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Product Description
Review
He may be best known for years of exemplary service to Britpop, but it’s Graham Coxon’s art-rock solo efforts that find him pushing himself in the most interesting directions. And A+E is by far his finest work to date; a brilliantly inventive and majestically sprawling album which sees the multi-skilled musician take on a wry, Philip Larkin-esque role of the eccentric outsider, casting a cheeky eye over a very British kind of hedonism.
Meet+Drink+Pollinate is a reflection on the humdrum habit of weekend boozing; the distorted vocal repetition, dirge-y guttural riffs and motorik beat reflecting the rather depressing drink, shag, sleep and repeat pattern that it’s almost heresy to question. If anything says Modern Life Is Rubbish it’s this. Running for Your Life is an anti-anthem for anyone that’s ever been lambasted for looking a bit freaky – "We don’t like your haircut or your attitude," he sings, aping his laddish tormentors, over punky, vicious guitars – and on What’ll It Take, the record’s most pop moment, skittering electronics dance around rumbling drums and chirruping feedback as Coxon asks, "What’ll it take to make you people dance?" before closing the track screeching, "What’s wrong with me?" All three tracks differ wildly in tone but all display a charmingly playful side to his oddball outlook on life.
This subtle wit is a theme throughout, with Coxon even making a sly dig at his younger self’s inability to enjoy Blur’s success on clattering opener Advice: "I’d write a new song when I was touring, man it was no fun, totally boring," he sings as the scratchy track judders and builds to a frantic close. And musically A+E is the most sonically experimental and diverse record of the guitarist’s career. He plays all of the instruments, including a mean blustering sax, and dabbles in krautrock (the thrum, throb and growl of City Hall), thrash pop (Seven Naked Valleys’ rhythmic attack), psychedelia (during the spiralling wig out of Bah Singer) and sweet acoustic ballads (Ooh, Yeh Yeh) – which, of course, he can’t help but heavily layer with strange bits and discordant squall, like a lost song from 13.
Now there’s nothing sweeter for a Blur fan than seeing Graham Coxon reunited with Damon Albarn, and together they make a pretty unbeatable musical pairing. But does he need his best buddy and former bandmate to deliver spectacularly creative pop? Absolutely not.
--Camilla Pia
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CD Description
This is the eighth studio album from the mercurial multi-instrumentalist perhaps best known as the lead guitarist from Blur. Aptly named not only for the sense of scratchy, frantic urgency that suffuses its 10 songs, A+E finds Graham continuing with his singular vision as a truly eclectic artist. Playing all the instruments and improvising in the studio, Coxon found himself preoccupied with lyrical themes around the effects of weekend hedonism in modern Britain, on which A+E shines an outsider’s light, albeit with a mordant, sharp wit.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It sounds trite but... I simply love this album!!! it is smooth, diverse and stylish; there are no (obvious) lingering doubts, remorse or poison-penned prose of times gone by.... this album is a delight from beginning to end and Coxon makes full use of his own abilities as a very skilful guitarist.
Don't get me wrong, I live the dark ballads of "Crow Sit On Blood Tree", the "Sky Is Too High" and "The Kiss Of Morning", but A+E is just so dynamic, so vital and so much fun to listen to. It is a bizarre blend of styles and influences that makes every song unique, every song has it's own texture, it's own presence... Very similar in tempo to "Happiness In Magazines", this album is a very big deal indeed.
Off to listen to it again!!!
Don't get me wrong, I live the dark ballads of "Crow Sit On Blood Tree", the "Sky Is Too High" and "The Kiss Of Morning", but A+E is just so dynamic, so vital and so much fun to listen to. It is a bizarre blend of styles and influences that makes every song unique, every song has it's own texture, it's own presence... Very similar in tempo to "Happiness In Magazines", this album is a very big deal indeed.
Off to listen to it again!!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Graham Coxon is in a fairly unique position. He's the guitarist for one of the biggest bands of the last twenty years at the same time as being something of an indie-rock, cult hero. A situation not unlike one of Coxons heros, Syd Barrett. I'm a big fan of all of his solo albums and would reccommend any of them if you're new to his stuff (check out the 'Goldan D' for Coxon in full-on punk mode, 'Crow Sit on Blood Tree' for a mix of dark folk and the occational 100mph rock song and 'The Kiss of Morning' for some beautiful heartbreakers)....
His last album, 'The Spinning Top' saw Graham dive head-first into his love of all things Nick Drake and John Martyn; this time couldn't be more different. The acoustic shades of 'The Spinning Top' have been replaced with Grahams trademark electric-guitar wizardry; some tracks definately cover new ground though. 'City Hall' embraces a krautrock influence and feeds it through Grahams punk-pop know-how while 'Running for your Life' is Coxon at his off-the-wall best. The dance-inducing 'What'll it Take' uses repitition to its advatage as Graham repeatedly asks, "what'll it take to make you people dance!?" while 'Knife in the Cast' could be a beautifully strange and lethargic Blur b-side cira the self-titled album. Most of the album is incredibly energetic though; just listen to the aforementioned 'Running for your Life'.
Overall A+E is a noisy, exciting, ridiculous and throughly entertaining listen. His most popular album so far, 'Happiness in Magazines' while undeniably great at times sounded more like a Blur album than a Graham Coxon one but 'A + E' is pure Coxon; eccentric, awkward, kinda angry and kinda cheeky. And that's a very good thing indeed!
The DVD extras are pretty sweet too, the live footage shows what an exciting performer he is and there's some explanations for some of the songs (seems a lot of these one's came from improv's).
His last album, 'The Spinning Top' saw Graham dive head-first into his love of all things Nick Drake and John Martyn; this time couldn't be more different. The acoustic shades of 'The Spinning Top' have been replaced with Grahams trademark electric-guitar wizardry; some tracks definately cover new ground though. 'City Hall' embraces a krautrock influence and feeds it through Grahams punk-pop know-how while 'Running for your Life' is Coxon at his off-the-wall best. The dance-inducing 'What'll it Take' uses repitition to its advatage as Graham repeatedly asks, "what'll it take to make you people dance!?" while 'Knife in the Cast' could be a beautifully strange and lethargic Blur b-side cira the self-titled album. Most of the album is incredibly energetic though; just listen to the aforementioned 'Running for your Life'.
Overall A+E is a noisy, exciting, ridiculous and throughly entertaining listen. His most popular album so far, 'Happiness in Magazines' while undeniably great at times sounded more like a Blur album than a Graham Coxon one but 'A + E' is pure Coxon; eccentric, awkward, kinda angry and kinda cheeky. And that's a very good thing indeed!
The DVD extras are pretty sweet too, the live footage shows what an exciting performer he is and there's some explanations for some of the songs (seems a lot of these one's came from improv's).
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
By any standards known to man or beast Graham Coxon's new album 'A+E'
is a fine album. These ten songs have a snarling vitality which confirm
their author's position as one of the most inventive and distinctive
musicians to have emerged from English soil in the past two decades
(and this is quintessentially English stuff to the core!) Mr Coxton's
abrasive guitar style and deadpan voice demonstrate a lineage stretching
back to the likes of The Kinks and beyond. It is a joyously energetic affair.
The integration of electonic elements in the compositions occasionally gives
a nod and a wink to our Teutonic cousins and eighties Berlin-Bowie in their
dense, layered structures (Paul Weller's recent dabblings in not dissimilar
territory also comes to mind) but the influences are worn lightly and the album
has a marvelous sense of contemporary validity and coherence from top to tail.
There really isn't a bad egg in the box but if I were forced to choose then
tracks such as 'City Hall', with its infectious pounding backbeat; 'What'll
It Take', a song saturated with juicy bubbling synth lines and a dance-friendly
boots and braces chorus; the darker, grinding industrial beats of 'The Truth'
and the hilarious bluesy post-punk shenanigans of 'Running For Your Life' are
all worthy of special mentions. A mature project from a true master of his craft.
Highly Recommended.
is a fine album. These ten songs have a snarling vitality which confirm
their author's position as one of the most inventive and distinctive
musicians to have emerged from English soil in the past two decades
(and this is quintessentially English stuff to the core!) Mr Coxton's
abrasive guitar style and deadpan voice demonstrate a lineage stretching
back to the likes of The Kinks and beyond. It is a joyously energetic affair.
The integration of electonic elements in the compositions occasionally gives
a nod and a wink to our Teutonic cousins and eighties Berlin-Bowie in their
dense, layered structures (Paul Weller's recent dabblings in not dissimilar
territory also comes to mind) but the influences are worn lightly and the album
has a marvelous sense of contemporary validity and coherence from top to tail.
There really isn't a bad egg in the box but if I were forced to choose then
tracks such as 'City Hall', with its infectious pounding backbeat; 'What'll
It Take', a song saturated with juicy bubbling synth lines and a dance-friendly
boots and braces chorus; the darker, grinding industrial beats of 'The Truth'
and the hilarious bluesy post-punk shenanigans of 'Running For Your Life' are
all worthy of special mentions. A mature project from a true master of his craft.
Highly Recommended.
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A+E
A+E is fairly intense listening. At times lively and bonkers at times dark and intense. A great album from a great artist.
Published 2 months ago by Nadi
1.0 out of 5 stars
So bad...
If I create a work like this one not a single company will produce it and will probably sell some copies to my family. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ignacio
5.0 out of 5 stars
KNOCKED KNEES
I recently watched Blur Live in Hyde Park from 2009 on dvd.....what a gig,i wish i were there,frothing at the mouth pogoing like an imbecile to Girls And Boys. Read more
Published 4 months ago by mister joe
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice legs
Mr Coxon's moving on in his record collection. If earlier albums such as 'Happiness in Magazines' and 'Love Travels at Illegal Speeds' referenced punk and new wave guitar bands,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. A. P. Jennings
4.0 out of 5 stars
Adventurous and inventive, lots to love, but maybe not all of it...
2012 was a very good year for Blur. Performing the headline concert of the Olympics, releasing a wonderful single, Under The Westway, re-releasing all of their albums in a... Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. Sweeney
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hard on the ears
Melodies and catchy riffs compete with dirge like and repetitive beats on the 47 minutes of music. I struggle to listen to the whole album in one sitting but there is enough in it... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Nick Toll
1.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy rubbish!
Sorry Graham loved all your other stuff, but this is just head banging material. Go back to your Blurish past for me. Read more
Published 12 months ago by thorpy305!
3.0 out of 5 stars
COXON GOES EXPERIMENTAL ON US
The first thing to say is that A&E is quite different to anything he's done before. The experimentalism Coxon shows here is something one would expect more from his former Blur... Read more
Published 12 months ago by A. J. Gilpin
5.0 out of 5 stars
simply a great album
This is raw guitar music at its best ! not a bad track on the album i really cant praise it highly enough! Read more
Published 12 months ago by Steve P
4.0 out of 5 stars
Graham Coxon Review-Revised for Mr Gilpin
I first gave this Album a really negative review and in the process was deluged by loads of Graham Coxon and Blur Fans who felt it was a bit over the top. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Andrew Goodman
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