Graham Coxon – Happiness In Magazines

After two wobbly efforts, Coxon’s third and fourth solo albums saw him emerge as an unlikely heir to the Syd Barrett/Nick Drake lineage of fragile folk eccentrics. Happiness In Magazines has its poignant moments, but otherwise this is Coffee And TV: The Album?exactly the kind of perky, hook-heavy riff-fest Blur diehards always hoped he’d muster. Spiritually, Coxon may not have budged from the safety of Camden but, in the hands of former Blur producer Stephen Street, the album’s Cockney Rebel swagger and apparent homages to The Skids and Billy Childish make it his most accessible work since Parklife.