The American release of Graham Coxon's fourth solo album, eight months after it came out in the UK and right before his first tour of the States, is an excellent opportunity to rediscover the work of the most musically focused and orthodox founding member of Blur. After listening to the confident garage-rock sound of Happiness in Magazines, it's clear how a Damon Albarn increasingly fascinated with electronica and world music could not possibly get along professionally with Coxon anymore. In fact, however, it is the classic sound of Coxon's most recent album, and not the experimentation in Think Tank, that is likely to be remembered years from now without sounding dated. A perfect example is the rolling, irresistible first single 'Freakin' Out'.
