Supergrass: Life On Other Planets (Parlophone/2002)

Supergrass emerged in the mid 1990's as one of the leading lights of the Britpop movement. They had top-ten UK hits with “Alright” (which was also on the Clueless soundtrack), “Lenny” and “Going Out”. Unfortunately, in the time they existed, they never really broke the US market. However, all of the bands albums were critically acclaimed, including their debut I Should Coco and their fourth album Life On Other Planets.

2002's Life On Other Planets is almost an amalgamation of what made the band so wonderful. Guitar-based pop that acknowledges the past while making contemporary, modern statements. Their are traces of the Buzzcocks, T.Rex and The Small Faces throughout the material. I personally think this the band's most cohesive release as the sequencing of the tracks gives the illusion that material came together somewhat organically.

The three commercially released singles “Seen The Light”, “Grace” and “Rush Hour Soul” are only some of the best songs on the record. “Run”, “Za”, “La Song” and “Evening Of The Day” are my personal favorites on the record of all the album tracks. This is the first album where keyboardist Rob Coombes is an official member of the band.

For my money, easily one of the best records of the 2000's. Highly recommended.  

Here's The Video Review:

Blur: Think Tank (Parlophone/2003)

Blur's 2003 album Think Tank was both a personal landmark for it's experimentation as it was a sad, disappointing finale to the band's first part of it's career. It made over a dozen best-album of the year lists yet, it's a far cry from what makes people connect with Blur. Their blend of diverse guitar-based Britpop is as inventive-sounding now as it was popular in the UK then. Guitarist Graham Coxon was fired during the recording of the album and only appears on the sad, but beautiful “Battery In Your Leg”. The album does suffer as a result of his absence.

The singles were “Out Of Time”,“Crazy Beat” and “Good Song”. “Out Of Time” is one of the band's best ballads and it remains the lone long from the album that the band still regularly performs live. “Crazy Beat” is a Fatboy Slim-produced song and sounds like a stab at writing something along the lines of “Song 2”, but doesn’t really register. “Good Song” is in fact a good song. It has a sweet, poignant melody and is a stand-out on the album. A good amount of the album are murky, low-key grooves that work some of the time (namely on “Ambulance” and “On The Way To The Club”. There are some throwaways (“We've Got A File On You” and “Jets”) and some worthwhile moments (“Sweet Song” and “Battery In Your Leg”).

Think Tank is not a great starting place to discover who Blur is (that would be Best Of Blur, The Great Escape and Modern Life Is Rubbish). And lead singer Damon Albarn and bassist Alex James have since someone disowned the album. However it is an interesting experimental album that does work at least some of the time.

Here's the video review:

Special Thanks: Rebecca Parker.