy Ellen Page's character gets from beating and hurting people is obviously not going to be to everybody's tastes, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Rating: 4/5

The Rocker

Director: Peter Cattaneo

Writers: Ryan Jaffe, Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky

Starring: Rainn Wilson, Emma Stone, Christina Applegate

Released: 2008

Rainn Wilson stars as "Fish", former drummer of hair metal band Vesuvius, fired by the band in favour of a record label boss's nephew. Twenty years on, he has no job or girlfriend and has had to move in with his sister. Filling in as drummer for his nephew's band, he gets his taste back for performing.

Getting kicked out of his sister's house and moving into the basement underneath a Chinese restaurant, Fish has to practise with the rest of the band using webcams, which he does naked. The band then become unwitting internet stars, when footage of the band becomes an online hit, due in part to the naked drummer.

The band then go on tour to capitalise on their success, but things begin to get fractured; the band's manager wants rid of Fish, and wants singer/songwriter of the band Curtis to go solo. Things get worse when the manager organises an opening slot for the band with Fish's former band Vesuvius, now international megastars (who have developed English accents), which he refuses to do and quits the band. Can the band put their differences aside and get back together for their biggest gig yet?

This is a fairly enjoyable, if lightweight, music comedy. Star Rainn Wilson puts in a good performance in the main role, much needed as not too many other characters in the film get a lot of funny things to do or say, they're all there really as straight-men to Fish. That said, Rainn Wilson is a good enough comedy actor to pull it off (as anyone who's seen him as Dwight Schrute in The Office will know), but it would have made the film better to share the humour around. Only really Will Arnett (from Arrested Development), as one of his former bandmates in Vesuvius, adds anything on the comedy front. The band's music is kind of lame, being fairly generic pop punk, but at least the film uses original songs, rather than having the band perform covers of well known or hip songs.

Rating: 3/5

Singles

Director: Cameron Crowe

Writer: Cameron Crowe

Starring: Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda

Released: 1992

I always get worried about a film when the DVD cover makes a point of referencing a best-selling soundtrack, rather than mentioning five star reviews or something about the movie itself, like this does.

To be fair though, this is a pretty good film. A romantic comedy of sorts, though with a post-modern edge to it, the film centres on a group of largely single friends looking for relationships, through going to gigs, video dating and so on.

On the plus side, the cast are very good and film never gets too schmaltzy. It is quite funny in parts, especially the flashbacks and inserts (in particular the bad video dating profile videos), and the soundtrack is pretty decent for a Hollywood film (though not good enough to be a selling point).

On the downside, the film is obviously intended to cash in on the early 90s grunge/alt-rock/generation x boom; I doubt there's ever been a film with so many references to Mudhoney in it as this has(!). I find it unlikely though that too many of the characters here would have been into alt-rock as is portrayed, some of them seem more like Billy Joel fans to me. Also, the third quarter of the film, intended to be the most dramatic (when a car crash featuring two of the main characters happens), really doesn't work or fit well with the rest of the film.

In summary, this is a fairly enjoyable film, though fairly lightweight and inconsequential. I doubt that anyone who sees this could really love (or hate) it too much.

Random fact: the TV series 'Friends' was originally based on this film. Though don't let that put you off.

Rating: 3/5

Led Zeppelin, Part II

These are the live albums. Apparently, the concert the band did in 2007 in memory of Ahmet Ertegun will also be released as "Celebration Day" sometime later this year.

 

The Song Remains the Same (1976)

 

Despite some interesting arrangements, and a great tracklisting, this album is let down by poor production, something that could never be levelled against any other Zep release. The sound is fairly muddy and doesn't have an explosive edge to it, like you would expect from the band.

 

Rating: 3/5

 

BBC Sessions (1997)

 

Like with all of the "live at the BBC"-type albums, this is a mixed bag of various sessions. Disc 1 contains four different sessions while disc 2 contains (most of) a single concert. On the plus side, the sound quality is much improved over "The Song Remains the Same". On the downside, there are multiple versions of the same song; do we really need three versions of 'Communication Breakdown' on the same disc? 

 

Rating: 3.5/5

 

How the West Was Won (2003)

 

"This is Led Zeppelin at its best and an illustration of How The West Was Won," writes Jimmy Page in the liner notes, which is a pretty good summary of this album; the performances are great, so is the sound; this is about as good as a live album can be. Excellent.

 

Rating: 4.5/5

Led Zeppelin, Part I

These are the proper Led Zeppelin studio albums. And "Coda".

Led Zeppelin (1969)

The first album is a mix of blues, folk and rock 'n' roll, and features the best guitar solo ever on 'Dazed and Confused'. Fact. Remarkably, thia album was also recorded and mixed in just 36 hours. Strangely, this album got terrible reviews when it was first released. Shows what critics know (i.e. nothing).

Best Song: Dazed And Confused

Rating: 4.5/5

Led Zeppelin II (1969)

Heavier and more focused on big guitar riffs than the first album, this relies less on the folk influences and more on blues and heavy rock. This is a true classic rock album, and perhaps the most fun Zeppelin album to listen to, though not necessarily the best.

Best Song: Whole Lotta Love

Rating: 5/5

Led Zeppelin III (1970)

This is really an album of two halves: half folk/acoustic and half rock. Both work well, but the rock songs are better.

Best Song: Immigrant Song

Rating: 4.5/5

Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

Keeping some of the folk sounds from "III", but expanding the rock sounds and riffs to massive new heights, this is Zep's best album, and perhaps the greatest album ever made. Features several of the best (and mosty beloved) rock songs ever, including 'Black Dog', 'Rock and Roll', 'Stairway to Heaven' and 'When the Levee Breaks', everyone in the world should really own this album. There's no excuse not to. 

Best Song: Rock And Roll

Rating: 5/5

Houses of the Holy (1973)

Including some new sounds (Zeppelin go reggae on 'D'Yer Mak'er'!) and some familiar big riffs, this album is most notable for containing 'The Song Remains The Same' perhaps the crowning achievement of Jimmy Page's guitar work; essentially a series of intertwining guitar solos, with occasional singing from Robert Plant, this is probably as good as music will ever get.

Best Song: The Song Remains the Same

Rating: 4.5/5

Physical Graffiti (1975)

AKA: The epic double album. Zep's first album on their own label, Swan Song, was a mix of new songs and previously unreleased/unfinished works. Despite this, it sounds remarkably coherent and is considered by many (but not me) to be their best album. Despite its length (over 80 minutes), it never drags or grates; if only all double albums were this consistent.

Best Song: Kashmir

Rating: 5/5

Presence (1976)

Led Zeppelin's heaviest album is guilty of tailing off in quality towards the end, but is still pretty good. The slightly slower, but heavier sound would go on to be a big influence on bands like Metallica, but they would never do it as good as this, of course.

Best Song: Achilles Last Stand

Rating: 3.5/5

In Through the Out Door (1979)

This is the Led Zeppelin album that doesn't really sound like Led Zeppelin, and the last one the band recorded. Incorporating some South American sounds and rhythms, among other non-Zep sounds, and less reliant on Jimmy Page's guitars, all the more strange considering the previous album is the heaviest album they'd done, this almost works. The first half of the album is good, but it fades in the second half.

Best Song: In the Evening

Rating: 3/5

Coda (1982)

The final Led Zeppelin "studio" album, released two years after the death of drummer John Bonham (and the break-up of the band), is a collection of out-takes and unreleased songs. It's pretty good, but nothing special.

Best Song: We're Gonna Groove

Rating: 3/5

Cat Power: "Sun" (First Impressions)

One of the advantages of living in the UK is that we get albums one whole day before America. Take that Johnny Applepie!

 

I've only listened to the album a couple of times so far (it was only released today) but it is noticeably more uptempo and upbeat sounding than any previous Cat Power album.

 

 

There are some electronic flourishes to many of the songs (though mainly to add texture) and also a lot of driving piano riffs; though nothing here is as trippy as 'American Flag' from "Moon Pix". There's also some sunny Californian guitar sounds; this almost sounds like it could be the Cat Power "summer album".

 

On the first hearings, this is a very enjoyable album, certainly a lot better than the disappointing "Jukebox", though whether it ranks alongside Chan's best I guess I will find out in due time. Overall, a very good first impression.

3DS XL

Even though I'm a Nintendo lover, I didn't buy the 3DS when it was released, choosing to instead wait for the first update, which happened a month or so ago with the release of the 3DS XL, which I bought.

 

I have to say that I absolutely love it. I'm glad that I waited, there's now a good range of available games (something there wasn't at release), and the upgrades have made it a better system; the bigger screens, better battery life and increased memory (via SD card) all combine to make this much better than the original version.

 

 

I have no interest in watching films at the cinema in 3D while wearing silly glasses, but the 3D here is very impressive on some games, especially Pilotwings Resort and Super Mario 3D Land; playing these games in 2D just isn't the same. Also, the graphics just look better in 3D.

 

Other than games, there is a ton of other features; the three cameras allow for taking pictures or filming, there is a built-in web browser, and the eShop features a ton of new and retro games, as well as downloadable demos, apps and videos.

 

Overall, the 3DS XL is pretty awesome. As more games and other features are released it's only going to get better as well. And with its USP of having two screens and 3D, things no other system (PSVita) or smartphones have, it's easy to see why it's now selling so well (after a slow start), especially in Japan where it's currently dominating the games market.