Graham Coxon has announced the second batch of reissues from the ongoing re-release of his entire solo catalogue.
The reissue campaign began last month with the release of Coxon’s previously shelved 2011 album ‘Castle Park’, alongside new editions of ‘The Sky Is Too High’ and ‘The Golden D’.
Now, it has been confirmed that ‘Crow Sit On Blood Tree’ from 2001, 2002’s ‘The Kiss Of Morning’ and 2004’s ‘Happiness In Magazines’ will all be reissued through Transgressive Records on September 11.
Each album will be available on CD and black vinyl, alongside limited-edition coloured pressings exclusive to independent record shops and Coxon’s online store.
‘Crow Sit On Blood Tree’ will arrive as a blood-red and black splatter double LP, while ‘The Kiss Of Morning’ will be available on turquoise double vinyl and ‘Happiness In Magazines’ on deep-blue vinyl. Pre-order the records here.
The same day will also see the full 14-track version of Coxon’s ‘Live At The Zodiac’ released on streaming services for the first time.
The album captures a concert at the Oxford venue now known as the O2 Academy on June 3, 2004, during the tour behind ‘Happiness In Magazines’. The performance was originally released on DVD in March 2005.
Full performance videos for all 14 tracks are also set to be shared. Watch Coxon play ‘Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery’ below.
‘Crow Sit On Blood Tree’ was Coxon’s third solo album and combined the noisy approach of its predecessor ‘The Golden D’ with quieter folk-inspired material.
“There’s absolute mayhem on that at times, but there’s quiet songs, too,” Coxon has said. “I was still exploring different music and what I could do. I’ll turn my hand to so many different types of music if it feels natural.”
Discussing ‘The Kiss Of Morning’, he added: “I felt free to do whatever I wanted to do. I was expanding my sound and also finding a bit more calm in my songs.”
‘Happiness In Magazines’, meanwhile, was recorded with Stephen Street and became Coxon’s most commercially successful solo album at the time. It included the singles ‘Freakin’ Out’ and ‘Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery’ and earned him the Best Solo Artist prize at the 2005 NME Awards.
“‘Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery’ and ‘Freakin’ Out’ were two of the first things I wrote,” Coxon recalled. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, actually, maybe my songwriting is getting a bit better? Maybe I should take this seriously and not be such a control freak?’”
Asked by NME why he had decided to revisit his entire solo catalogue, the Blur guitarist said: “I just thought, ‘Yeah, great, I’ll polish everything up and put it out’. Maybe there are some overlooked works of genius, but I doubt anyone will see anything more than what is there. There is some good stuff.”
He continued: “The first three albums are a slightly ramshackle affair where I hadn’t quite found myself as a songwriter particularly, but was interested in sound. That was the point, really.”
Future instalments will include ‘Love Travels At Illegal Speeds’, ‘The Spinning Top’ and ‘A+E’, as well as Coxon’s soundtracks for The End Of The F**ing World and Superstate.
Coxon will celebrate his solo career with his first full-band headline performances in over a decade this November. His sold-out London show will be preceded by dates in Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol and Brighton. See the full list of dates here and find tickets here.
In a four-star review of ‘Castle Park’, NME described the album as “a showcase of what an underrated force Graham can be away from all the Britpop arena bluster that found him fame”.
Coxon also told NME that he and Rose Elinor Dougall had begun work on a third album by The WAEVE, while saying he and Damon Albarn would probably continue making music together “until we pop our clogs”.
