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Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
 Utterly British! Totally underated March 21, 2007
Top Cat (Somewhere in England, apparently)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
As my review title suggests, this is a truly underated album, and I was suprised to see some earlier negative reviews. Truth of the matter however, is that this is one of the best Brit Pop albums i've owned, and it takes a fabulous satirical look at modern day England.
br /You don't even need to listen to the album to see the theme that oozes through it. A glance through the inner booklet has funny examples of the things were used to - a competition poster on the first page for a typical modern 'Barretts' home, and a basketballer copying some sort of sports advertisement.
br /Of course, the music is the main focus, and sounds fantastic on a cool summers evening. Possibly one of the reasons people may have been dissapointed with the album is because it sounds quite different to other material they've produced, but at the end of the day, this is vintage blur. The song Stereotypes starts off the album with some good lyrics, reflecting the 'Vicky Pollards' we see in out and about etc etc. Country House has always been a stand out track, and that probably applies for every fan, with its fun lyrics (and video, if you've seen it!). Charmeless Man follows this route, as does Top Man, and well, many other tracks! Universal was a nice track to include, and though I can't remember too well the rivalry between Oasis and Blur during the 90's, this track demonstrates the lyrical and instrumental genious they could produce. I'm not saying Oasis were a bad band, but for, Blur have always had more purpose with their music.
br /As the album leads towards the end, there are admittedly a few slow tracks, but since the quality of the rest of the cd is so good, this can be let off. I myself bought the album because of its cover - silly, I know, but thats clever marketing. And to be honest, the cover does some justice - it does sound bright and fun, and 'The Great Escape' probably reflects the desire to escape from the fast lives we live.
br /Their are few better albums out their that will capture our modern day lives as good as this, and if your unsure, just remember that Blur are not that the type of band to release duff albums - all the songs have lots of meaning. 9/10
Beneath swathes of nostalgia, a great album lurks. May 27, 2005
Jonathan James Romley (Dublin, Ireland)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
In hindsight, the first Blur album, Leisure, seems like the work of a completely different band, with the style of the whole thing steeped in the baggy sound of bands like The Stone Roses and Inspiral Carpets. It wasn't until the second album Modern Life is Rubbish that the iconic Blur sound began to immerge, with the band taking the influence of 60's acts like The Kinks and The Beatles and applying it to the indie-ethos of 80's bands like The Smiths, Felt and The Wedding Present. Things became a little more obvious on the third album Parklife, by which time the term Britpop had been coined in an attempt to pigeonhole other bands with a similar approach to music.pI personally find Parklife a bit grating these days (...it's hard to listen to most Blur albums because of how irremovable they are to my secondary school memories), with Damon's mock cockney antics coming across as more obnoxious than they probably did in 1995. The Great Escape however still stands up extremely well, with the album fusing the more robust pop elements of Parklife with the wit, imagination and underlining social-edge so apparent on Modern Life. Because of this, the album can be enjoyed as both a conceptual piece (with Blur looking at certain themes synonymous with the rat race and the British way of life), or as a collection of fine pop songs (the singles, particularly The Universal, still sound great). As with Parklife, some could argue that the whole thing is a little too over-the-top (especially if we compare it to recent albums by bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines), with certain tracks like Top Man, Ernold Same, Mr. Robinson's Quango and the single, Country House all slipping into the kind of musical-style bombast mainly reserved for mid-period Divine Comedy albums like Casanova and A Short Album About Love. Of course, when picking off random tracks, the whole thing is bound to seem brash and inconsistent, with this album really tying in with a record like The Village Green Preservation Society by the above-mentioned Kinks (it's worth wondering how tracks like Phenomenal Cat, All of My Friends Were There and People Take Pictures of Each Other would have fared as contemporary pop singles?) by being an album that relies on a certain cohesive continuity that flows from song to song.pThe giddy fusion of various musical styles, from 70's punk, to 80's indie, to music-hall, to Europop, to lounge-muzak, to cinematic excess, right the way through to novelty bombast and radio spoofary eventually gives way to darker subjects expressed through Damon's mordant, multi-layered lyrics (which again, draw on a myriad of sources and inspirations including everything, from Monty Python, seaside post-cards, British films, Reggie Perrin, English lit, newspaper headlines, brand names, Mike Leigh, Alan Bennett and of course, everyone from the Beatles, to the Smiths, to "place classic British band name here"). The Universal is without a doubt the most achingly melancholic thing on here (...and is perhaps my favourite song on the album), with Damon taking on the bored pre-millennium tensions of a seemingly alien-being looking down on the bland and silly eccentricities of the British public with contempt. The overall band performance here is wonderful and is perfectly complemented by those wilting string-arrangements, which takes the song away from the dull rock-by-numbers of something like Globe Alone and more towards a heartbreaking waltz that seems to be crying out for a more innocent time ("well it really, really, really could happen!!").pThere are other highlights too, particularly Fade Away, He Thought of Cars and Stereotypes, each of which stands as a great work of 90's indie-pop to rank alongside the work of similar contemporaries like Neil Hannon, Luke Haines, and records like His N' Hers by Pulp and Morrissey's Vauxhall and I. Speaking of which, the great single Charmless Man is apparently a thinly veiled attack against the former Smiths front man (Charmless Man = This Charming Man... geddit?), which is hardly surprising given that The Great Escape was produced by wronged-Morrissey collaborator Stephen Street (he produced Strangeways, Here We Come and collaborated on Viva Hate). Still, it's a great pop song, regardless of it's supposed hidden-content, and is a track that works well within the context of the record and with the themes of consumerist abandon and technocratic escape (...it's also worth remembering for that great video featuring the actor, Jean Marc Barr).pThe album has it's faults, obviously... I mean, for a start it's too long (as were many albums of this era) whilst the brash production might be a little off putting in these earnest, guitar-driven times, however, to dismiss the entire album for such shortcomings would be a great disservice to the immensity of songs like Country House, Charmless Man, Best Days, The Universal and the closing track, Yuko and Hiro, which really show the band sounding darker and more intelligent than many of their detractors would give them credit for. It's not the greatest album in the world (or indeed, my favourite Blur album), but The Great Escape still works surprisingly well, and hasn't dated quite as badly as Parklife or some of the other records of this era, managing to retain a certain wit and charm, whilst also taking the listener behind the calm exterior of commuter life, to find the dark and depressed sycophantic beasts within.
The band's most misunderstood album September 7, 2000
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Although I can understand why so many people slate this album, I can't agree with them. Sure, it may be somewhat overproduced, but LISTEN to the album instead of going along with the majority and you'll discover a much-maligned classic. Of course there are poor tracks (TOPMAN and and Dan Abnormal for me), but there are also some of the bands best ever tracks (The Universal, Stereotypes, Best Days and the stunning He Thought of Cars). pThis album was recorded at the peak of Britpop, just as Parklife when ballastic, and when released, got much more favourable releases than Oasis' What's the Story? It was only when the backlash kicked in towards Christmas '95 that everyone started slating the album. Perhaps the melancholy feel and depressing lyrics (even the Country House lyrics are depressing when you listen to them!) are hard for many to listen to, whilst Oasis' required no real effort on the listener's part.pOne day this album will be given the credit it deserves.
Brilliant April 19, 2000
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
It's a shame that a lot of people have had trouble adapting to this, their fourth album, as it was, by their own admission, a record made for live concerts. But it's still superb, even listened to on a home stereo. True, compared to some of their other work, this is not their finest moment, but looked at objectively and compared to other music, surely no-one can miss the fact that this is a masterpiece, and one with some of the catchiest hooks ever, especially on 'Country House' and 'Charmless Man'.
VINTAGE BLUR October 15, 2006
M. Sinclair (Crumlin, Northern Ireland)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
I've wanted to write a review on this album for some time now. I love it so much and I think it is highly underrated, Parklife was great but this is even better, this goes even deeper into the Britpop spirit. Other reviews I have read were mostly that they were disappointed, but I don't see how, if they are Blur fans, that they can't like this album. This album was in their finest hour and contains the number one smash "Country house".
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br / I have lost count the amount of times I have listened to this album, and a month would never go by without listening to at least one song from it. This album makes me miss blur and wish they'd come back, as they are one of the finest bands of the nineties. Others love to say how much better Oasis are, but I'd far rather have Blur as i can't resist them, and I love Damon's voice, and the funny things he writes about on this album.
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br / Melodic, tuneful, funny songs on this album are always lots of fun to hear. I would love to meet these characters "Ernold same" and "Mr Robinson" that Damon sings about. This album clicked with me the first time I got it, and this album is the reason why I gained a passion for blur.
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br / Its highly addictive if you ask me, I just can't get tired of it, they have the funny ones like "Dan Abnormal", "Ernold Same" and "Charmless man" and then I love the slower, more melodic ones, like "Best days", "The universal" and "Yuko and Hiro"- which puts an excellent end to the album. A must for any Blur fan, I love this album so much.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
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