Graham Coxon

The Garage, Glasgow / 22nd March 2005

review originally from The Herald :

‘I couldn’t speak this morning,’ mumbles Graham Coxon, as he arrives on stage gulping on a can of Red Bull. He proceeds to claim that he should learn to sing properly and ‘stop shouting’ every night for a living.

It is a typical Coxon entrance. Largely self-effacing it also hints at the crux of the problem with his live act which is either a lack of self-belief or an ongoing problem with his chosen profession.

The best guitarist of the Britpop generation, he is also a slightly one-dimensional but excellent songwriter, and though his band are fine tuned and responsive, the amiable lack of presence undermines the otherwise fine music.

While this was understandable when he played the same venue supporting his first tentative solo ventures while still holding down the day job in Blur, he now has songs as strong and infectiously sing-along as anything his former band produced at their commercial peak.

Mostly they come from his most two most recent and accomplished albums, ‘Happiness in Magazines’ and ‘Love Travels at Illegal Speeds,’ with ‘Standing On My Own Again,’ ‘Spectacular’ and ‘Gimme Some Love’ all sounding like long forgotten post-punk singles released in 1979. The older songs, ‘Escape Song’ and ‘I Wish’ in particular, sound like works in progress by comparison.

Unfortunately, Coxon is too old for an audience that like similar, less accomplished acts and too ‘pop’ to appeal to fans of his heroes Mission of Burma and Billy Childish. Yet ultimately he is also too abrasive to enjoy more than limited success. To do so would require him to shout more about his ability and mumble less during his songs. That he steadfastly refuses to do so is to his artistic, if not, commercial gain.