A few random thoughts about 13, 23 years old today apparently

[John_d]

or indeed the F Scott Fitzgerald novel.

I've always wondered if damon read the novel and took inspiration from it, he probably did because the book is about a woman with mental health problems and the lyrics of tender fit so well

(same thing with "sing" and the baby scene from trainspotting, it feels like it was written for the movie "if the child is in your head if the child is dead"

I'm sure Damon's read Fitzgerald. I don't recall him ever mentioning it, but he's been highly complimentary about a number of 20th century writers (often modernists): Amis, Calvino, Hesse, Coupland, Rilke, Salinger, Kureishi etc.

Things I've read after they've been mentioned by Damon are JG Ballard, The Grifters, Herman Hesse and obvs London Fields. I haven't seen him mention Calvino, Coupland, Rilke, Salinger, Kureishi - is there a reference - just because I'd like to see him talking about books. Of these authors, off the top of my head I've read The Catcher in the Rye, Generation X, and The Black Album.

On a related theme - I got some of these after seeing them mentioned https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowi ... ooks-list/

I had read some of the "famous" ones already e.g. A Clockwork Orange. I specifically got White Noise and Hawksmoor the next day. Found them both a wee bit challenging. Maybe you shouldn't always read your musical heroes fave books

[jonathas]

Here he is on The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino (from a Guardian 'cultural highlights' piece).

"This is a really interesting book about a child who decides to leave his family and live in the trees for the rest of his life. Maybe it’s a metaphor for individualism, I don’t know, but it’s a very weird book and I do like Calvino’s writing. I don’t generally read that much fiction. I could have chosen a hundred different nonfiction books, but this is one of the few novels I’ve stayed with recently. Calvino is a singular author. His book Invisible Cities had a big effect on me when I was younger."

He said that Generation X by Douglas Coupland: “was a really big influence on me when we were recording Modern Life Is Rubbish”. And the Rilke he admired was Duino Elegies.

I've seen a full list of quotes somewhere, will see if I can dig it out.

[daii]

Things I've read after they've been mentioned by Damon are JG Ballard, The Grifters, Herman Hesse and obvs London Fields. I haven't seen him mention Calvino, Coupland, Rilke, Salinger, Kureishi - is there a reference - just because I'd like to see him talking about books. Of these authors, off the top of my head I've read The Catcher in the Rye, Generation X, and The Black Album.

he likes Calvino! he picked one of his books for The Observer:

"The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
This is a really interesting book about a child who decides to leave his family and live in the trees for the rest of his life. Maybe it’s a metaphor for individualism, I don’t know, but it’s a very weird book and I do like Calvino’s writing. I don’t generally read that much fiction. I could have chosen a hundred different nonfiction books, but this is one of the few novels I’ve stayed with recently. Calvino is a singular author. His book Invisible Cities had a big effect on me when I was younger." https://damonalbarnunofficial.wordpress ... mber-2021/

[Themongoose87]

13 is my very close 2nd favourite album behind MLIR. I like Tender (to a point) but it is very un blur like and doesn't represent the direction of the album. Bugman is brilliant as a lo-fi distorted banger. Swamp song could well have been a single, trimm trabb should have been, battle and caramel are songs a band like radiohead (as much as I like them wish they could make. NDLTR should never have been a single.

[stephen]

I agree with that, the album's single(s) don't represent the album. I think there was pressure from the label to create at least 3 'radio' friendly singles..I believe...which is why we got tender / coffee and tv / NDLTR. Correct me if i'm wrong. All 3 songs pretty different from the other album tracks. Trailerpark of course was going to be a south park track...which I still to do this day can't work out how that would have played out . Bugman could have been a single..there must have been something there as I've got the single on vinyl. And I think trimm trabb could have been a single too, but I think they probably weren't radio friendly enough. I dunno, I think the 3 that were picked were probably the right choice, commercial imho. Not to say that they were/are the better tracks

[John_d]

Tender was deliberately supposed to sound different. But poppy. There's a quote from William Orbit to the effect that "Robbie Williams will be doing this next year". NDLTR does seem like a bit of an odd single choice. Should probably have been Trimm Trabb but I assume the climax was judged too noisy for radio. Coffee & TV is just a great Blur song and wasn't written to order - Graham overhauled an existing tune. So it's different than for example Chemical World, which I've never really liked that much, and to me sounds like someone straining to write more commercially - and I think the band probably see Chemical World the same way.

Tender was indeed a genuinely big hit and makes it into the top 40 selling singles of the year in 1999 (at #39 ) https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-ne ... 99__33647/

13 ended the year at number 43 https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/e ... 110/37502/

[jonathas]

I think Tender is an absolutely essential part of the record - that song and NDLTR bookend the album and they are two moments of glittering and lacerating honesty from Damon. The rest of the record is much more elliptical, reflecting the chaos and improvisation of the music. Tender and Beetlebum are both extraordinary first-singles/first-tracks, because they provide context, let the listener/reader in to records which need repeat listens.

I will say, however, that I always felt that the gospel readings in the second half, accentuated in life performances, just made it hard to see beyond Spiritualized's Cool Waves, its obvious inspiration.

[Moritz]

The three chosen singles are propably the best examples of songwriting from this album. I agree that a song like Bugman would have been an interesting choice just to light up the diversity of the LP. But I can not image any commercial radio station could play it and at it's whole the song is not the best one. Just see what they did with songs like Crazy Beat a few years later.

But in general the 3-single-concept does not realy work out for 13 at all. 1992 (for me the album's Sing), BLUREMI (a relative to Coping, Globe Alone and Chinese Bombs) or Mellow Song are good tunes but nothing with the quality of a single. Don't get me wrong but 13 has always been one of my less loved Blur records because of it's lack of outstanding songwriting. Even the record is said to be more about emotions with a darker mode it is all about producing skills, experimental sounds and noise (?) to me. We've got the same ingredients like on the other albums: there are acoustic guitars, two good stand out singles and the punk/experiemntal breakouts. But the potential of all this was not used, so the demo for I Got Law was always the example that they could have make out more of it. A good and concentrated use of electro would have been a bigger advance.

[baxter]

yeah my thoughts in 1999 on 13 were that they had no real songs. They had jams, some noodling, and were clearly trying to avoid obvious pop songwriting. But they had no real melodies or inspiration. I ended up loving the album, but it was something of a struggle. My favourite Blur album up to that was MLIR, but I loved all of them.

Think Tank had better songs, but more cringeworthy moments (Brothers and Sisters is desperately naff to me).

[Casual Observer]

Take out coffee and TV. Listen to it with the lights out and no bugger bothering you, and it's near perfect, methinks.

[jonathas]

Does anyone think Damon has gone into the studio with finished songs since the self-titled record? Maybe the first GTBTQ record, but apart from that I feel like everything was either done at home, so no studio time required (Gorillaz) or worked out there and then. Not just 13 but Think Tank too. Listen back to that now and only Out of Time, Sweet Song, Battery In Your Leg and maybe Good Song sound like they existed as anything more than v rough home demos. I think BLUR was the last time Damon went into an album with a sense of the tracklisting done in advance.

[stephen]

Does anyone think Damon has gone into the studio with finished songs since the self-titled record? Maybe the first GTBTQ record, but apart from that I feel like everything was either done at home, so no studio time required (Gorillaz) or worked out there and then. Not just 13 but Think Tank too. Listen back to that now and only Out of Time, Sweet Song, Battery In Your Leg and maybe Good Song sound like they existed as anything more than v rough home demos. I think BLUR was the last time Damon went into an album with a sense of the tracklisting done in advance.

I'm no artists but I think those days are long gone...you're talking about demo's being pretty much the finished article apart from making them studio quality? I don't think anyone records like that anymore

[jonathas]

No, I just mean a sense of having songs largely completed. Going into the album record knowing you have, say, 8-9 specific songs that you intend to include, rather than going in with a big pot of half-ideas and formulating them into songs when you get there.

[dparrott]

Mellow Song and Trailerpark should have been b-sides imo. The quality of their album tracks took a hit on this and Think Tank.

[dparrott]

so the demo for I Got Law was always the example that they could have make out more of it. A good and concentrated use of electro would have been a bigger advance.

I always thought I Got Law was one of the best tracks on the album that's not a good thing.