Magic Whip

Product Information

Geslani, Michelle (18 April 2015). "Blur shares new song 'My Terracotta Heart' ". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved 15 May 2015.

Sinclair, Mark (17 March 2015). "The Magic Whip – the making of Blur's new album cover". Creative Review. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015 . Retrieved 3 May 2015.Unterberger, Andrew (28 April 2015). "Blur, 'The Magic Whip' (Parlophone)". Spin . Retrieved 28 April 2015. Following the commercial and critical success of their third album ‘Parklife’ (more that one in a bit) was always going to be a tough ask. The 1994 release turned Blur into one of the biggest bands of the 90s. Albarn and co were all over the British tabloids, who loved to pit the band against Oasis in the “Battle Of Britpop”, and the pressure was on to convert the try. While many dismiss ‘The Great Escape’ as a poppier 'Parklife Pt.2', the funny storytelling, terrific riffs and catchy tunes are a rather perfect distillation of the band’s sound. Graham Coxon’s guitars have never sounded better, especially when paired with Alex James’ base-line, and the singles ‘Stereotypes’, ‘Charmless Man’ and, of course, ‘Country House’ (the song that lead them to win the charts stand-off against Oasis), all shine. But it’s ‘Mr. Robinson’s Quango’ and ‘The Universal’ which steal the show, proving that Blur weren’t just about enjoyable pop songs. There is a widescreen ambition on show here that proved at the time that Blur were just getting started and weren’t going to live and die with the Britpop movement. B3. Recorded by [...] at Studio 13 London + Avon Studios Hong Kong, additional recording [...] at the Bunker@Miloco and Assault And Battery II Kreps, Daniel. "Watch Blur Go 8-Bit in Zany "Ong Ong" Video". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 10 October 2015.

a b Thorpe, Vanessa (1 March 2015). "Graham Coxon on the Blur reunion: 'Pop doesn't have to be a fleeting thing' ". The Guardian . Retrieved 11 May 2015. D2. Recorded by [...] at Studio 13 London + Avon Studios Hong Kong, additional recording [...] at the Bunker@Miloco and Assault And Battery II Payne, Chris (2 April 2015). "Join a Magic Line Dancing Crew For Blur's New 'Lonesome Street' Video". Billboard . Retrieved 15 May 2015.Blur from 1997 is a superb album along with MLIR, Parklife and TGE. 13 is a bit muddled as the songs get lost in William Orbits dense production.

Monroe, Jazz. "Blur Collage Tons of Fan Movies for 'I Broadcast' Video". Pitchfork . Retrieved 10 October 2015.

Credits

There are two sides to Blur’s sporadic reunions. There are the live shows – Glastonbury in 2009, a trawl around the world’s festivals in 2012, a global arena tour in 2015, an unexpected one-off performance at one of Damon Albarn’s Africa Express events in 2019 – which are reliably rapturously received: a chance, as Graham Coxon recently put it to “revisit all those great songs”, complete with a distinct emotional charge driven by nostalgia and the evidence that the once-fractured relationships within the band have been mended. And then there is the issue of recording and releasing new material. Offiziellecharts.de – Blur – The Magic Whip" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 23 February 2021. I like to imagine everyone in Blur was sitting around a room, and after a long silence of watching everyone else coming out with albums, without saying anything, they all stood up, walked in unison to the recording studio in the next room and hit record. They had never turned off their creativity, just left it unplugged for 12 years.