Graham Coxon has announced plans to release the never-heard-before 2011 album ‘Castle Park’ while reissuing all of his solo records. Check out lead single ‘Billy Says’ along with details of a one-off London gig below.
The Blur guitarist turned solo star and one half of The Waeve will be reissuing all of his solo albums over the next 12 months, starting with his 1998 debut ‘The Sky Is Too High’ and 2000 follow-up’ ‘The Golden D’ arriving on 19 June.
That day will also see the first ever release ‘Castle Park’, produced by Ben Hillier (who also helmed Blur’s ‘Think Tank’), the album was recorded in 2011 as part of the sessions for ‘A+E’ and originally intended as a follow up his eight solo LP, but postponed due to Blur’s initial reunion and then abandoned as Coxon moved on to other projects.
A first taster of the 10-track album comes with ‘Billy Says’, a regular feature from Coxon’s live sets and echoing the album’s classic Mod sound with hints of The Kinks and the guitarists inimitable knack for a sweet and simple guitar-pop hook.
He’ll also be performing his first full-band solo show in 10 years, celebrating his entire solo career, with a one-off London show at The O2 Forum Kentish Town on 28 November. Tickets will go on general sale at 9am on Friday April and will be available here.
Available across CD, LP, black and coloured vinyl with exclusive postcards designed by Coxon, ‘Castle Park’ (pre-order here), ‘The Sky is Too High’ (pre-order here) and ‘The Golden D’ (pre-order here) will be released on Friday June 19.
The tracklisting for ‘Castle Park’ is:
‘Billy Says’
‘Alright’
‘When You Find Out’
‘Isn’t It Funny’
‘There’s a Little House’
‘Easy’
‘Dripping Soul’
‘Forget Today’
‘Mélodie Pour Chris’tine ’
‘All The Rage’
The next 12 months will see a comprehensive reissue of all of Coxon’s complete solo catalogue, spanning nine studio albums and three original soundtracks with ‘Crow Sit On Blood Tree’ (2001), ‘The Kiss Of Morning’ (2002), ‘Happiness In Magazines’ (2004), ‘Love Travels At Illegal Speeds’ (2006), ‘The Spinning’ Top (2009) and ‘A+E’ (2012) all on the way.
Not only that, but fans can also expect the two original songs and score album soundtracks for The End of The F***ing World 1 (2018) and The End of The F***ing World 2 (2019) and the original soundtrack to graphic novel Superstate (2021).
As well as penning his celebrated 2022 autobiography Verse, Chorus, Monster!, Coxon is also one half of The Waeve his Rose Elinor Dougall formerly of The Pippettes, who is also his partner and mother of his daughter. He also recently featured on ‘Parasite’ with English Teacher on the ‘Help(2)’ charity album in aid of War Child.
Speaking to NME back in 2024 about the future of Blur after their spate of huge reunion shows, Coxon told us: “We can’t leave it too long because we’re knocking on!
“Creatively, we’ll always be able to do something, but it’s important that we live life for a bit and hopefully not go through something so traumatic before getting back together again,” he said. “Damon’s always said too that we need to live life so we have something we can bring together if we’re ever going to do anything again. If that all happens, then there shouldn’t be any reason why not. All year I was saying, ‘Roll on Christmas!’ When I made it to Christmas all in one piece, I was really grateful.”
