Happiness In Magazines - Graham Coxon

Quite often the point of being in a group is to combine talents and produce something that individually would've not been possible. After all, a good guitarist might be a miserable drummer. Being able to belt out a tune at the top of your voice does not necessarily guarantee that you are competent to hold a bass guitar. I still cringe at early footage on Bono holding a guitar and strumming along. He gave the impression that, although he had only just mastered which way round to hold  it, had insisted on 'wearing' it on stage despite his band mates suggestion to the contrary. Clearly he was not going to be dissuaded so an exasperated Edge had quickly taught him an 'A' and 'D' chord so at least he would have something to do, all the while muttering under his breath, "Feckin' eedjit - stick to singing will ya!". Or something like that.

So every time a clearly competent band member decides that they would like to record a solo album I approach such musings with trepidation. Why? Well part of it is a self-defence mechanism; you like a band, have all of their records and then the bass guitarist decides to release a solo album. Naturally, as a fan, you go out and purchase the album. After one listen you wonder if it was as bad as you thought it was. Let's give it another go. Second time round is no better. After several attempts to like it it's just not happening. The album is filed and ....here's the killer.... your view of the original band is tainted, perhaps just a little, but damaged nonetheless. You swear that this is the last time you are going to be fooled and then, just as you have forgotten the whole sorry episode, the drummer from another of your favourite bands announces he is working on a solo project.......I'm sure we've all been there at some point but I think there are several factors at play here;

The Roger Waters Syndrome: There is every chance that the solo effort is going to be nothing like the parent band - usually one of the main reasons for going solo is that "I just have to get this bossanova inspired concept album out of my system".

The Thom Yorke Syndrome: the individual has a whole hard drive full of songs that the band won't entertain. "We're just not sure that a thirty minute poem set to synth noodling is the direction we want to go in". There is a high chance that the songs were rejected for just not being good enough.

The Ringo Starr Syndrome: What exactly does a maracas player from a band know about writing songs? Not a lot in some cases.

.....but I needn't have worried in this case as 'Happiness In Magazines' is a low-fi guitar pop gem. Not at all self indulgent, melodic and shares enough of the Blur DNA to be approachable. In fact Graham Coxon is a bit of a pop maestro on the quiet. 'Freakin' Out', for example, is a top punk pop tune that could quiet have easily sat on a Blur album. 'Are You Ready?' is a tex-mex pop ballad. So perhaps my trepidation with solo outings is a little ill advised - maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe. But then again I am still smarting from 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles'. It was no Police.