thu 12/12/2024

CD: Graham Coxon – A+E | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Graham Coxon – A+E

CD: Graham Coxon – A+E

Blur guitarist puts in his application to join the Itchy and Scratchy Show

A right old Coxon Knees Up: Partying like it's 1994

Not sure about the title. Is it inspired by the place Graham Coxon used to finish up in each night during his drinking years? Not sure about the cover. Who wants to see a scabby knee? But there are no quibbles about the music. While Damon Albarn continues to scour the global undergrowth for inspiration like a musicological David Bellamy, Graham Coxon goes back to scratchy alt-punk, lobbing in some alto sax jazz noodling for good measure.

Things kick off briskly, with the itchy "Advice" reflecting on boredom past: ”I wrote a new song while I was touring/ Man it was no fun, totally boring”. There is no tedium on this album though. Each rapid-fire track is a mini-masterpiece. The high point is "Meet + Drink + Pollinate", a wry assessment of brutish British binge culture which starts with a rumbling one-fingered Joy Division bassline and climaxes in the aforementioned jazzy wig-out, turning what could have been "Girls & Boys" revisited into a deliciously alien beauty.

Elsewhere "City Hall" blends hooky American new wave and Teutonic electronics before the angular Gang of Four riffing of the current single "What'll It Take" gets utterly under your skin. "Running for Your Life" sounds like Coxon is having a pop at the old Albarn/Gallagher North v South pseudo-feud with the faux-menacing chorus: "Get back down the M1 'cos we don't like you".

The stripy-shirted strummer has released eight, yes, eight solo albums and A+E may just be the best since his first, 1998's The Sky is Too High. It will certainly appeal to anyone who enjoyed the hectic, raucous rock-pop aspect of Blur's 13. It is fresh, feisty and funny, with Coxon’s estuary English giving Damon Albarn a run for his mockney money. Maybe the title stands for Artistry plus Excellence.

Follow @brucedes on Twitter

Watch Graham Coxon perform "Freakin' Out"

It will certainly appeal to anyone who enjoyed the hectic, raucous rock-pop aspect of Blur

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters