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Back to: Archive · 2002 Four reviews for 'The Kiss Of Morning' (taken from the NME, cover date 12 October 2002) THE GREAT ESCAPE - fourth solo LP proves there is life after Blur There are few mountain ranges in Camden, nor is the Mississippi delta known to mingle with NW1's canals, but on the fourth solo album by Blur's semi-estranged guitarist, geography is no impediment. He's taken 'The Kiss Of Morning' further into the old American South and deeper into beardy folk cellars. On 'Baby, You're Out Of Your Mind', dusty acoustic picking and ultra trad cadence lead into lonesome whistling. It's 'Blowin' In The Wind' re-configured as a London love song. Then for 'Mountain Of Regret' Coxon slips on metaphorical dungarees for a country ballad, complete with pedal steel from BJ Cole and a bassline worthy of the Soggy Bottom Boys. No doubt there's an element of defiance in 'Britain's most inventive guitarist' going retro. Perverse or not, it's a tribute to his abilities that he makes it work. His wavering voice stops the ballads descending into cliché. Then, as if having claimed his right to reject the narrow world of rock, he U-turns haphazardly, flinging forth the fuzzed-out 'Do What You're Told To'. 'The Kiss Of Morning' sees Coxon oscillate between rage and a need to confront a long list of emotional damage. The 13 songs bounce between his love of punk/grunge and his affection for folk/blues, and perhaps they're best where the two mesh into an urban hobo style that mixes elements of Nick Drake, Elliot Smith, Pavement, Sonic Youth and Nirvana. 'Bitter Tears' ascends from acoustic introspection into a fuzzily enveloping groove. 'Escape Song' coaxes muffled psychedelia out of the olde amps. The slouchy 'It Ain't No Lie' finds him haunted by Britpop, "Wandering around Camden Town feeling like a fishy in a can", a problem which he resolves with a burst of neo-Hendrix guitar. If the final acoustic confession 'Good Times' represents one too many moments where the dark mirror calls, it's entirely forgivable. 'The Kiss Of Morning' operates on a level of perversity, honesty and originality that blows most bands out of the water. With a warmth that's almost anti-Gorillaz, this is both a Primrose hillbilly fuzz-rock album to cherish and an auspicious manifesto for a post-Blur existence. Rating: 8 out of 10. Review by Roger Morton. (taken from Q magazine, cover date November 2002) ALL IS NOT WELL WITH THE BLUR GUITARIST The song titles 'Bitter Tears', 'Mountain Of Regret' and 'Song For The Sick' indicate that Graham Coxon is working through some heavy issues on his fourth solo album in as many years. Musically, it contains the same lilting country ballads, hillbilly blues and fuzzy guitar workouts as Coxon's previous work, but now these are shot through with a startling assault of anger, hate and vitriolic bile. No wonder he's become estranged Blur camp. On album closer 'Good Times' he's left mournfully repeating the coda "I want you to remember the good times" over a haunting piano dirge, as if his fortunes have been well and truly spent. Only the relatively jolly 'Escape Song' is worth excavating from the morass. Rating: 2 out of 5. Review by Sarah Cohen. (taken from Mojo magazine, cover date November 2002) Those keen to sniff out clues as to Graham Coxon's recent career-change are sure to salivate over large parts of 'The Kiss Of Morning'. On 'Just Be Mine', some unnamed source of frustration is addressed thus: "You try the patience of saints/And that is just what I ain't." Yet more pointedly, on the charmingly-titled 'Song For The Sick', he sings, "You stabbed me in the back/You're lower than a snake/Your brains are in your sack/You two-faced f***in' fake." Though chatrooms will surely be abuzz with it all, the album's real trump-card is its abiding sense of goggle-eyed imagination: 'Locked Doors' melds White Album-esque rock to a beautifully rolling groove. 'It Ain't No Lie' snaps from Beck circa '94 into a lopsided Hendrix pastiche, and the exquisite 'Bitter Tears' is an intimate confessional à la 'Mellow Song' from Blur's '13'. That his ex-compadres will miss him is beyond argument, but 'The Kiss Of Morning' makes their loss plain. Review by John Harris. (taken from the Daily Mirror, cover date 20 October 2002) Blur lost a great guitarist when they pushed Mr Coxon out of the band - however, his third album suggests that the world didn't exactly gain a great solo performer. The songs - a ragbag of doodles and half-formed ideas pulled together from The Beatles, Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett and the slop bucket - contain plenty of swipes at his former colleagues. Get over it, lad. Rating: 2 out of 5. |