Blur tracks poll - the RESULTS thread

<3 <3 <3 Intermission

Oh dammit need to go to sleep but yeahy for Bowling Club and Colin Zeal! Wish they had broken into the top 50 but oh well.

Right one more, then that's it for tonight...

...actually two more because it's another messy tie...

So far, there haven't been any ties...except you made them ties. Your poll, though. :D

When The Cows Come Home

Rather like this actually

=55. Coping
=55. Magic America
(both 3 votes and 53 points)

Wouldn't wear it as a tie, though

(xp) I hear what you're saying, and from now on will aply the Fever Rule of Tie Avoidance

I learned it by watching ILM polls over the years. I'm just spreading the good word!

The Gospel according to JF

"the emphasis is on coping", love the way damon delivers this line!

could i be dreaming!

Of these, Magic America is my favourite, closely followed by Colin Zeal.

Moroccan is my favorite so far, and I'm just glad it got included. Following traditional poll rollout protocol would've chopped it off.

Glad "When the Cows Come Home" made it even though I didn't vote for it. Pops into my head pretty frequently (usually when taking vitamins).

Magic America. It's so very accurate (the Brit who obsesses about the US) and so very Ray Davies. imo this is the peak of that album's eulogy.

"Magic America" is the only one I've voted for so far. Can't deny they're doing some snide "lol America" bollocks here but like all of the character songs there's a sense of hopeless escape fucking things up. By the time the chorus is done hammering away it sounds more desperate than piss-takey, probly cos Magic America is the limit of Bill's surroundings and imagination, unsatisfactory as it is. Songs that sound like nervous breakdowns are usually a win in my book.

Can't deny they're doing some snide "lol America" bollocks here

Most of it is not that at all, it's mainly about the warped perception of America by the sort of person who takes all their cultural cues from Hollywood etc. I know loads and loads of people like that – they go round being all American and talking like Americans and spelling like Americans based on the idealised portrait they pick up off the telly. In this case he actually goes to America (whether in reality or in his head) and eats and shops, so really it's a slur on Bill rather than America.

Hello. I'm in Barcelona right now. Bit of a shame I won't be experiencing this run down. Think I voted for when the cows and one born every minute - two fab b sides. Wasn't coping regarded as a terrible tune? Not a fan.

54. Globe Alone
(2 votes, 58 points)

This was described as their 'heavy metal' track in a Select preview feature of the time. Great Escape really is one of the most peak-and-troth albums I can think of and sadly this lands in the latter bracket.

the troth bracket?

To whom did he pledge it?

53. Inertia
(2 votes, 62 points)

^^^ great song. I probably should have voted for it, but I never had much of an emotional connection to early Blur, with the exception of about two or three songs.

'Globe Alone', is the first of my votes to show up and I placed it very highly. Albarn's evisceration of the everyman is pretty mean spirited, who's not keen on Sharon Stone after all, but the sheer ferociousness of the delivery pulls it off.

most of the Blur songs i love the most are the mean-spirited rejections of human lol culture but i don't think "Globe Alone" made my cut. it's good tho.

http://static.freewebphoto.com/food/free-photo/AAAAAA-K2N5GF-FDM89F-GBDAQ8-A55L97-H7HBDK-D6RLG6/jelly-beans.jpg
http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1895/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1895-46282.jpg

=51. Miss America
(4 votes, 69 points)

I love the guitar sound on Miss America, there's a strange kind of sprawling morose quality, and I don't think anyone else has managed to sound so desperate while singing 'do-do-do-do-dooo'.

Love the story about how they Discovered Graham drunk in the studio kicking a chair leg (audible throughout the track). Graham's greeting of "Michael!" was shouted as they opened the door.

Do like this song a lot.

That's one of my least favourite songs on MLIR. That's always been their most undefinable album for me -- the good stuff is really good (but doesn't hit the highest highs that they're capable of) and the bad stuff is only tolerable in the context of the album. I was surprised that there were more songs on my list from MLIR than any other Blur album.

http://davideasson.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/blur-country-house.jpg
=51. Country House
(4 votes, 69 points)

"Blow me out" is quite a good bit but the rest of it? Really?? It probly wasn't annoying the first couple of listens.

I don't even like the 'blow me out' bit, tbh

#51 seems about right for this, plenty of interesting things going on it but overall it's a lot less than the sum of it's parts.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9jJ5xT0aRSA/SUb1FnEVo_I/AAAAAAAAAWk/NlEW4CfQzJ4/s320/Blur+-+Parklife+%5Bsingle%5D.jpg
50. Parklife
(5 votes, 75 points)

'Country House' really works well live imo tho I can't really listen to it on record. Didn't vote for it however. 'Inertia' was my #2 I think. Perfect.

Guy I worked with at Virgin looked a little bit like Damon and one Saturday when the shop was absolutely rammed this group of maybe 10 or 11 year olds followed him round the Singles Dept screaming "PARKLIFE!" at him for about 20 mins. Kinda realisation, on my part, that Blur big-time now.

Like "Country House", people who think "Parklife" was worth a vote get something completely different from Blur than I do. Probly wasn't annoying the first couple of listens.

http://991.com/gallery_180x180/Blur-Charmless-Man-86912-991.jpg
49. Charmless Man
(4 votes, 77 points)

ok i take back what i said about the last 2

Kind of excited to see three of their most well-known singles in a row ranking at the bottom of the poll... parklife should have fared better tho...

It got beaten by "Charmless Man" !

I've always held a place in my heart for Great Escape, because that seemed to be the first to really a get a big push in America prior to its release.

Charmless Man is my least favourite Blur single - grotesque self-parody.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01413/Ambulance_1413374c.jpg

48. Ambulance
(4 votes, 84 points)

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.)

:-)