Leisure (Special Edition)

BLUR(污迹)1989年组建于英国科尔切斯特。这支乐队是由主唱代蒙·阿尔本（Damon albarn）组建起来的。他曾在艺校的录音室中打工，因此后来熟识录音间的操作：贝司手亚历克斯·詹姆斯（Alex James）,吉他手格雷厄穆·考可森（Graham Coxon）,鼓手戴夫·朗特别里（Dave Rowntree），四个人全凭自己的天分取得了他们的地位，在两年时间里横扫英国流行界--他们以自己的行动和斐然的成绩有力的摧毁了“在电视游戏和舞曲时代摇滚乐已经死”的预言。 乐队最初以“蜥螈”（SEYMOUR）的名字举行过几次演出，偶像艺人达米安。和斯特（Damien Hirst）称他们“为‘披头士’以来英国最棒的乐队”。一盘样带将他们引入EMI下属公司FOOD公司的门槛，并把乐队名字改为“污迹”。1990年乐队的处女单曲《她真高》（She's So High）一经问世，便进入英国排行榜前50名之内，打破了乐坛被“Baggy”[一种由“快乐的星期一”（HAPPY MONDAYS*）]和“石玫瑰”（STONE ROSES，THE*）为代表的独立/舞曲混合乐]“奴役”的形式。但男孩们并不甘于小小的混音室，他们还很上镜头，风趣，可爱，性感，一时间成了英国音乐界的宠儿。 1991年乐队处女专辑《闲暇》（Leisure）问世，其中单曲《别无它路》（There's No Other Way）闯入英国排行榜前十名，这在当时是非常“非常”的作品，尤其是颇为可怕的歌词，对于乐队来说可并不是什么天真的回忆。 这张专辑虽然显得很稚嫩，但无疑为blur以后的成熟奠定了基础。 by Stephen Thomas Erlewine "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 naïve 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.]