OFF: Blur vs Porcupine Tree (was: Re: HW:Calvert influences)

[Jon Jarrett]

On Fri, 7 Sep 2001, Nick Medford wrote:

> In message <B7BE7422.44DA%blackblade at bhalligan.com>, Brian Halligan
> <blackblade at BHALLIGAN.COM> writes
> >
> >Ditto for Blur, though I like a few of their songs.
>
> I suspect their last two albums of being quite good, from what I've heard.
> Gotta admit though, I gag a bit at the thought of buying any of their stuff.
> Possibly I'm missing out.

        I genuinely think their self-titled to be a fine little psych
album. Their guitarist has a very surreal approach. Once you get it on
headphones you realise that though the song stuctures make them sound
relatively normal there isn't one that's not drenched in fuzz, delay,
reverb, or something. Not a damn one plays straight. I got it about the
same time as Porcupine Tree's _Lightbulb Sun_ and was profoundly
disappointed to find the the Britpop darlings were more psychedelic than
Steven Wilson, great guru of 90s psychedelic prog. I remember Jon Browne
enthusiastically endorsing their _13_ when it came out too, unless it was
someone else, and he's a Strawberry Alarm Clock collector, so! :-) Their
early stuf is fairly honest pop with a faint Small Faces eye-eye-we're-
all-Cockknees-oh-yus-guv'nor tinge, and then when that started working in
the charts they very wisely sold out to the hilt with _Parklife_ and now
they can do what they want for the next few years. Good move I call it,
and I believe it's what Steven Wilson has been trying to do on Snapper
with PT but he doesn't have the talent for pop songs so it hasn't
worked. Blur far from the only band to do this though. I like the last two
Blur albums a great deal and see them as the results of a good plan come
to fruition. Yours,
                    Jon

ObCD: Wool - _Box Set_
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                Jonathan Jarrett          01223 514989
                     jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
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                "Wilhelm Reich died for your sins"  (ST37)