4 out of 5

Label: Transcopic

Produced by: Graham Coxon

Sure, ol’ whatsisname from Blur brought in all the weirdo magic to the group’s pop life, swaying guitar man Graham Coxon’s sweet hooks into groovy trips of psychedelic and world music, leading to less and less of said guitar man’s writing coming through from album to album…  But… this is no Malkmus / Spiral Stairs headbutting, where the enigmatic personality also happened to carry the wealth of the creative chops.  No, there’s never really been a doubt: Coxon can write a mighty-fine song.  And, it turns out, given free reign to run the show, as on ‘Crow Sit on Blood Tree,’ he can give you plenty of weird for your money, while avoiding the wandering indulgences that Albarn would allow.

The key here is that Coxon nails sequencing – continually giving us toe-taps, ponderous tracks, sweet and simple, and all-out rockers.  The disc announces it’s intent with opener ‘Empty Word,’ as an acoustic strum and Coxon’s monotone mumble suddenly break out into a harsh distorted riff before settling down into a catchy chorus.  The slide guitar and up and down intonations of ‘I’m goin’ away’ are a proper segue into the more spaced out ‘All Has Gone,’ before Coxon decides to kick our ass with the punky ‘Burn It Down.’  And on it goes.  There’s an appealing looseness to the disc, as though the tracks are somewhat off the cuff, but underneath the taped together veneer are some excellent compositions (pointing the way to when Graham would gear more towards straight pop records again with ‘Happiness in Magazines.’).  However, the roundabout sequencing ends up leaving some odd men out, which as result feel like weaker tracks: ‘Too Uptight’ isn’t as sweetly sad as ‘Big Bird,’ and ‘You Never Will Be’ totally eclipses the muted closer ‘A Place for Grief,’ unfortunately ending the disc rather un-notably.

But no matter.  While Albarn was making headlines hiring all of Africa to work on his albums, Coxon was dropping disc after disc of reminders of how much he contributed to Blur.  ‘Crow’ is a bit rough around the edges, but this allows Coxon’s star to shine bright, showing how his mastery of a catchy tune can be twisted into a full range of styles, each executed as successfully as any other.