The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project

gaporter said:
I took so long to respond that now you guys have moved on to another Albarn project! And, to me, one of his masterpieces (not to diminish the contributions of the other members of Blur here, but just feels natural to continue the Albarn discussion). I think Damon has said as much himself that "On Your Own" is pretty much the unofficial first Gorillaz song, but there's a pretty strong argument to be made that this is the album where the seeds of Gorillaz were born.

I flip-flop a lot on what I'd actually consider to be my favorite Blur album, and because they have such a varied discography, I think it's one of those things where it really depends on the mood I'm in. This being such a transitional album for the band, and essentially the moment where one of the posterboys of the 90s Britpop hype announced their intent to kill the genre and never look back (the same year the other posterboys blew themselves up in a tornado of cocaine and ego), I think makes this a particularly interesting album. It's not as alienating as 13, but in a way, I feel like they intended it to be. 13 strikes me as a very genuine expression of where they were emotionally and artistically as a band at the time; they didn't really care if it appealed to a mainstream audience or not. With this one, they knew full and well what they were doing and just committed to the bit 100%, right down to having it be a self-titled album, as if to announce to the world that, yes, this is the new us, and if you don't like it, there's the door. That the record everyone around them thought would be career suicide ended up being the one that finally broke them through in America (albeit mostly only for one song) is of course a nice little bit of irony.
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I also think Graeme Coxon deserves a lot more credit for the sonic directiom of this album than he gets. The Great Escape was a bit of a mess that really imploded Britpop blur in much the same way as This Is Hardcore, Be Here Now and the genius of OK Computer moving past it did for the genre as a whole two years later. Graeme in particular hated the previous album and had been fascinated with US lofi for years. His pushing of this direction combined with Damon’s inability to write something without a hook kinda makes this what it is. You‘re So Great is also a song I just love. This is probably my second favorite blur album after Modern Life Is Rubbish.
 
Joe Mac said:
I also think Graeme Coxon deserves a lot more credit for the sonic directiom of this album than he gets. The Great Escape was a bit of a mess that really imploded Britpop blur in much the same way as This Is Hardcore, Be Here Now and the genius of OK Computer moving past it did for the genre as a whole two years later. Graeme in particular hated the previous album and had been fascinated with US lofi for years. His pushing of this direction combined with Damon’s inability to write something without a hook kinda makes this what it is. You‘re So Great is also a song I just love. This is probably my second favorite blur album after Modern Life Is Rubbish.
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I think that's spot on. I wanted to talk more about the actual music in my original post but was on a time crunch lol. As much as I praise Damon, Blur isn't really Blur without Graham and this is one of those albums that's a testament to that. And I'm a pretty big defender of Think Tank too, yet I acknowledge it's really more of a Damon solo show backed by Alex & Dave than a true "band" effort. Without Graham, there's just something missing from the Blur equation, which I think Damon himself realized while trying to make a Blur album without him if some of the lyrics of "Sweet Song" are anything to go off:
 
gaporter said:
I think that's spot on. I wanted to talk more about the actual music in my original post but was on a time crunch lol. As much as I praise Damon, Blur isn't really Blur without Graham and this is one of those albums that's a testament to that. And I'm a pretty big defender of Think Tank too, yet I acknowledge it's really more of a Damon solo show backed by Alex & Dave than a true "band" effort. Without Graham, there's just something missing from the Blur equation, which I think Damon himself realized while trying to make a Blur album without him if some of the lyrics of "Sweet Song" are anything to go off:
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Yes. I like that album too but equally my favourite thing on it is Graeme’s guitar line on Battery In Your Leg, his sole contribution to the album. It does feel a bit too much like a lot of the other side projects Damon was involved in around the time.

I do think it was written before Graeme left though. My understanding is that he actually went down to Mali for the initial recording sessions but was at the sharp end of his alcoholism, was incredibly surly towards everyone and was pretty openly dismissive and rude about Norman Cox producing while he was present.
 
Lee Newman said:
I don’t care if it’s uncool, love this fucking record.
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This record can never be uncool, only the listener can be uncool.

Top shelf songwriting and playing. An all-time essential record illustrating the absolute genius of Pete Townshend.

This raw footage from Jeff Stein's documentary 'The Kids Are Alright' is a sublime representation of the power of this record.

The last time Keith Moon played live with the band. Love how Pete kisses Keith on the cheek at the end of this song...

 
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Lee Newman said:
www.rollingstone.com

Who's Next

Check out our album review of Artist's Who's Next on Rolling Stone.com.
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
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I won't retell my story of spending 40yrs trying to find a good sounding version of this record.

I saw The Kid Are Alright in the fall of 1979 and that was also the first time I heard Who's Next. It set me on a music trajectory ever since.

5/5
 
Lee Newman said:
2/20/24
View attachment 195677
The Vines - Highly Evolved



www.allmusic.com

Highly Evolved - The Vines | Album | AllMusic

Highly Evolved by The Vines released in 2002. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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They were one of the “The” of the early 00s. Along with The Strokes, The Hives, and The White Stripes. They were by far the greatest beneficiaries of the corporate tastemakers hype that was grouped all these bands together. according the Meet Me In The Bathroom, the lead singer was a giant weirdo (he was autistic so he had a bit of an excuse) this album is fine but nothing really sticks out beyond the hit single “Get Free” yet the NME hype machine around this band was immense. They were even Rolling Stone magazine cover boys when that still marginally meant something.
 
Lee Newman said:
2/20/24
View attachment 195677
The Vines - Highly Evolved



www.allmusic.com

Highly Evolved - The Vines | Album | AllMusic

Highly Evolved by The Vines released in 2002. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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NME hype band.

Made them out to be The Beatles crossed with Nirvana. They weren’t. Divorved from that hype this is ok, couple of tunes but nothing special. Get Free and Outtathaway were kinda enjoyable to shout along to.

They disappeared quick sharp after this albums cycle.
 
I (vaguely) remember The Vines. I even think I went to one of their shows back then, although I can't tell for certain as my mid-twenties university years are a bit of a blur and I went to rock clubs and concerts every other week or so. This was also when everybody was looking for "The new The Strokes!!!" and these guys were one of many hyped up, garage-y rock bands from this era that came along with much fanfare, but then faded away pretty quickly.

Well, this is ok I guess, although kinda samey and unoriginal. I do remember "Get Free" as a fun shout-a-long tune back in the day, and I dig the guitar sound on some of the songs.

But looking at their contemporaries, The Hives had cooler riffs and delivered them with more verve and swagger, The Strokes and White Stripes had more memorable tunes and there were a plethora of bands that made greater noise. This is pretty average on all accounts and therefore a bit derivative and meaningless in my book.
 
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