To Be Or not To Be Blurt
Times were changing and the enthusiasm and idealism of the punk and post-punk era had waned in favour of yuppiedom and hard materialism, making life tough for non-commercial acts .
In 1985 Jake Milton also left the band. Ted decided to continue, in spite of all financial and personal setbacks and found a new drummer in Paul Wigens.
"Poppycock" was to be Blurt's fifth album and the new line-up proved to be a very creative one, taking the music further to new horizons, like on the track "Domain Of Dreams"; a mesmerising feedbacking drone over which Ted recites his poem in his best french. But no record company wanted to invest in Blurt as they had fallen out of fashion, although they kept a loyal but small following, especially in Europe. Ted founded his own label, Toeblock, on which he had already released a solo 12" single, and "Poppycock" became the second release with a distribution deal through Cartel/Revolver.
The Body That They Build To Fit The Car
The next album, "Smoke Time", took things even further along the experimental path, with the haunting "The Tree Is Dead" and Paul Wigens adding violin on "Trough By You", an unsettling piece of music far away from the dance-band style of early Blurt.
Two versions of "The Body That They Built To Fit The Car" followed in 1988;
a 12" white vinyl record and a 5-track CD-EP. A hilarious video for the latter got some airplay on MTV, but radio-friendly was and adjective that still didn't fit Blurt's music.
A live album and a concert video captured in Bath, U.K., saw the arrival of drummer Nic Murcott, since Paul Wigens had obligations with his new band "The Wood Children". Thus by 1989 Blurt had become a loose-fit collective centered around Ted Milton,