Tag : Alex James

Tag: Alex James

The 50 best albums of 2023, No 8 – Blur: The Ballad of Darren

Blur’s ninth album is a perfect combination of middle-aged regret with swooning pop, a strong career summation• See the other top 50 albums• More on the best music of 2023• More on the best culture of 2023Previous to the release of The Ballad of Darr...

Blur’s Dave Rowntree: ‘I still wake at 3am thinking I’ve frittered my life away’

Drummer, lawyer, composer, politician… Blur’s busiest member on the troubled childhood that influenced his new solo album, Radio Songs, and the band’s summer time reunion gigsA few weeks earlier than Christmas, and the planning meetings have simply c...

Blur to reunite for one-off Wembley show next year

Band will headline on the London stadium on 8 July for their 35th anniversary, supported by Slowthai, Self Esteem and JockstrapBlur have announced a one-off 2023 present to take place at London’s Wembley stadium on 8 July. Will probably be the long-l...

Blur: 'We used to take it in turns to punch each other'

Back in Hong Kong, where they recorded their album The Magic Whip, Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave speak about falling out and making up, the state of British pop music and why 90s Britpop was a wasted opportunityHong Kong in July could be a disorientat...

Blur: The Magic Whip review – friends reunited for a beautiful comeback

Blur’s made-in-Hong-Kong album, their first for 12 years, overflows with pretty songs and touchingly reveals a band now happily reconciledThere are two kinds of band re-formation. The primary is so compellingly simple that the “basic” bands that have...

Blur announce The Magic Whip, their first new album for 12 years

The Magic Whip options the complete Blur lineup of Albarn, Coxon, Rowntree and James, and fans can have fun with a June gig in London’s Hyde Park10 of the best: Damon Albarn tracksFollowers of Britpop pioneers Blur had cause to rejoice on 19 February...