Blur - Out of Time 2003: and here it is, their second phase, which opens with a bang: Out of Time is one of their most beloved classics and paves the way for an album that, once again, changes all the rules of the game. But here everything changes, much to their chagrin, more than they had anticipated: Coxon, for many reasons, it's unclear whether he is shown the door or if he slams it himself violently: perhaps both, and the sound suffers extremely as a result. To replace such a cornerstone, they, at this point three, have to add a lot, a lot of elements, and so a project that was supposed to initially take the direction of North African ethnic music (they will record in Morocco, their second album recorded away from home, after Blur’s Iceland) and dub, heavily tinges with electronics. In any case, Coxon is featured in two or three tracks on the album and some b-sides from the period because he distanced himself after some initial sessions. The result, in any case, is excellent, deeply inspired, and, once again, fundamentally experimental in many passages. Meanwhile, Coxon has released two more solo records and Albarn has hit it big with Gorillaz. A few years later, Albarn will say that there is a horrible gap in the sound of Blur and that if Coxon had not returned, Blur would not have released anything more. In 2009, the two dates at Hyde Park will mark Graham's return. #blur30