Blur : Coffee and TV

You know, there's nothing Marianne Faithfull likes more than to sit down of an evening with Alex and Damon, possibly after some slap-up nosh at Pharmacy, and discuss the whys and wherefores of the works of Brecht and Nietzsche. Those Blur chaps are astonishingly clever, she told us the other week on The Jo Whiley Show, and that Graham, he's a very good guitarist. The clip where she fell to her knees
and
whimpered, "Please like me" must have been edited out.

Anyway, yes, Graham's a great guitarist and whaddaya know, he's a pretty decent singer too, as 'Coffee + TV', only the second single to be taken from their forgettable '13' album, ably demonstrates. We feel comfortable with this kind of mildly inventive guitar-led offering from Blur; it seems somehow 'more real' than their expensive dalliances with gospel choirs and new technology. But then surveys show that most Britons prefer
beans
on toast over this weird foreign muck you can buy in supermarkets nowadays. Comfort food. Tastes all right.

Does the job.

PIERS MARTIN