Review Summary: For Tomorrow: A Guide to Contemporary British Music, 1988-2013 (Part 65)
After watching his band stripped of its original intentions, turned into a boy band, wrestling those intentions back, releasing two albums on your own terms, and still feeling some form of ennui, Graham Coxon left Blur. The official word is that, sometime in 2002, Graham left the band on good terms, but the friction between him and Damon Albarn was so thick by that point that I don’t believe it. Coxon’s ever worsening alcoholism coupled with Albarn still raw over his separation with Justine Frischmann, the two simply exploded away from each other.
But Blur soldiered on without Coxon. Whether out of contractual obligation, the work that had already begun, or spite,
Think Tank was completed and released in 2003. Despite losing one of its key members, Blur once again delivered an album completely unique from what they had previously created yet displayed the influence of their prior records. Where their prior records sculpted out the listlessness of contemporary Britain,
Think Tank banks sharply into Morocco for a smoked out take on… well the same listlessness but the sound is much more exotic this time.
Think Tank sounds like Blur genuinely took the effort to understand Moroccan music and found a way to seamlessly incorporate those influences into their music. The effort pays off wonderfully. Rather than the shameless appropriation of a culture by a group of white guys looking for a new gimmick, it carries the same spark of genuine inspiration as Paul Simon’s
Graceland.
If
Think Tank makes a case for anyone in Blur being the unsung genius, it’s Alex James. His basslines, always incredibly vital to this band’s sound, are what propel
Think Tank along. Always a light touch when needed and never indulgent, his thrumming gently lifts “Good Song” before drenching “On My Way to the Club” in the inky darkness of high alley shadows. Yes, this is still the Damon Albarn Show but what separates this from a Gorillaz album is that modest but essential input James and drummer Dave Rowntree contribute. They know where the spotlight lies and are more than happy to keep things moving behind the scenes.
Blur are in top form throughout
Think Tank but never better than on “Out of Time”. As Albarn laces one of his best melodies through a hypnotic brew of chimes and guitar, your ears strain to the background of the song. “Out of Time” was assembled over a field recording of a Moroccan orchestra and through shrewd editing the recording is synced up to the song but left just enough, well, out of time to make it feel incidental. The result is one of those rare songs that evokes the time and place it was recorded no matter where you listen to it. I’ve never been there but “Out of Time” paints an aural landscape of shadowy Marrakesh streets, a densely packed city giving way to the vast expanse of desert close by.
Think Tank presents further evidence that Albarn’s true genius lies in ballads and
Think Tank contains some of his greatest works to date. “Good Song” drifts over a Beck-esque drum loop for Albarn’s gorgeous falsetto to occasionally take flight before settling back into a resigned melody while sister song “Sweet Song” pairs chilly, moonlight piano with some of Albarn’s most heartcracking lyrics. “And now it seems that we're falling apart/But I hope I see the good in you come back again,” he cries, “I just believed in you”. Closer “Battery in Your Leg” features Coxon’s only contributions and they’re some of his best. He straps 10 tons of rocket fuel to his guitar and blasts the whole song off into the stratosphere during the verses for an overpowering effect that transforms the song into a truly moving final sendoff for Blur as it once was.
With
Think Tank Blur close out the second of their twin trilogies, capping one of the most rewarding discographies in pop history. The bid for artistic freedom (
Modern Life is Rubbish/
Blur), the masterpiece (
Parklife/
13), and the exhausted finale (
The Great Escape/
Think Tank). Blur proved that treating your audience with the respect they deserve means they’ll follow you down some challenging corridors. Maybe they lost the “Girls & Boys”/”Woo-hoo” crowd along the way but they maintained their integrity. That integrity was not a given. Blur rose to prominence in the madhouse of Britpop, a time when nearly all of their peers were eagerly cashing in in one way or another, losing their souls along the way. But Blur remained a step ahead at all times, following their artistic muse instead of the nearest paycheck. They jump started a nation’s interest in distinctly British music before abandoning the genre turned circus they helped create to draw inspiration from America, the country Britpop sought to distance itself from. Then they defied any reasonable expectation by wrapping up in Morocco. Blur may not have always held the most favor but they reshaped the pop and underground music scene in Britain in equal measure and
Think Tank is the denouement they deserved.
