my name is mwd

Been a while since I put any album notes up here, so here’s a few I’ve had on the go.

First up is Get Behind Me Satan, the latest White Stripes album. Being a big fan of their previous album Elephant, I was eager to get my hands on this. I have to confess that at first I wasn’t impressed, but now it’s grown on me. It certainly isn’t, IMHO, as good as Elephant - it lacks the diversity or the richness of its predecessor. But, it has got some really good tracks - the opener Blue Orchard is clearly from the same stable as Seven Nation Army, and My Doorbell is a nice pacey number too. Take Take Take has some great lyrics, as does Little Ghost. But at some points, although the rawness of White Stripes is part of the chard, occasionally it jars - I personally think The Nurse is let down a bit by some over the top smashy drums/guitar at points. And although I do like the album now, and listen to it regularly, there’s nothing to top the majesty of the bluesy later half of Elephant that starts with the excellent Ball and a Biscuit. Overall a good album, you just might need to give it a bit of time if you know Elephant quite well.

Here’s another album that took a while to grow on me, but unlike GBMS, I now think of this album as better than its predecessor. Demon Days is the Gorillaz second album, and is a much more mature work. I originally got the first Gorillaz album on the back of liking Damon Alburn’s Blur work, and having heard the single Clint Eastwood, but eventually I came to like it more for it’s Hip Hop bouncy tracks - 19/2000 and Rock Da House. That album also reminded me of most blur albums - a few true gems in a sea of things that you tend to forget the name to - good songs, but not great enough for you to remember their title. Anyway, when I first got Demon Days I was disappointed that there were no new songs in teh style of 19/2000 etc., but a few listens later and I now prefer the new album. It’s a lot more consistent in quality and style. It is more clearly a Damon Alburn album than the last one, with less mixture, but there’s still a good helping of hip-hop in there too. The highlight of the album though has to be Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head - a tale narrated by Dennis Hopper over a beat/chorus with acoustic choruses - really well done. In addition DARE is a pastish of Sissor Sisters that works really well. in the end I think this is the better Gorillaz album.

Finally we have another Blur offshoot - Happiness In Magazines by Graham Coxon - the ex-blur guitarist. His guitar work is very good - although Blur’s first post-coxon album was good, I do think they were better with Coxon in the band with his unique style of messed up playing. Coxon’s first album (before he left Blur) was a bit, erm, how can I put this, experimental. It’s not bad, but not something that suits casual listening. I’m pleased to note that he’s calmed down a bit with his latest album. At times it’s clear that Blur’s Coffee & TV was a template for Coxon spreading his wings - tracks like Bittersweet Bundle of Misery on the new album have a near identical sound (but that’s no bad thing!). Freakin’ Out is more raw guitar work that harks back to Coxon’s earlier solo work, but a lot more friendly to the casual ear. It to has some fun messed up moments - People Of The Earth being a particularly amusing look at how naff life might be. Overall I still think Coxon was best placed in the framework of Blur, but this album shows he can do the pop thing on his own.

I think that’s it for now…