Recording
"Suede and America fuelled my desire to prove to everyone that Blur were worth it." Albarn told Mojo in 2000, "There was nothing more important in my life." Albarn felt the popularity American grunge music was enjoying in Britain at the time would soon run out of steam, and argued that Blur would embody a renaissance of classic British pop on their next album. Although the singer felt Blur had finally found their musical identity, not everybody was convinced with Albarn's new British-centric manifesto. Food Records owner David Balfe, in particular, strongly disagreed, and got into fierce arguments with Albarn over the proposed change in Blur's image. After the still-sceptical Balfe finally relented, Food warily gave Blur the go-ahead to work on their second album with Albarn's first choice of producer, Andy Partridge of XTC. Blur and Partridge began work at The Church, a studio in Crouch End owned by keyboardist Dave Stewart. However, the pairing didn't work out. Bassist Alex James described the sessions as a "disaster"; he added that "as it was all being put together, they were all good parts, but it just wasn't ... sexy". The band successfully recorded four songs, but they were wary about working in the same conditions again.
Blur resumed work on their second album due to a chance meeting with producer Stephen Street, who had previously worked with the band on their 1991 single "There's No Other Way". With Street now producing the album, Blur recorded a mix of material spanning both the period immediately after the release of Leisure and their 1992 tour. While the band members were pleased with the recording session results, Balfe, after hearing the songs, told the band they were committing artistic suicide. Although dejected by his response, Blur gave Food the completed album in December 1992. However, the label told the group that the album was unfit for release and at the very least they should add a few more potential singles. Albarn complied, and on Christmas Day wrote the song "For Tomorrow". Although "For Tomorrow" sated Food's concerns, Blur's American label SBK voiced discontent upon hearing the finished tapes of the album. To appease SBK the band recorded "Chemical World", which Blur thought would increase Rubbish's American appeal. However, Blur flatly refused SBK's demand of re-recording the album with American producer Butch Vig, who was popular at the time for his work with Nirvana.
Read more about this topic: Modern Life Is Rubbish
Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Too many photographers try too hard. They try to lift photography into the realm of Art, because they have an inferiority complex about their Craft. You and I would see more interesting photography if they would stop worrying, and instead, apply horse-sense to the problem of recording the look and feel of their own era.”
—Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870–1942)
“Write while the heat is in you.... The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)