More Houses

 

In 1995, there was a battle between two Britpop bands that was incomprehensible to me as an outsider. Both released singles at the same time, Blur's Country House and Oasis' Roll With It. Not that I don't appreciate both bands, but at the time, the hype surrounding so-called supremacy got on my nerves. Country House is one of the greatest songs Blur ever released and deserves to be played again.

There are only a handful songs from Elvis Presley that I could listen to. One of them is Jailhouse Rock the title song from the same movie released in 1957 and rightly one of his better ones.

Before the Commodores and Lionel Richie started releasing inconsequential soul music, they had released what was perhaps the most dominant funk song ever, Brick House.

Houses

 

I took some time off over the last few days and went to a skat tournament in Ingolstadt with a friend. My father taught me this card game decades ago, and I played it often in my younger years. But it's a huge difference when I, as an amateur, want to compete with professionals. Fortunately, I hadn't forgotten everything, and the lessons I had to learn the hard way were kept to a minimum.

Back to blogging reality and a short series about songs that have houses in their titles. Let's start with X, a band from Los Angeles. They were filed under punk-rock but they included more stiles like rockabilly in their sound. In This House That I Call Home is from their second album and one of my favorites from 1981.

The House Of The Rising Sun is a classic recorded by innumerable artists. I prefer the version by Sinead O'Conner from 1995.

Let's finish today with a classic by Blur without any further words.

Monday's Long Song

 

I never understood the hype surrounding the britpop rivalry between Blur and Oasis. For me, both bands wrote great songs in the beginning, until Oasis took off and became more about themselves than their music. During this time, Blur continued to evolve and add new facets to their music. Shortly before the end of the last century, Blur released their sixth album, 13, which marked a step away from the Britpop bubble. First, they release the single ‘Tender’, a magnificent, slow and undanceable anthem accompanied by a gospel choir, which is unlike anything Blur has done before. In fact, the whole album is a cornucopia of unusual influences: Kraut-inspired space effects, dubby passages, bluesy patterns and psychedelic swathes have found their way into the Blur cosmos without the whole thing slipping into overly obscure territory. Maybe one of the best opening songs from an album from the end of the century.

Blur - Tender

Fraezy

I know that Wolf Alice is the newest hype and the next big thing in British music press. Anyway, I got the latest album and have to say that their are worth listening to. It's a bit like a journey through the history of indie music and they try to combine a lot of influence in their songs. An example: Freazy with it's cool groove and echoes reminds me on the Rave-O-Lution days and Stone Roses.


You're a Germ with it's crispy guitar riffs could be a song by Blur long time ago.



Wolf Alice accomplished the different influence into very own songs that getting better the often you listen to it. If you do you'll find a lot of gems on this record.