Earlier this year, our man Mike Campbell cogently earmarked GRAHAM COXON'S (then) limited edition 7" single of "Freakin' Out" as one of the best tunes of the year.
And Mike was spot on in his reasoning. Despite its' limited edition run at the time, "Freakin' Out" still scorched the Top 40 and it will surely do so again with style now it's commercially available to all and sundry because it's simply a classic single: the sort of righteous three minute punky blast that reminds you exactly why you succumbed to this rock'n'roll malarkey in the first place.
"Freakin' Out"'s got the lot. The intro resurrects the spirit of Stuart Adamson and gloriously pillages The Skids' immortal "Into The Valley"; the windmilling, Townshend-y flash of the instrumental sections will have even the nerdiest of you air-guitaring like crazy and Graham's gently sneery Gorblimey vocals are truly irresistible in their delicious naivety. Besides, anyone who can melt your heart by singing the hilarious line "Put on your aviator shades, yeah man you're looking really ACE!" is doing absolutely everything right in my book.
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Brilliantly, Graham has further genius in reserve for the flipside. "All Over You" is a compelling acoustic strum caressed by lush, sympathetic strings and a tinge of early Bowie. It's Coxon at his most vulnerable and deals with the fainting spells the young Graham was prone to. "You were so scared, you washed my hair in bright red water...you really thought I was dead" he sings, recalling "the colour of blood and the comfort of being held by a girl." It's truly lovely and adroitly shows us what Coxon is capable of these days.
One of the year's very best singles, then. Leaving Blur is beginning to look like the soundest decision our Graham has ever made.
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