Happiness in magazines – Graham Coxon (2004)

Music for graphic designers, it seems like it would help if you were single, somewhere between 25 – 35 years old, artsy, and urban to understand where ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon is at with this album. If you are, I think you might love it. Happiness in magazines is a formidable guitar driven disc, typical of Coxon’s fluidity with a Fender.

It is hard not to hear Blur at the start of each song. It is like a George Harrison album in that way. Harrison’s style defined the Beatles sound. Likewise, Coxon’s style gave Blur an added lift and balanced out Damon Albarn’s lyrics.

With this album, Coxon’s is confident and in control of his music. The songs seem focused, energetic, and developed. Songs like “Freaking out,” which I think is the best track here, are semi-punk assaults on the listener. Most of the album is a full-fledged rock album. The songs are short, loud, and the lyrics aren’t bad either.

Coxon performs most of the album entirely by himself and he painted the album art.

Coxon writes about what he knows, his friends, living in London, and his emotional state. My favorite lyric is from the song “no good time,” is “graphic designer, you could look no finer in your eyeliner and your silas jeans.” He paints very a specific pictures and I know exactly whom he is talking about. Another song like “hopeless friend” takes you into this hipster/artsy world. These songs are more like an exposé’s of these people’s lives, and it is not always positive. He isn’t trying to sound hip or necessarily write music that these people would listen to.

There is something very honest here, and it comes out as confidence in the songs. There is an intelligence and sensitivity that is easy to feel and connect to.

The US version of Happiness in magazines has 13 tracks on it, which includes the bonus one. About 10 out of 13 are good.

The track, “bittersweet bundle of misery” sounds a lot like “Coffee and TV” from Blur, which I think is their best song.

This album is really hard to find. I couldn’t find it in New York City. I found it at Reckless Records in Chicago, which is small chain of used records stores.

Overall, I really like this album. It is easy to get into, and I find myself wanting to listen to the whole album instead of a single track or two.