Blur - The Great Escape

Stereotypes - 4
Country House - 4
Best Days - 3
Charmless Man - 4
Fade Away - 3
Top Man - 3
The Universal - 3
Mr. Robinson's Quango - 4
He Thought Of Cars - 4
It Could Be You - 3
Ernold Same - 4
Globe Alone - 3
Dan Abnormal - 3
Entertain Me - 3
Yuko & Hiro - 3
Total - 51 stars / 15 tracks = 3.40 stars

Right away, The Great Escape puts its best foot forward. "Stereotypes" is a catching tune that stands out because (and I have no better way of putting this), it throws together a bunch of words that I haven't heard in one song before. Its uniqueness and groovy sound are a great way to start the album.

"Country House" is more of the same.

"Charmless Man" breaks my rule about disliking non-sensical words in music. Usually "do do dos" or "yeah yeah yeahs" are just lyrical cop-outs. In this case, their "la la la la la la la las" make me want to sing along.

"Mr. Robinson's Quango" taught me a new word. Apparantly, a quango is an acronym referring to a non-governmental "organisation that to which government has devolved power" (source: Wikipedia article "Quango"). My initial assumption that it was like a Winnebago are clearly wrong.

"He Thought Of Cars" is a slower jam, with one of my favourite lines on the album "Everybody wants to go up into the blue, but there's a ten-year queue." It's possible that the Anglophile in me is just letting loose, because they used the word queue, but I still think it's a great line.

"Ernold Same" reminds me of The Who's "Silas Stingy" with its playful biography of some remarkably unremarkable dude.