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Post  misery guts Sat Aug 20, 2016 7:44 am

Colchester's finest, formed in the late 1980s as Seymour, but happily renamed for their 1991 debut LP Leisure. They went on to score a couple of #1 singles (and a few albums) before disbanding in 2003. They reformed first to produce a track for the 2012 Olympiad, and then managed to knock out a whole brand new LP during a short few days together. They have a great back catalogue, and I think I might have all their albums. Here's a handful of their works:

There's No Other Way

Girls and Boys

Beetlebum

Tender

Out Of Time

Twisted Evil
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Post  misery guts Mon Aug 22, 2016 8:24 am

Blur: The Singles Night
A one-off gig from 1999, purportedly playing all their singles in order, though they skipped rather a lot of them actually. Mind, they did have Phil Daniels on hand for Parklife, which was a neat touch.

Blur - Parklive
From Hyde Park in 2012, a concert for the end of the Olympic Games, and featuring a wide choice of hits, as well as newie 'Under the Westway'. They managed to get Phil Daniels on hand for 'Parklife', and Harry Enfield pratted about in drag during the same number. A good show, Alex James' laconic style contrasts with his hyper colleagues.
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Post  misery guts Mon Aug 22, 2016 8:32 am

Discovering: Blur
The usual story, from their early striving for a sound and direction, through the Britpop war, to the evolution of their sound, and eventual decline.

Blur at Glastonbury 2009
From Sunday on the Pyramid Stage, a breezy run-through the predictable, from 'Girls and Boys', to 'The Universal'. One surprise was 'Advert', from MLIR. Phil Daniels was present and correct for 'Parklife', too. They seem to have endured after all.
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Post  misery guts Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:10 am

Blur: New World Towers
The story of The Magic Whip album, how their reformation for the 2012 London Olympics led to a world tour, which led them to Hong Kong, where they were stuck between gigs for 5 days and decided to work on new material. Cut to 18 months later, where Alex wonders ruefully whether it was all for nothing, when Graham decides to take the lead in knocking the material into shape, with producer Stephen Street. Since Graham was the one to leave first originally, this was viewed as a welcome surprise, and Damon was delighted to have to come up with lyrics, many of which came from their HK hiatus, and also his feelings about the band. This is all spliced with performance from a gig at Hyde Park, and Damon talking about the emotional experience of gigging. Will there be another album? Does there need to be? Time will etc
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Post  misery guts Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:50 am

The South Bank Show Originals: Blur
Melvyn checked in on Colchester's finest back in 1999, and all 4 members had some useful stuff to say, most obviously Damon. Damon met Graham, at the school where he failed A Level Music. Graham met Dave through drinking in local pubs. Alex met Graham at College. And so on. There was discussion of Britpop and the notorious Blur v Oasis debate which Damon clearly regretted being part of. Given what lay in their future (Graham leaving, for one), this was a well-timed show, and a nice repeat.
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Post  misery guts Sat May 13, 2017 1:26 am

Drummer Dave Rowntree took part in last week's local council elections, and was elected for the University ward of Norfolk County Council Exclamation
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Post  misery guts Wed Jul 26, 2017 7:14 am

Bit of a Blur, by Alex James
The bass player wrote his autobiography a while back, and a pretty decent read it is, too. He was the party animal of the band, and covers his many adventures, projects, Blur albums, involvement with the failed Beagle Mars lander, flying and more with verve and spirit. His settling down with his wife and a farm has led to his partial reinvention as a cheese producer, which I gather he dealt with in a follow-up volume. But this one was worthwhile.
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Post  misery guts Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:40 am

Weekend - 20/8/17
Aled Jones first spoke to Martine McCutcheon, whose new album is out this week, and is her first for 18 years. She wrote it during the past 8 years and is a personal project having suffered with ME and Lyme Disease. She feels proud of being 41 and is touring. She started in the business aged 11 and was signed to Polydor at the age of 14, but the girlband she was part of, Milan, died a death. She did get a solo #1 with Perfect Moment in 1999. She sang "Say I'm Not Alone" from the new album, and covered "Every Breath You Take".
Aled's other significant guest was Alex James, plugging his Feastival, in its 6 year and running next weekend I guess. But there's no plans for more work with Blur, mainly because the individual guys are all busy on other things.
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Post  misery guts Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:38 am

The Culture Show: Damon Albarn Solo
The frontman of Blur is pushing his imminent opus 'Everyday Robots', and this cheery half-hour saw him return to childhood haunts which have inspired much of the album. He seemed to feel upset about some of it, which didn't inspire sympathy. Also pretty sure he's released solo work before.
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Post  misery guts Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:52 am

Blur/Oasis: The Britpop Years
A French-backed documentary vaguely looking at what fed the rise in Britpop, how it peaked with the singles clash between Blur and Oasis, and what went wrong soon after that. Alan McGee and Stephen Street were among the few relevant voices interviewed, but archive of the Gallaghers helped round out the story. The longer-term story of the two bands is more complex than is considered by shows like this, however entertaining.
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Post  misery guts Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:18 am

The Britpop Story - It really, really, really could happen
John Harris needed only half an hour to relive the short golden age of Britpop, in which he slagged off shoegazing bands for being unambitious, yet also clearly disgusted with Oasis who were very ambitious indeed. Blur's Graham Coxon was typically level-headed about the silliness of the spat with Oasis, and the overall movement, whilst Justine Frischmann talked about Suede, and Louise Wener cheerfully backed up John's general attitude.
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Post  misery guts Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:35 am

misery guts wrote:Blur at Glastonbury 2009
From Sunday on the Pyramid Stage, a breezy run-through the predictable, from 'Girls and Boys', to 'The Universal'. One surprise was 'Advert', from MLIR. Phil Daniels was present and correct for 'Parklife', too. They seem to have endured after all.
The Glastonbury Experience: Blur @ 2009
Another of these short extract shows, this time covering Song 2 (with a long intro), For Tomorrow and inevitably The Universal.
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Post  misery guts Fri Apr 15, 2022 7:28 am

The Piano - A Love Affair
Writer Alexander Waugh discusses his love for the piano, and talks to others about it, like Jools Holland, in this 2006 piece. He tries to teach (or re-teach) a friend in 3 lessons, and shows disdain for her preferences for Keane and Coldplay. Gamely, he talks to Damon Albarn as an example of a rocker whom Waugh saw as disparaging the craft of the piano. Albarn of course is quite skilled on the piano and more on Waugh's wavelength than expected. Waugh pushes it, though, as though Albarn might somehow become a full-on classical pianist after all. Albarn demurs.

Top of the Pops - Blur
A compilation of 10 performances, from 1998, running from There's No Other Way to Beetlebum.
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Post  misery guts Thu Apr 21, 2022 6:46 am

Rock Friendly Trees: The Birth of Cool Britannia
A familiar story, here focusing on Suede, Blur and Elastica really. Brett and Mat of Suede were happy contributors, but there wasn't really anyone from Blur. They did get Justine from Elastica to talk though, which must count as justifying the whole programme. It's not hard to deduce Blur would have been better off if they'd never been gulled into feuding with Oasis.
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Post  misery guts Wed Oct 05, 2022 6:56 am

Damon Albarn: Blur, Gorillaz & Other Fables, by Martin Roach & David Nolan (2006)
Billed pompously as the "first and only" biography of the Blur frontman, it also admits to be culled from an author's previous book on Blur. The albums are flatteringly judged, Oasis rate about as much cross-coverage as Suede, and they conclude that Blur shouldn't reform. They did, though.
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Post  misery guts Fri Jun 02, 2023 7:52 am

Read that they were doing some sort of "homecoming" gig this summer, but was still surprised at the news of an imminent new album, The Ballad Of Darren, due for release soon.
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Post  misery guts Sat Jul 08, 2023 8:03 am

With the album only a few weeks off, they've been beset by an injury crisis to Dave Rowntree. They cancelled a festival appearance in France, but still hope to fulfil big Wembley gig commitments this weekend:

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/blur-dave-rowntree-injury-update-ahead-of-wembley-shows/

Shocked
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Post  misery guts Fri Aug 04, 2023 7:57 am

BBC Radio 2 - In Concert - Blur
Jo Whiley introduced them at the BBC Radio Theatre in Maida Vale, to an appreciative audience. They did a few tracks from the new album, and brought Phil Daniels on for Parklife. A lively crowd and a happy band.

The new album went to #1 last week  cheers
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