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'Difficult' new Blur LP
track-by-track
Exclusive: NME previews 'Think Tank', the band's
first album since the departure of Graham Coxon.
 the pressure
couldn't be greater on Blur's new album,
'Think Tank'. Recorded throughout
last year in London and Morocco, it's their
first since guitarist Graham Coxon was
controversially ousted, and the first since Damon Albarn's
mammoth solo success with his Gorillaz
project.
Coxon's departure was surrounded by
ill-feeling and he voiced his disillusionment with Blur
in several interviews. The fans, meanwhile, were left
wondering exactly what the future would hold, and the new
material was awaited with nervous anticipation. There was
wild speculation as to whether Coxon's guitar parts would
be dropped entirely, whether the band would veer into
electronica and what influence producer Norman
Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) would
exert.
Now those questions can be answered. NME
has obtained an unmastered early version of the band's
forthcoming album and presents this world exclusive
track-by-track of 'Think Tank', due to be released on May
5.
The first single to be taken off the
album, 'Out Of Time', is scheduled for release on April
14.
Blur, now augmented by former Verve
guitarist Simon Tong, will play the
London WC2 Astoria on May 8, 9, 10 and 12. Tickets are
priced £20.
AMBULANCE
The electronic dub
influence of Damon's side-project Gorillaz is immediately
obvious in the drum loops and fat bass. Starts brooding
with plaintive vocals but lifts to a funky electronic
stomp.
Sample lyric:
"I ain't got nothing to be scared of/'Cos I love
you/I was born out of love/It's the only way to come into
this world"
OUT OF TIME
Plays much like a stripped
down, more acoustic version of 'To The End' from Blur's
'Parklife'. Damon laments another relationship breaking
down before pausing for a Spanish-influenced guitar solo.
Sample lyric: "You've been so
busy lately that you haven't found the time to open up
your mind/And watch the world spinning gently out of
time"
CRAZY BEAT
One of the two tracks
produced by Norman Cook, 'Crazy Beat' opens with a
trademark Fatboy Slim drum loop and squelchy vocal sample
before exploding into distorted guitars and a classic
damon pop hook. Easily Blur's finest moment since 'Song
2'. It's a guaranteed dancefloor filler and rumoured to
be a summer single release.
Sample lyric: "But I love to
hear that crazy beat/'Cos it keeps me dancing on my
feet/I love to live in paradise/I love my sister and I
love her tonight/Ooh!"
GOOD SONG
Another ballad, this time
with a music box-like acoustic guitar loop providing the
background to Damons 'little boy lost' lyrics and rousing
backing vocals.
Sample lyric: "Sleeping but my
work's not done/I could be lying on an atom bomb/I take
care 'cos I know you'll be there/You seem very beautiful
to me"
ON THE WAY TO
THE CLUB
Perhaps showing the
influence of Damon's hanging out with Massive Attack's
Robert Del Naja, opens with a Massive-style bassline and
intense electronic drums. Very dark and brooding in parts
and unlike anything we've heard from Blur to date.
Sample lyric: "And I just want
to be, darling with you/The music's made that way/My eyes
are blue, there's nothing I can do"
BROTHERS AND
SISTERS
A slow funk groove tinged
with the country and western and gospel themes we heard
on '13'. Damon drops the vocal to a deeper almost
spoken-word ramble and reels off a list of drugs.
Sample lyric: "Brothers and
sisters rebuild your lives/We're all drug takers in the
summer tonight"
CARAVAN
Distorted vocals, lo-fi
guitar, vibraphone and what can only be described as a
strange buzzing sound make up this down beat and
melancholy lament.
Sample lyric: "And when it
comes you'll feel the weight of it/A day will come and
you'll get away from it/Sometimes everything is
easy"
WE'VE GOT A
FILE ON YOU
Precisely 60 seconds of
intense punk thrash, shouting, weird electronic noises
and percussion that sounds like someone hitting an old
tin bucket and probably is.
Sample lyric: "We've got a file
on you/We've got a file on you"
MOROCCAN
PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY BOWLS CLUB
Despite the title being a
reference to some of the album recording taking place in
Morocco, it's not the least bit Moroccan. Instead it's
all bouncy dub basslines, '80's synth and a vocoder
breakdown.
Sample lyric: "The road is hot
and dusty/The desert needs a beer/But if we go and blow
it up then we will disappear"
SWEET SONG
A soft lilting ballad,
with soporific vocals from Damon bobbing alongside a
floating piano riff. A ghostly echo of feedback fades in
and out towards the end.
Sample lyric: "I believe love
is the only one/I deceive there's another strong"
JETS
A low fi plucked guitar
lick which sounds eerily similar to the theme from The
Magic Roundabout is swamped by gallumphing bass
while the one line of lyrics is chanted over and over.
Ends - we kid you not - with a jazz saxophone solo.
Challenging.
Sample lyric: "Jets are like
comets at sunset"
GENE BY GENE
Bouncy, upbeat dub that
kicks off sounding like The Clash. It then has a bit of
an identity crisis, with random guitar twangs, a gospelly
choir on back vocals, electronic twitches and see-sawing
keyboards.
Sample lyric: "Got a radio hit
in mind"
BATTERY IN
YOUR LEG
A mournful ballad that
sounds very like an early Suede ballad, which is ironic
given the past animosity between Damon and Brett
Anderson.
Sample lyric: "This is a ballad
for the good times/So put a battery in your leg"
MORE MYSTERY
TRACKS?
The early version of the
album NME obtained includes three un-numbered
tracks typed onto the tracklisting then Tippexed out. The
first two come before and after Track Eight and are
called 'Radio Interlude' and 'GTR Interlude'. The third
is listed at the end as 'HIDDEN TRACK ME WHITE NOISE'.
At the time of going to press, Blur's
spokesperson could not confirm whether these tracks would
appear on the finished album.
NME'S VERDICT
A challenge to their
established fans and a difficult introduction for those
new to the band, 'Think Tank' is going to take some
getting used to.
Typed up by
Veikko's Blur Page
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