Blur tracks poll - the RESULTS thread

aw i missed the last couple of days and also my type-y in-ny thing has gone weird also fuck you some dude also fuck you b-side massive also i haven't read this shit also what the fuck has happened to my interface will be smaxking the kids round the head also fuck you b-side massive anyhoo top poll well done NBS

6 Badhead 340
14 To The End 238
16 Trimm Trabb 220
21 Yuko & Hiro 190
23 He Thought Of Cars 181
25 Death of a Party 168
27 Oily Water 149

pleased to see all of ^ these make the top 25 (er,27). if I'd remembered to submit a ballot, each would have had a little extra momentum. coolest surprise was seeing Badhead land just outside the top 5. That would have been my #1, I think, unless I decided to go w/ He Thought of Cars.

digging a a lot of the b-sides I had not heard (or had forgotten). b-sides I would have rated highly: Peach, Magpie.

I generally like how eclectic the bottom half of this list turned out, tho I'm a bit o_O @ all the love for various noodly clunkers from the detritus half of 13.

this was my list btw:

blue jeans
all your life
popscene
this is a low
beetlebum
sing
tender
young and lovely
resigned
end of the century
theme from an imaginary film
trimm trabb
polished stone
1992
advert
he thought of cars
you're so great
girls and boys
bone bag
so you
tame
battle

all the love for various noodly clunkers from the detritus half of 13.

eating my words as I listen to some of these for the first time in forever.. some have aged much better than I'd expected (optigan 1, 1992)

i resent the use of the word noodly but they are all shit no doubt

imo Blur (album) was always the bridge between britpop and 13. They knew where they wanted to go but hadn't yet the balls to go all the way.

They wanted to go a bit rubbish? ;-)

gaaaagh

This was my ballot (I think - I might have swapped one or two around, but I can't be bothered to double check):

1 Badhead
2 Coffee & TV
3 Beetlebum
4 Bugman
5 Mellow Song
6 Oily Water
7 Caravan
8 Clover Over Dover
9 Country Sad Ballad Man
10 End Of A Century
11 Out Of Time
12 To The End
13 Tracy Jacks
14 It Could Be You
15 Death Of A Party
16 For Tomorrow
17 Miss America
18 Magic America
19 On The Way To The Club
20 Resigned
21 Jets
22 This Is A Low

1. Yuko & Hiro

2. Out Of Time

3. Chemical World

4. End Of A Century

5. Coffee & TV

6. This Is A Low

7. On Your Own

8. He Thought Of Cars

9. Tracy Jacks

10. Entertain Me

11. Badhead

12. Best Days

13. Tender

14. Magic America

15. We've Got A File On You

16. There's No Other Way

17. London Loves

18. It Could Be You

19. Beetlebum

20. Stereotypes

21. Girls & Boys

22. For Tomorrow

The Good, the Bad & the Queen: POLL (relevant)

As a result of doing this poll, I've temporarily* fallen out of 2011 and I can't stop listening to Blur.

*I hope

Me too. It's so great!

Me too! That's the single best thing about this poll.

aaaaagh xp

:D

Yeah i've been playing them a lot since this poll too. Along with all the talk of a possible Boo Radleys poll and my Suede reissues arriving in the post I've completely gone back to the 90's this week. It's been kind of great.

Glad it's not just me

Just got two tickets for the Olympics closing gig in Hyde Park. Woo-hoo

Yes, I have 4 tix.

:*( happy for you guys

I need to break out some NO hits, and a Specials disc, for the kids' terms of reference.

No surprises to see that 'This Is A Low' was up there in this poll, it's always been somewhat of a fan favourite, although it wouldn't even make my Blur Top 20.

holy fuck

http://blur.co.uk/blur21/

and furthermore..
4 CDs of Blur rarities:

Gathering together a massive 65 previously unreleased tracks (in all over 3 ½ hours of previously unreleased material) the four rarities CDs exclusive to The Blur Box are a treasure-trove of tracks selected from the Blur vault and band member’s own archives. The rarities discs start with Seymour (Blur’s previous band name) demos and rehearsals showing the track writing process of early Blur songs, as well as the earliest known recordings of many other Blur classics. Continuing chronologically into the Modern Life Is Rubbish era, CD two of the rarities includes demos of tracks that never went on to be fully recorded and have remained unheard to this day (Beached Whale and Pap Pop) and the aborted Andy Partridge (XTC) session, recorded for Modern Life Is Rubbish before the band returned to the producer of their debut record, Stephen Street. CD three of the rarities covers the Parklife and The Great Escape era, bringing together more demo versions, a snap-shot of a band enjoying themselves in the studio with the two takes of Rednecks, the Alex James penned Alex’s Song now returned to its intended speed, the never fully recorded or released Cross Channel and the vocal version of previously instrumental Eine Kleine Lift Musik, entitled here as Hope You Find Your Suburb. The fourth and final CD of Blur rarities covers the remainder of the band’s career, presenting for the first time a jam from Mayfair Studios of the track Battle, a Bill Laswell session at Sarm Studios (which gives the first indication of the direction Damon would later take with Gorillaz), the infamously named Sir Elton John’s Cock, other never-developed session recordings and a collection of later non-album released Blur tracks.

CD15 - RARITIES 1 (SEYMOUR & LEISURE ERA):
1. Dizzy (Seymour Rehearsal & Demo)
2. Mixed Up (Seymour Rehearsal & Demo)
3. Birthday (Seymour Demo) *
4. Sing (To Me) (Sing Demo) (Fan Club Single)
5. Fool (Seymour 4-Track Demo) *
6. She’s So High (Seymour Rehearsal) *
7. Won’t Do It (Demo) (Fan Club Single)
8. I Know (Falconer Studio Demo) *
9. Repetition (Falconer Studio Demo) *
10. High Cool (7” Master) *
11. Always (I’m Fine Early Version) *
12. Come Together (Demo) (Fan Club Single)
13. I’m All Over (Demo) *
14. Wear Me Down (Demo) *
* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD16 - RARITIES 2 (MODERN LIFE IS RUBBISH ERA):
1. I Love Her (Alt Version) *
2. Popscene (1991 Demo) *
3. Beached Whale (4-Track Demo) *
4. Death Of A Party (Demo) (Fan Club Single)
5. Pap Pop (4-Track Demo) *
6. Pressure On Julian (Demo) *
7. Colin Zeal (Demo) *
8. Sunday Sunday (Demo) *
9. Never Clever
10. Advert (Demo) *
11. Star Shaped (Demo) *
12. She Don’t Mind (Blue Jeans demo) *
13. Coping (Andy Partridge version) *
14. Sunday Sleep (Sunday Sunday Andy Partridge Version) *
15. 7 Days (Andy Partridge Version) *
16. Kazoo (Turn It Up Early Version) *
17. The Wassailing Song (The 7” Giveaway at Hibernian Club, Fulham)
18. When The Cows Come Home (demo) *
19. For Tomorrow (Mix 1 – Early Demo) *
20. Magpie (Early Demo) *
* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD17 - RARITIES 3 (PARKLIFE & THE GREAT ESCAPE ERA):
1. Parklife (Demo) *
2. Clover Over Dover (Demo) *
3. Jubilee (Demo) *
4. One A Minute (One Born Every Minute Demo) *
5. Badhead (Demo) *
6. Far Out (Electric Version) *
7. The Debt Collector (Demo) *
8. Trouble In The Message Centre (Demo) *
9. Rednecks (Take 1) *
10. Rednecks (Take 2) *
11. Alex’s Song (Demo) *
12. Cross Channel Love (Home Demo) *
13. Ernold Same (Demo) *
14. Saturday Morning (Demo) *
15. Hope You Find Your Suburb (A.K.A. Eine Kleine Lift Musik Vocal Demo) *
16. Rico (Fade Away Demo) *
17. Bored House Wives (Entertain Me Early Version) *
* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD18 - RARITIES 4 (BLUR, 13, BEST OF & THINK TANK ERA):
1. Beetlebum (Demo) *
2. On Your Own (Mario Caldato Jr Mix) *
3. Woodpigeon Song (Original Full Length) *
4. Battle (Jam, Mayfair Studios 11 August 1999) *
5. Caramel (Ambient Version) *
6. So You (Alternative Version) *
7. Squeezebox (Music Is My Radar Alternative Version) *
8. Jawbone (Black Book Alternative Version) *
9. “1” (Bill Laswell Session, 2000) *
10. “3” (Bill Laswell Session, 2000) *
11. Sir Elton John’s Cock *
12. Avoid The Traffic *
13. Money Makes Me Crazy (Deepest Darkest Devon Mix)
14. Don't Bomb When You’re The Bomb *
15. Nutter *
16. Piano *
17. Kissin’ Time
18. Fool's Day
19. Track tbc
* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Andy Partridge versions of Modern Life.. tracks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So amazing. I never did get their first box set...

Andy Partridge versions of Modern Life.. tracks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

actually just came

Damn. There goes my music budget for the year.

and eeewwww at Autumn Almanac.

a CD quality version of the Trouble In The Message Centre demo is worth the price of purchase alone; that demo is one of the best things they ever did IMO.
also the demo of To The End had Justine on i think. maybe that's why it's missing :/

although that Wembley gig would be NO FAN's idea of one of only 2 gig DVDs to release on a 158 quid box set.

(!)

So, each of the box sets are £158

The Vinyl editions are £22 each

The expanded CDs are £15

oh man... £158 though?

I know. So, for 4 Cds of 'interest', and 2 or 3 DVDs of mmm, you have to buy all their albums again?

Oh, and a book too.

As an XTC fan, and out of everything in this box set, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the aborted Andy Partridge Modern Life Is Rubbish sessions. It'll be great to hear for once and for all why they were junked!

Fan club single 'Close' appears to be missing. The only other thing I could nag about would be a desire to hear the early samba/calypso version of 'The Universal' and I'm sure I recall reading about more 'Think Tank' outtakes with titles like 'Chicken & Fries' and 'Saturday'. Shortly after the album came out there was some talk of an EP containing these leftovers.

so..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qefhT_96wYU

Remastered box set has been done proper according to Stephen Street who says this in Record Collector

".. EMI were planning to use the 90's production Emasters

(balls)

".. EMI were planning to use the 90's production EQ masters, but i wanted to make sure it was done right.. we had to go through the 1/2 inch tape archives finding the right takes.. there was quite a bit of detective work"

It's all being remastered by Street, and the same dude at Abbey Road (Frank Arkwright) who did The Smiths' box. can't wait for these.

Emasters -- when you want your tape mastered electronically.

http://blur.co.uk/livestream/

new songs here, starting at 6.15 uk time.

Excited!!

Didn't vote in this, basically ignored the band when they were around, found all signature hits annoying right away or soon enough--the only album I have is Blur, and "You're So Great" is the only song I liked. But I bought a very cheap double-compilation two days ago, and I think I've played "Out of Time" 12 or 15 times already. Such a beautiful, beautiful song. (Thought the great video up on YouTube was user-made, until I read otherwise.)

:-)