Alex James is an unlikely cheese maker.
As Blur’s bass player, James claims to have drunk a million pounds worth of champagne in three years, whilst contributing to some of the most innovative and enduring records of the last twenty years, both of which I suppose are significant achievements, just in very different ways.
All things come to an end, and the inevitable in-fighting and parallel success of Damon Albarn’s side projects left Blur on the shelf, leaving James free to try something new.
Making cheese in the country was clearly the obvious choice.
Blue Monday is a creamy Shropshire blue, sharp with a very faint sourness, named in honour of New Order’s eighties classic. It’s an excellent name, and a superb cheese.
I’d love to see the newly reformed Blur back in the studio, but at the expense of James’ second career as a cheese maker? That’s a tough call.
Blue Monday is available from Coxon’s Kitchen, a great little deli and cook shop on Gordon Terrace in Saltaire. Their website is here and their Facebook group is here, both of which, along with the shop itself, are well worth a visit.
I couldn’t possibly write about both Blur and New Order without including some of their work, so here’s New Order’s Blue Monday:
As for Blur, this could have been Tender, Beetlebum, Girls and Boys, To the End, No Distance Left to Run, Charmless Man, There’s No Other Way, Song 2 or any one of a dozen more.
Here’s Out of Time:
Just be thankful I resisted the temptation to drag up that bloody awful Fat Les abomination.
Note: somebody on this forum has just pointed out the obvious irony of Alex James’ cheese being sold at Coxon’s Kitchen. I’d love it if Coxon’s Kitchen was owned by Graham Coxon, but it’s actually run by a nice bloke called Matt, who, as far as I know is no relation to Blur’s guitarist…