Review Summary: Blur steps into the alternative world.
Sweet choruses, tongue-in-cheek rhymes, cartoonish instrumentation and pop mastery defined Blur's early career. They were part of the Britpop movement, that was the big deal in UK's 90's music. But, at a certain point, Britpop became a sinking ship(sort of a joke), and Blur wanted to be taken seriously. Damon Albarn's ambitions to be famous weren't the priority anymore, and he started to think he had to become respected, and curiously it gave him more fame than it should. Song 2, the first single from Blur's S/T was a massive hit in America(the first one there), and Blur started to receive attention all around the world.
But, the album was a departure from the old Britpop style, adding an alternative sound influenced by bands like Weezer, Pavement, Nirvana and Sonic Youth. Its strange riffs and humorous lyrics had a sense of catchiness that the band had already mastered before, but it's so different from their previous albums that it feels like they did it again in another way. The dirty, lo-fi production gives a feeling of laziness to the songs, but these odd atmospheres are balanced with the pop sensibilities that Blur can't escape anymore, which becomes an irresistible journey through the new Blur's musical ascension as a restored band.
The new dynamics are visible from the beginning with the first song, Beetlebum, which has some Beatles influenced melodies together with an American melancholy that is a 90's alternative rock trademark, showing that even if the band experiment with these new tendencies, they still have a British flavor with them. It has a catchy riff, a melancholic and memorable chorus and an organic feeling to the depressive lyrics (which seems to deal with a type of drug addiction) and melodies are the band's ambitions coming into full circle, crafting a breathtaking song that is up there with Blur's best ones.
The American influences are more exposed in the explosive Song 2, which is a punk-ish and non-sensical anthem that was meant to be a Grunge parody, but succeeds to become a monster of its own, and it's by far the most famous Blur song.
The dirty, energetic songs on this album have an exciting and funny feeling that impulses you to dance and sing along with them, like the drunk rant On Your Own, or the punk attack Chinese Bombs, and the melancholic songs have addictive melodies that experiments with this raw production that sounds like a demo and a band at the top of their game at the same time. The experimental beats of Death Of A Party, the soft anguish of Country Sad Ballad Man and the sincere(and ugly-but-lovely) You're So Great have a sense of humor combined with a strong passion that doesn't sound forced, but shows the artistic freedom of the band, with this kind of emotion through laziness that a lot of people can relate.
However, there's a few songs that are forgettable and unnecessary, like "Theme For Retro", "Essex Dogs" and "I'm Just A Killer For Your Love", that kills some of the flow of the album, and don't have nothing attractive to them.
The overall atmosphere of the album molds a image of a drunk band on their garage singing and playing about whatever they want, like they have nothing to lose, but behind it you can see a refined work that covers all the sides of their potential, but this superficially lazy compositions can be a turn-off for some people.
Blur's S/T is a dawn of a new era for the band, abandoning(but not entirely) their Britpop sound to something more, that shows they are competent enough to change without losing their appeal, and it's a rewarding listen that is far from perfect, but its charm lies on how imperfect they wanted to sound.
Standout Tracks:
Beetlebum
Song 2
Country Sad Ballad Man
You're So Great
