For the members of Blur, success has seemed to be something of a burden over recent years. While he was still a member of the band, Graham Coxon released a series of, ahem, ‘difficult’ solo albums. In the post Think Tank world, Damon Albarn has resorted to putting out a double 10” vinyl album of hotel room demos. Coxon, on the other hand, appears to have nothing left to rebel against.
The result? Happiness In Magazines is his best record by a mile and a real little gem. He might never find himself back in the world of mainstream chart success – “I want to play live to people”, he admits, “but not lots of people” – yet Happiness In Magazines (working title ‘No More Mr Lo-Fi’) is going to take him the closest he’s been in some while.
Lead single ‘Freakin’ Out’ was the first indication of the new regime, a fantastic exercise in punk pop seemingly based around the riff to the Skids’ ‘Into The Valley’. It’s not the only moment when Coxon lets rip. His guitar playing is fantastic throughout, as cranky and spiky as he himself has appeared in the past, yet capable of jaw dropping melodic swoops. His singing isn’t half bad either, equally effective on the snarling ‘Spectacular’ and ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’ as it is on the sweeping ballads ‘All Over Me’ and ‘Are You Ready’. Which is where Happiness In Magazines really hits home, offering the kind of range that perhaps not surprisingly typified his former band, taking in sixties style pop, Scott Walker strings and his beloved lo-fi punk along the way – all given an unhitherto heard production sheen by Stephen Street.
It all raps up with the piano ballad ‘Ribbons And Leaves’, inspired by the death of his grandfather, the final track because nothing else can really follow it. Which, in a way, is a fair way to sum up this hugely impressive record.