‘I Can’t Look At Your Skin’ (single)
A tad more energetic than Coxon’s previous efforts, ‘I Can’t Look At Your Skin’ is a Jam-esque Cockney jig, and a middle finger at his Britpop beginnings, with a hint of aggressive punk and – heaven forefend – a guitar solo.
The simple sing-along style of this single, (a template adopted by the most recent batch of trendy bands such as Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks), is certainly a trick for successfully nuzzling into the charts; the difference being that Coxon deserves to be there. This song is too wonderfully English to ignore, with that much-loved colloquial phrase “it’s doing me in” chucked in a few times, in Coxon’s best common sneer.
The single truly belongs in the nineties, battling against Blur. If Albarn didn’t have Gorillaz, he might well be fucked.