I'm interested in Blur. Anyone wanna soot the shit about them?
 

Ok, so I am a long time fan of self-titled. I've loved it since it first came out. It reminded me, simultaneously, of Beck, with a pinch of Pavement, a salute to Nirvana, and a really eerie and intoxicatig last few tracks.

If you read my posts, you know that I'm interested in music history, and that I often compare artists to other artists from other eras.

Then I heard 13 and I thought I was dreaming. What an album! Influences from Devo and the Stooges to Spiritualized and Spacemen 3. A really fascinating album, mildly experimental in a Beatle-esque way. The Beatles and Blur are both pop bands are heart, who love to make challenging (but isolated, compaxt) litte evolutionary steps.

Think tank is incredible. I need to listen more, but it might.... just might... be as good or better than 13.

I haven't delved into anything before that, except for Parklife, which I found boring and derivative.

Any suggestions on pre-"Blur" Blur albums that might tickle my fancy a bit more, eh?

Some reviewer said they were the biggest UK band of the '90s. I want to know more about this. I lived in London for a time, but know nothing about what the English consider to be appropriately representative of themselves. It's surprising that an album as out-there and bizarre (FOR A POP RECORD... easily digestible to any Sonic Youth or Spacemen3 album, achieved success . Good shit.

What's Blur's legacy, and what are the early albums i should look into if I love B,13, and TT so much,
Thanks

country sad ballad man is a pretty awesome song IMO

I think Leisure is considered to be very of-its-time (shoegaze, madchester). It has this song on it (one of my favourite Blur songs) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdrFpPJgxC4
Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife and The Great Escape are a sort of Britpop trilogy, so if you don't like Parklife (probably their most popular Britpop album) then you most likely won't care for the others.

I'm a huge fan. My favorite of their pre-BLUR albums is Modern Life Is Rubbish.

Parklife is not teerrible, but it's soooooo samey, and I know it was a direct reaction to the Stone Roses, but the Stone Roses did it better.

It's not a bad album, but in terms of British pop, Spiritualized was making albums that were a thousand times more interesting.

But I want to give the other albums a chance. So besides Parklife, which is the best, and least MOR brit-pop??? They turned into a profoundly experimental band..... when did that seed start sprouting?

again, I'm telling you to listen to MODERN LIFE IS RUBBISH !!

I am right now.... didn't like the first track, but I'm digging the second.

Thanks!

Man, this band deserves so much more credit than they get in the US (which is less than none). Every once in a while you hear "Song 2" on a "CLASSIC ALTERNATIVE" station in between Soundgarden and Blind Melon, and they've taken to playing it at sports events, but jesus.... that's about the most non-Blur song I've yet heard from the band.

Living in the UK, as well as briefly in Canada, has totally ruined my image of the US. Not that Britain's perfect... when I was there you couldn't stroll through Picadilly without seeing a poster for Coldplay's "A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD", but Blur is just so different. I can't believe that the only way most people in the US know them is through their NME-induced "war" with Oasis. And that's only the people who remember Oasis, of which there are few.

Jesus I've spent a total of at least 45 minutes of my workday reading and talking about Blur. I should probably start, like, working. Luckily I'm at the desk for the rest of the day, so I can dig MLIR.

you didn't like the first song? Weird. I love that one. Anyway, it's one of my favorite Blur albums.

Because the UK press is insane, Blur has been shoved down the Brits' throats for years. The Oasis vs. Blur thing hit a fever pitch backintheday, for example. It's impossible to have an objective opinion with all that going on.

I think it's easier for people (like in the US) who haven't been bombarded with this shit to simply take in the music.

Although I don't love a lot of their stuff, they are always respectable. There's a fine intelligence to their work that not many super popular bands have. I mean, the road from their limp debut to the sometimes-astonishing THINK TANK in such a short period of time is pretty remarkable.


I totally get why anyone in the UK might hate them, but I'm not sure it's Blur's fault.

Well, as far as the UK goes, you've gotta remember the Stone Roses. The band that could have been the best band in the world, but....... never did.

Blur filled the gap as well as they could, but Jesus. Imagine if, like, REM (bad example because I hate them at least 50% of the time) released Murmer and then did nothing.

So you really like "Think Tank"? I think that album splits fans because Graham Coxon left around the time they were working on that album and Coxon and Damon Albarn were sort of like a Mcartney/Lennon duo of a songwriting team. I think people also think "Think Tank" sounded a little less like Blur and more like Albarn's other group Gorillaz or at least that music seemed to seep into that album. Yet, regardless I think "Think Tank" is a really good album. I really like "Modern Life is Rubbish" and "13" as well.

meh

Never been a fan of Blur.

I like Think Tank, but my heart belongs to 13. That's the best, by far. Some of it is a bit of a Spiritualized rip, but that's ok. Spiritualized is awesome.

But yeah- so far I like: 13, Think Tank, Blur, MLIR.

Parklife has many an excellent song on it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIY1X_UcBWo
This being one of them.

Another great Blur pop song. Insane, innit?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsgjh...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjr2I...eature=related
and what do youse think of this? it's pop in that it's pop. you know, like, pop.

Blur had a knack for the pretty melody, didn't they? I'm telling you brah, shit's HOTT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOo9_EPkJ-o

I play this song when I am waiting for 40 minutes to get on a bus, and then 10 of the same bus I'm waiting for turn up all at once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPkJw...eature=related

Gee whizz, look at his eyes!

my favorite Blur b-side is "All We Want."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1fcWvFloiw - one of the first demos (I think) which might appeal to the lo-fi inclined.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkYDsWKSbuA - an impossibly young Seymour live.

Blur can be either hit or miss i never liked an album by them but there are certain songs i absolutely love like this one -----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuh1WE-RVw&ob=av2e

Whoah... Guided by Voices much?

(Jesus I hate it when people say "(something somethig) much". I just did it.)

Parklife -> S/T -> 13 -> haven't listened to any of the others in a while so I can't properly judge.

13 > Blur > rest

The S/T was the first one that I got. All I knew of Blur beforehand was a particular song* and the other band involving Damon Albarn. Those $8 were absolutely worth it.

That said, I do love Parklife more on average (although it really depends on whichever one I've listened to more recently). My thoughts are swung by the stretch from 'London Loves' to 'Jubilee', including my completely irrational love of 'Trouble in the Message Centre'.

*If you didn't know what song it was before you clicked it, I'm very disappointed in you.

Definitely Maybe > the lot of 'em.

"Battery in Your Leg">99.768% of everything ever recorded

Oh dude get the fuck outta here with that shit :D

Like comparing “Come on Eileen” to “Walk on the Wild Side.” One might be more fun, but the other is fucking better.

I'm exploring the special editions that were in the Blur 21 box set (they're on Spotify, for the poors among us). There's actually a lot of good material in the vaults, as well as all the stuff that's on the albums.

Death of a Party - completely underrated.

100% agree. Every Blur album has a whole bunch of outstanding non-single tracks.

Also, The Magic Whip was a really enjoyable album which I find myself consistently returning to. Go Out, I Thought I Was a Spaceman, Lonesome Street and Mirrorball are fantastic.

Yep, it's brilliant from start to finish.

La la la la la! La la la la la la lalala!

It helps that they'd all been keeping themselves fresh with other music. But yeah, it'd be one of the few post-reunion albums that have a solid part in a band's canon.

Did they ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbqWv78Ha-s

“Death of a Party” is amazing.

I’m not big on the early, super-Brit-poppy Blur, but oddly enough when they went “grunge” (lulz) and used feedback on “Song 2” to shoehorn in a warped and weirdass album like their self-titled one with tracks like “Country Sad Ballad Man” and “Essex Dogs,” I started to appreciate them.

Then “13” came out, and I’m pretty sure that album is as adventurous as anything Radiohead ever made. Goddamn glorious, that record. Warped, experimental fucking masterpiece.

It's insane how much ground they covered in their career. Radiohead get credit for their transition from regular alt-rock to electro-art weirdness, but Blur had that plus a huge pop stage.

Blur eww! Who's next, Ash? Mansun? Shed Seven? Menswear?..

Ocean Colour Scene?

I feel sick. Hold on Salvsey, let me just grab some opioid.

Ok Dsielkel