Blur's Melachonic Masterful Return
Britpop's best band made a return in 2023, celebrating the 30th year Anniversary of there breakthrough album Modern Life is Rubbish. However they did not just want to go out and play the hits, that's never been the Blur way.
New music seemed unlikely back in November when the two Wembley Stadium shows were announced. The world was glad to see Blur back, but even the most die hard fans could not comprehend what was to come.
Following the announcement of the Wembley date, another followed and eventually more dates across Europe and Asia were added to the schedule. This wasn't a one off Blur were back. These dates also gave me and my friends and opportunity I don't think any of us thought was possible, we managed to see the band, when they took the show to Amsterdam and watched them play a set for the ages.
Before the tour kicked off, we got our first taste of new music, and the biggest piece of news yet. On the 18th May, Blur released 'The Narcissist' and announced a new album, 'The Ballad of Darren'
The bands first record in 8 years, it was safe to say fans were excited. I can say sitting here writing this post today, fans were right to be excited. This album is the best Blur record since '13' in 1999. It is a melancholic, mournful affair with nods to the past but very much set in the present. Over the past two decades, Blur have reunited before but this time it felt different. Each of the band has a side project. Damon has got Gorillaz, Graham has launched a solo career, Dave moved into politics and Alex well Alex became a farmer. Yet with Blur it felt as if the band had unfinished business, the breakup never really happened but when they re-emerge they are not just reuniting a band, they are getting the gang back together.
The Ballad of Darren was born out of the gang getting back together, and the four members experiencing the friends they have lost, Albarn described the process as 'an aftershock, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now' looking back at the friends he has lost: Bobby Womack, Tony Allen and late tour manager, Craig Duffy and his wife. The Narcissist is the perfect example of this feeling Albarn was going through, and it sits at the table with those great Blur songs.
This album is for the people who have been there for Blur even in it's title Blur have tried to appeal to there generation those who have been on this journey with them. Darren refers to Blur’s security guard and resident every man Darren “Smoggy” Evans. But the title is more than just a nod to an old friend, Darren is a name that is synonymous with the generation Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave grew up in, and that name seemed to lose favour with the public, in fact it dropped out of the Top 100 Boys Names in 1994 just as Blur began to win favour with the British public. There's something quite beautiful in that.
Like all Blur records, there’s a huge sense of melancholy. Even in there happiest moments Blur have always had that, The Ballad of Darren is no different in that regard. However they are no longer the young whippets they once were. They are now elder statesman, and this record could have only been made by Blur and it could have only been made in 2023. Whilst it may not have the characters made famous by Blur’s Britpop days. Tracy Jacks, Dan Abnormal and Mr Robisions Quango are nowhere to be seen. The heavier side found of the self titled effort hasn’t quite gone away. St Charles Square has its moments. It does have some of the most honest and autobiographical lyrics Damon has ever written. It also has some of the bleakest moments, we’ve ever seen from Blur. Think Tender and No Distance Left to Run. Yes we go that bleak, but in that bleakness comes beauty.
I feel as if this album acts as the final curtain call for the band, the unfinished business is now finished. They reunited and made an album that sits up there with the bands very best work. They do not try and recreate the 90s highs, or even the 90s lows. If I had to link back to the past, this album is 13’s older more mature brother. Who’s seen what Damon and the boys have gone through.
The Ballad of Darren is the sound of Blur in 2023. The sound of what its members are going through, it's a journey of overcoming loss and adversity and a life lesson in both the power of friendship and the power of music.
Thank you for reading x