The Magic Whip

The Magic Whip
Studio album by Blur
Released 27 April 2015 (2015-04-27)
Recorded May 2013, November 2014 – January 2015
Studio
  • Avon Studios, Hong Kong
  • Studio 13, London
Genre
Length 51:42
Label
Producer
Blur chronology
Parklive
(2012)		 The Magic Whip
(2015)
Singles from The Magic Whip
  1. "Go Out"
    Released: 19 February 2015
  2. "There Are Too Many of Us"
    Released: 20 March 2015
  3. "Lonesome Street"
    Released: 2 April 2015
  4. "Ong Ong"
    Released: 3 June 2015

The Magic Whip is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Blur. It was recorded in Hong Kong and London, and released by Parlophone on 27 April 2015 and Warner Bros. Records on 28 April 2015. It is the band's first studio album since Think Tank (2003), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in Blur's career.[2]

The album received universal acclaim from music critics. It debuted at number one the UK Albums Chart, marking Blur's sixth UK number-one album. It has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of over 100,000 copies.

Background

In May 2013, Blur were set to play Japan's Tokyo Rocks Music festival. However, the entire festival was cancelled for unknown reasons, leaving the band stranded in Hong Kong for an extra five days. In an attempt to distract themselves, they worked on new material in Avon Studios, as announced by Damon Albarn during the gig at AsiaWorld–Expo, Chek Lap Kok. Albarn later stated he was unsure whether the resulting music would ever be released. In July 2014, he commented, "There are about 15 songs...the annoying thing is, if I'd been able to write the lyrics there and then about being there, we'd have finished the record. But sometimes, if you can't do it all at once, it dissipates really and I don't know what I'd sing about now with that record. There's some great tunes on there, but it may just be one of those records that never comes out."[3]

In November 2014, Graham Coxon started to work further on the recordings with producer Stephen Street, while Albarn was touring his solo album, Everyday Robots (2014). Coxon commented "I kept thinking about the recordings we had made in Hong Kong and remembering how good it felt. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I hadn't had another look".[2] Street had worked on Coxon's solo albums but not with Blur since their self titled 1997 release. Coxon would secretly invite James and Rowntree to further recording sessions to build upon the material. Once nearing completion, Coxon presented the music to Albarn to see if it was worthy of an album. On the way back from his tour of Australia in December, Albarn stopped in Hong Kong once more for lyrical inspiration. Vocals were completed towards the end of January 2015 and the album's mastering was finished on 18 February 2015.[4]

Artwork and title

The album cover artwork features the Traditional Chinese words of 模糊 魔鞭 (which literally mean blurry and magic whip, respectively) in neon-lit fashion. Art director Tony Hung, who also created the lyric video for "Go Out", the first track to be released from the album, met with frontman Damon Albarn in early 2015 to discuss the album artwork and was shown photos and ephemera from the singer's travels in Hong Kong. Albarn also explained how the album came into being and his thoughts around it. "The album title, The Magic Whip [Albarn] explained, was multifaceted," says Hung. "An ice cream in the UK, a firework in China and a 'whip' in a political sense. These extremes would reflect the different textures, breadth and depth of the album." Hung says that the band wanted a cover that touched on those themes and that also had a "rawer feel" to give a sense of how the record came together in Hong Kong (the band recorded quickly, in a small studio in the city).[5]

Promotion

The video for "Go Out" was uploaded to YouTube on 19 February 2015. Videos for "There Are Too Many of Us", "Lonesome Street", "Ong Ong", and "I Broadcast" followed on 20 March 2 April, 3 June 2015, and 8 September 2015, respectively.[6][7][8][9][10] "Ong Ong", along with "My Terracotta Heart" and "I Broadcast" were previously made available shortly before the album's release as promotional singles, and their official audios were uploaded to YouTube on 23 April 18 and 21 April 2015, respectively.[11][12] "Y'all Doomed", the bonus track on the Japanese edition, was released as a 7" single on 27 April 2015.[13] "Ghost Ship", alongside a re-release of "I Broadcast", were later released as promotional singles on 23 October 2015.[14][15]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[16]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]
The A.V. ClubB−[18]
Chicago Tribune[19]
The Daily Telegraph[20]
The Guardian[21]
NME8/10[22]
Pitchfork Media7.0/10[23]
Q[24]
Rolling Stone[25]
Spin8/10[26]

The album has received universal acclaim from British and American music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 81, indicating "universal acclaim," based on 35 reviews.[16]

DIY magazine critic Stephen Ackroyd stated: "Their magic remains as strong as ever."[27] Helen Brown of The Telegraph stated that the album "turns out to be a triumphant comeback," and noted that "it retains the band's core identity while allowing ideas they'd fermented separately over the past decade to infuse their sound with mature and peculiar new flavour combinations."[20] Andy Gill of The Independent gave the album a positive review, calling it "a beautiful comeback."[28] Spin writer Andrew Unterberger gave the album an 8/10 rating and said, "Magic Whip is a fun album, nearly as much as any Gorillaz LPs," adding, "Magic Whip finds enough majesty and intrigue in the band's more meditative days to remain worthy company to any of the band's classic LPs."[29] Writing for the Rolling Stone magazine and giving the album four-out-of-five stars, David Fricke called the album "A dark, seductive set that cements a legacy", stating that "Blur have returned with inspiration to spare."[25]

Accolades

Publication Accolade Year Rank
NME NME's Albums of the Year 2015 2015
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015
Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015

Track listing

All tracks written by Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree. 

No. Title Length
1. "Lonesome Street"   4:23
2. "New World Towers"   4:03
3. "Go Out"   4:41
4. "Ice Cream Man"   3:25
5. "Thought I Was a Spaceman"   6:16
6. "I Broadcast"   2:51
7. "My Terracotta Heart"   4:05
8. "There Are Too Many of Us"   4:25
9. "Ghost Ship"   4:59
10. "Pyongyang"   5:47
11. "Ong Ong"   3:08
12. "Mirrorball"   3:39
Total length:
 51:42
Japanese bonus track[33]
No. Title Length
13. "Y'all Doomed"   3:57
Total length:
 55:39

Personnel

Blur
Additional personnel

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[34] 5
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[35] 2
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[36] 5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[37] 8
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[38] 15
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[39] 3
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[40] 4
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[41] 12
French Albums (SNEP)[42] 3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[43] 3
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[44] 2
Irish Albums (IRMA)[45] 1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[46] 7
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[47] 5
Korean International Albums (Gaon)[48] 6
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[49] 8
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[50] 8
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[51] 15
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[52] 5
Scottish Albums (OCC)[53] 1
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[54] 10
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[55] 30
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[56] 4
UK Albums (OCC)[57] 1
US Billboard 200[58] 24

Year-end charts

Chart (2015) Position
UK Albums (OCC)[59] 59

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[60] Gold 106,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Prevost, Dinorah (13 May 2015). "Review: With 'The Magic Whip'Blur doesn't miss a beat". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 Thorpe, Vanessa (1 March 2015). "Graham Coxon on the Blur reunion: 'Pop doesn't have to be a fleeting thing'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Damon Albarn Interview – NME (29–07–14)". NME. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Blur Interview – BBC Radio 6 Music, Steve Lamacq (19-02-2015)". YouTube. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Sinclair, Mark (17 March 2015). "The Magic Whip – the making of Blur's new album cover". Creative Review. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Krep, Daniel (20 March 2015). "Hear Blur's Majestic New Doom-and-Gloom Song "There Are Too Many of Us"". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Payne, Chris (2 April 2015). "Join a Magic Line Dancing Crew For Blur's New 'Lonesome Street' Video". Billboard. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Vincent, Alice. "Watch Blur's new video: Go Out". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  9. ↑ Monroe, Jazz. "Blur Collage Tons of Fan Movies for 'I Broadcast' Video". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Kreps, Daniel. "Watch Blur Go 8-Bit in Zany "Ong Ong" Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Geslani, Michelle (18 April 2015). "Blur shares new song 'My Terracotta Heart'". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  12. ↑ Britton, Luke Morgan (20 April 2015). "Blur premiere new track 'Ong Ong' – listen". NME. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  13. ↑ "'Y'all Doomed' 7" vinyl available at HMV UK". Blur.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  14. ↑ Blur. "Ghost Ship" (sleeve). Parlophone, Warner Music Group. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  15. ↑ Blur. "I Broadcast" (sleeve). Parlophone, Warner Music Group. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Reviews for The Magic Whip by Blur". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  17. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Magic Whip – Blur". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  18. ↑ Zaleski, Annie (28 April 2015). "With The Magic Whip, Blur remains stubbornly iconoclastic". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  19. ↑ Kot, Greg (24 April 2015). "Blur's comeback isn't just for show". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  20. 1 2 Brown, Helen (1 April 2015). "Blur, The Magic Whip, album review: 'a triumphant comeback'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  21. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (22 April 2015). "Blur: The Magic Whip – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  22. ↑ Beamount, Mark (13 April 2015). "Blur – 'The Magic Whip'". NME. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  23. ↑ Jenkins, Craig (28 April 2015). "Blur: The Magic Whip". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Harris, John (May 2015). "Blur: The Magic Whip". Q (346): 98. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  25. 1 2 Fricke, David (28 April 2015). "The Magic Whip". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  26. ↑ Unterberger, Andrew (28 April 2015). "Review: Blur Cruise Comfortably Into Their Second Act with 'The Magic Whip'". Spin. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  27. ↑ Ackroyd, Stephen. "Blur – The Magic Whip". DIY. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  28. ↑ Gill, Andy (31 March 2015). "Blur, The Magic Whip, album review: 'A beautiful comeback'". The Independent. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  29. ↑ Unterberger, Andrew (28 April 2015). "Blur, 'The Magic Whip' (Parlophone)". Spin. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  30. ↑ "NME'S Albums of the Year 2015". nme.com. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  31. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015". stereogum.com. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  32. ↑ "50 Best Albums Of 2015". rollingstone.com. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  33. ↑ "ブラー : ザ・マジック・ウィップ – 音楽" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  35. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Blur – The Magic Whip" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  36. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Blur – The Magic Whip" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  37. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Blur – The Magic Whip" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  38. ↑ "Blur – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Blur. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  39. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  40. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Blur – The Magic Whip" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  41. ↑ "Blur: The Magic Whip" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  42. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  43. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Blur – The Magic Whip". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  44. ↑ "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2015. 18. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  45. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 18, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  46. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  47. ↑ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2015-05-11" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  48. ↑ "South Korea Gaon International Album Chart". On the page, select "2015.04.26~2015.05.02", then "국외", to obtain the corresponding chart. Gaon Chart Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  49. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  50. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  51. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  52. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  53. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  54. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  55. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  56. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Blur – The Magic Whip". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  57. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  58. ↑ "Blur – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Blur. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  59. ↑ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 - 2015". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  60. ↑ "British album certifications – Blur – The Magic Whip". British Phonographic Industry. Enter The Magic Whip in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search

External links

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