Music for Monday

On and off of late I've had people increasingly asking me about what I listen to, or impressed by the size of my music library (about 250GB and always growing), or just expressing boredom with what they're listening to and looking for something new. It occurred to me to try something new, to try highlighting some of the things I like and that others might as well. I've no idea if this will work or not. The goal at this point is to mention a song, album, or band I like and provide a legal link to a sample. Officially I'm all about legal samples.

Since I needed to pick something to start with, I'm starting with Blur's 'The Great Escape' album. Check out some streaming audio: http://www.last.fm/music/Blur/The+Great+Escape

Now, you might be going 'Blur...Blur... why do I know that name?' You might be remembering 'Song 2', which is on every sports compilation since it was made; you know, the 'woo-hoo!' song? Lead singer Damon is also the lead singer for the Gorillaz.

Why do I like this album in particular? The songs don't all sound the same from one to the next. There's an range of styles, an experimentation going on, yet, there's a familiar quality to the sound, making it more accessible. The album varies between slow songs, fast songs, silly sounding songs, serious pondering songs, simple good-natured guitar rockers, string lead swooping orchestration, electro-pop. The lyrics are biting, sounding sweet, but have an edge the more you listen to them.

Cheerful sounding 'Country House' with its silly, Benny Hill like video, tells a story of a rich man in a comfortable house that can't understand why he's not happy. 'Charmless Man' tells the story of a stuck-up fella, the rich privileged type, explaining how irritating and fake the man and his friends are in their actions. The energetic music, combined with the 'na, na, na, na' chorus, gives the song the sound of a schoolkid's revenge.

There are quieter songs as well. 'Best Days' sounds like nostalgia for now, or at least the now of when the album was released. People would laugh at you if you said these were the best days of your life, the song notes, seeming to ask if you might be right. Is that good or bad? I'm still not sure I know what 'The Universal' is all about. I love the orchestration and get distracted by the 'A Clockwork Orange' styling of the video.

Is it the greatest album ever? No but it's my favorite Blur album to date. It hails from the age when I would still listen to albums beginning to end. It was the sort of album where I didn't have to skip boring songs because there weren't any.

That's just my opinion. Listen and see what you think.