GRAHAM COXON
Bittersweet Bundle of Misery
Transcopic/EMI
· Or how I decided to become a proper pop star after leaving my old proper pop-star band for being proper pop-star pricks.
After dropping out from the ranks of Blur, the group he formed with Damon Albarn while both were still teenagers, Graham Coxon kept himself busy releasing a trio of lo-fi indie-pop records, ranging from the immaculate The Kiss of Morning to the nearly unlistenable The Golden D – all more in tune with Coxon's American indie hero Lou Barlow than his earlier group's patron saint Ray Davies.
Now, re-teaming with Blur's original producer Stephen Street (also responsible for the Smiths), Coxon is taking a shot at besting his old teammates and becoming a proper (if still somewhat awkward) pop star in his own right.
While the title track serves as a nice enough summer tune (never mind its closeness to Blur's "Coffee and TV" – that was Coxon's too), the rougher likes of "Right To Pop!" and "All I Wann Do Iz Listen To Yuz" suggest Coxon should stick with the scuzzy college rock he's always been so secretly good at.
Still, it's kind of nice to see at least one primary player in the mid-’90s Brit-pop phenomenon still interested in a good old-fashioned disposable pop tune.
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