Graham Coxon – The Spinning Top
It is impressive that Graham Coxon’s discography rivals that of Blur in terms of output. It is unfortunate that his solo work can never be spoken of without at least a passing mention of his last band and at the most a comparison. The latter is not a good idea. Do not compare Graham Coxon to Blur, it undermines him.
The Spinning Top has been described by Mr. Coxon as the story of a man’s life from birth till death. Bear in mind that Graham Coxon is an instrumentalist before he is a singer, so forgive any lack of elasticity in the vocals. It shouldn’t be too hard to do, since his fingers are really what the album is about. The 15 tracks on the album all have the same folky sound, but it’s not a case of one exceptionally long song chopped up into bits. For the most part, the songs are intimate little numbers with echoing guitars and organic vocals. ‘In The Morning’ features some exotic Indian instrumentation while ‘Dead Bees’ is the “rocker” with its marching drumbeat and electrified guitar. ‘Caspian Sea’ starts off as a sleepy bedtime story before morphing into an acid trip. Album closer ‘November’ is unsurprisingly gloomy, with the overall morose mood only enhanced with lyrics like ‘the sky breaks, we are washed by the weather’ – a line so much more descriptive than ‘it’s raining.’
There’s love lost and found in ‘Perfect Love’ and ‘Brave the Storm’. The latter has Graham beseeching his partner to ‘Braeeeeve the storm’ – ‘ok’ comes the soft, but prompt reply. There are recollections of childhood memories (‘Tripping Over’) and a longing for the security that comes with being younger (‘Home’).Humble Man reads (listens?) like the final scene with talk of death, heaven and body bags, though it precedes the nostalgia portion in the tracklist.
Though it is not exceptionally long, the 15 tracks can get mentally exhausting as The Spinning Top is not just about the music – what is a concept album without lyrics? Sure you can relegate the music to the background but that’s not very fair to the words. Give it your attention – the music is skilful but mostly understated so as to provide a stable background on which the instrumental antics stand out and the words ring clear. You can consider it a ‘thinking person’s album.’
