Leisure

by Blur

Overview

"She's So High" and "There's No Other Way" were auspicious debut singles, alternately trancy and melodic, suggesting how shoegazing and baggy beats could be incorporated into pop song structures. Both songs suggested that Blur was capable of a striking debut album, but Leisure wasn't it. Mired by directionless soundscapes and incomplete songwriting, Leisure was nevertheless full of promise. Whenever the group tread close to the warped psychedelia of Syd Barrett, their compositions sprang to life, and "Sing" was an eerie, entrancing minor-key drone reminiscent of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs." Those moments, however, were few and far between on Leisure, since much of the record was devoted to either naive pop like "Bang" or washes of feedback and effects. From Leisure, it appeared that Blur was only capable of a pair of fine singles, which is what made the complete reinvention of Modern Life Is Rubbish such a surprise. [For the American release of Leisure, SBK Records lopped off one of the album's best songs, "Sing," and shuffled the running order for no apparent reason other than having "She's So High" and "There's No Other Way" appear first.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	07/31/2012
Label:	Emi / Parlophone
UPC:	5099962483216
Rank:	29836

Tracks

1. She's So High
2. Bang
3. Slow Down
4. Repetition
5. Bad Day
6. Sing
7. There's No Other Way
8. Fool
9. Come Together
10. High Cool
11. Birthday
12. Wear Me Down

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Blur   Primary Artist,Vocals
Damon Albarn   Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Dave Rowntree   Bass,Drums,Vocals,Percussion
Graham Coxon   Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Alex James   Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (Bass)

Technical Credits

Stephen Street   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Mixing Engineer,Digital Remastering,Remastering Engineer
Steve Lovell   Producer
Drac   Producer,Mixing Engineer
David Rowntree   Producer
Mike Thorne   Producer
Damon Albarn   Composer,Producer,Executive Producer
Dave Rowntree   Composer,Producer,Group Member
Steve Power   Producer
Blur   Composer,Producer
Ben Chapman   Remixing,Remix Engineer
Graham Coxon   Composer,Producer,Group Member
Alex James   Composer,Producer,Group Member,Executive Producer
Frank Arkwright   Producer,Digital Remastering,Remastering Engineer
John Smith   Engineer,Producer
Leo Grant   Engineer
David "Drac" Michaelthwaite   Mixing