Blur Week: More b-sides

More b-sides for you lovely people. This time round the secondary songs are taken from singles off Blur's eponymous album, Blur (obviously).
All Your Life and A Spell For Money were the b-sides to Beetlebum and they really show off the direction that the band took on Blur. All Your Life begins like a Pavement track with its scuzzy, off-kilter guitar that doesn't sound quite right but totally is. Saying that, the chorus is classic Blur with Damon's lyric all cheeky and bursting with charm. The odd synth notes behind the chorus gives it a crazed-robot kookiness. Spell For Money is a less intense affair with a glitchy, effects-ridden guitar lead and a plucky but subdued beat. For an instrumental, not much happens in it but I like it for it's minimalist nature. It just sort of bounces along, blinkers on the finish line.
Song 2 is a tough track to follow. Its a short, sharp burst of righteous energy and Blur have followed it with a 6 and a half minute rock-out epic. Bustin' + Dronin' does exactly what it says on the CD case. It busts and it drones in a haze of buzzing, fuzzed up guitars and enveloped vocals. It just goes on and on in this buzzy wasp like way. I'm not sure how people reacted to it at the time, being so different from Song 2 or anything Blur, but listening to it now, it sounds amazing.

Blur - All Your Life
Blur - A Spell For Money
Blur - Bustin' + Dronin'