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The Vapours: Turning Japanese (1980)

The Vapours: Turning Japanese (1980) - blur Ever wondered why the English New Wave band The Vapours were just a one-hit wonder with Turning Japanese? They don't. They know exactly why. A little background though: they were from Guildford and the mainman was singer/songwriter Dave Fenton who had a day job as a solicitor. Playing as the Vapours, the four-piece were spotted by Bruce...
> fromthevaults/3252/the-vapours-turning-japanese-1980/

No Way Sis: I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (1996)

No Way Sis: I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (1996) - blur For the Oasis tribute band No Way Sis their work was done for them: Oasis were notorious for borrowing/plagiarising/thieving melodies which songwriter Noel Gallagher cheeerfully admitted -- and their song Shakermaker owed more than a nod to the Greenaway-Cook song I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (a hit for the New Seekers and also used as...
> fromthevaults/3236/no-way-sis-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing-1996/

Northside: Shall We Take a Trip (1990)

Northside: Shall We Take a Trip (1990) - blur The difference between the American psychedelic experience of the Sixties and that of the British can be captured in two phrases: in the States Timothy Leary was telling people to "tune in, turn on and drop out" which clearly demanded some committment. In Britain however George Harrison -- on It's All Too Much -- was offering the more...
> fromthevaults/3172/northside-shall-we-take-a-trip-1990/

Ocean Colour Scene: Saturday (Keep on Keeping On)

Ocean Colour Scene: Saturday (Keep on Keeping On) - blur Despite being one of the most exciting and interesting bands of the Britpop Nineties -– singer Simon Fowler had a rough and soulful voice, guitarist Steve Cradock a member of Paul Weller's touring band –- this outfit from Birmingham never really took hold in New Zealand. On their home turf they had Weller as a vocal...
> music/3134/ocean-colour-scene-saturday-keep-on-keeping-on/

Ocean Colour Scene: Here in my Heart

Ocean Colour Scene: Here in my Heart - blur It was one of the saddest days I can recall, and yet it had started out so well in Birmingham, a place where I had been drawn to interview the Britpop band Ocean Colour Scene in their hometown. It was 1998 I think. OCS never really made an impact in New Zealand, which was a pity because the night I saw them they were spectacularly good,...
> mybackpages/777/ocean-colour-scene-here-in-my-heart/

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE INTERVIEWED (1996): Take it to the top

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE INTERVIEWED (1996): Take it to the top - blur From the outside – even on the rather mundane inside -- the Irish Centre on Birmingham's dreary, windswept Digbeth High St doesn't look like the city’s premier rock’n’roll venue. And it’s probably not, but . . . “Yeah, the history’s here though,” says Ocean Colour Scene’s lanky...
> absoluteelsewhere/3138/ocean-colour-scene-interviewed-1996-take-it-to-the-top/

THE STROKES (2001): The future, the past or just passing through?

THE STROKES (2001): The future, the past or just passing through?  - blur These are indeed worrying times. Steel birds fall from the sky, tall towers tumble to earth, rumours of war is the way of it if you are an innocent citizen, and the end of the world is apparently upon us. Nostradamus warned us of these times. Jezzus, I wished he'd warned us about the Strokes as well. In case you've missed the current...
> absoluteelsewhere/3147/the-strokes-2001-the-future-the-past-or-just-passing-through/

MIKE EDWARDS OF JESUS JONES INTERVIEWED (1993): Right here, right now . . . back then

MIKE EDWARDS OF JESUS JONES INTERVIEWED (1993): Right here, right now . . . back then - blur Mike Edwards has got a big mouth - and without going too far into the anatomically impossible, it’s his big mouth that gets right up people’s noses. And right here, right now in Birmingham, he’s been getting up the noses of the British music press - which admittedly isn’t hard to do and probably quite...
> absoluteelsewhere/3131/mike-edwards-of-jesus-jones-interviewed-1993-right-here-right-now-back-then/

Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (EMI CD/DVD)

Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (EMI CD/DVD) - blur Gorillaz aren't the first to make "world music" of no fixed cultural abode (Elsewhere has noted 1 Giant Leap and the Laya Project among others) -- but there is something so diverse yet coherent, musically ambitious yet delivered with a pop sensibility, and just so damn clever and enjoyable about Gorillaz that they stand apart from all...
> music/2946/gorillaz-plastic-beach-emi-cd-dvd/

Blur: No Distance Left to Run (EMI Double DVD set)

Blur: No Distance Left to Run (EMI Double DVD set) - blur This beautifully shot, career-spanning, feature-length doco leaves a lot of threads hanging for those who didn't follow every nuance of the relationship between the four members of Brit-pop's Blur, and you certainly get the impression that guitarist Graham Coxon -- often a blitzkrieg of noise on-stage but nervous, reticent and slightly precious...
> music/2915/blur-no-distance-left-to-run-emi-double-dvd-set/

Graham Coxon: The Spinning Top (Transgressive)

Graham Coxon: The Spinning Top (Transgressive) - blur Damon Albarn has had the more visible profile outside of Blur -- Gorillaz, his Mali Music album, The Good, The Bad and The Queen -- but for the band’s former guitarist Coxon (who left after Think Tank of 03) The Spinning Top is his seventh solo outing and extends his interest in Anglofolk of the Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and Richard...
> music/2699/graham-coxon-the-spinning-top-transgressive/

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2008: Paul Weller: 22 Dreams (Shock)

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2008: Paul Weller: 22 Dreams (Shock) - blur A couple of months ago I was invited to give a lecture to Auckland Uni music students about a contemporary songwriter of my choosing whose catalogue of work was interesting and worth studying.I picked Paul Weller on strength of this quote from him about his forthcoming album: "It takes in soul, rock'n'roll, there are some folky moments,...
> music/1719/best-of-elsewhere-2008-paul-weller-22-dreams-shock/

OASIS: DEFINITELY MAYBE DVD REVIEWED (2004)

OASIS: DEFINITELY MAYBE DVD REVIEWED (2004) - blur When Oasis, out of Manchester, started to gain real momentum a decade ago one wag wrote to a Britrock magazine and said this was all very well, but they were dull to watch live: just hold a postcard of them at arm's length and move it about a bit, he said, and that's about it.That was true but he forgot to factor in one thing, that they could...
> film/827/oasis-definitely-maybe-dvd-reviewed-2004/

Paul Weller, Wild Wood (1994)

Paul Weller, Wild Wood (1994) - blur By the time he came to releasing albums under his own name in the early 90s, Paul Weller had already had two separate careers: first in the Jam and then the Style Council. If the Jam had been quintessentially English and took its references from the Who, the Small Faces and Ray Davies as much as Mod culture and the rage of the punk years,...
> essentialelsewhere/798/paul-weller-wild-wood-1994/

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