Blur - Under The Westway (7" vinyl, CD single)

If Procol Harum hadn’t already penned ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ (with a little help from Bach) then I’d say that this would be a pleasant diversion down leafy London avenue for Blur with a bit of ‘Waterloo Sunset’ type imagery thrown in for good measure but instead it's basically ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ with new lyrics. It completely exemplifies the kind of chancers that Blur were and still are, seemingly able to pull the collective wool over a lot of peoples eyes at the same time.  It has that weepy kind of vibe they have with a lot of their slowies, fake sentimentality from a man so grounded he writes and records on a strict 9 to 5 deadline. Still, it's kind of nice and will just sound gorgeous alongside footage of plucky Brits losing at the Olympics. The B side however is an abomination to music equal to their dustmen-on-speed ‘performance’ at the Brits. They make a valiant attempt at footwork on the chorus, however, it's as good a stab at that genre as any other cheese-maker has previously managed.