:: Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines

Graham Coxon

Graham Coxon‘s claim to fame is that he was Blur's chief guitarist up until two years ago. However, he has now, count them, released five solo albums during and after his time with the band. Happiness in Magazines is an album that shows Coxon's strength as an interesting guitarist and (surprisingly) lyricist, but his vocals often let him down. Although his voice does end up growing on you, the rawness of it can be cringe worthy at points. Nevertheless, this album is a valuable journey through love, friendship, family and ultimately, humankind. It is both humorous and heartbreaking with Coxon generally taking a satirical stance with his lyrics. In “People of the Earth”, he claims “People of the earth, You are bland. You ain't even got a decent band”, whilst in “Freakin’ Out” he chuckles, “Got on your aviator shades, Yeah man you‘re lookin’ really ace”. One can't help but wonder if this is a dig either at his former band or just the music industry in general. Coxon delves into some emotional calamity on this album and this delivers some pretty lovely moments. He does however maintain his cheekiness, “You're very pretty and you're tanned, But I'd rather sleep with my right hand”, leaving us wondering the type of magazines he's talking about in the album's title. This is not a brilliant album, but it is certainly a fun and worthwhile one for the collection