Although eventually they got bored of that approach, decided to start making straightforward pop/rock records, signed to Dave Matthews' label and decided to make a name for themselves on the American jam band scene, which is just ugh.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:21 (seven years ago) link
oh absolutely Gomez! In Our Gun maybe even qualifies
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:31 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, In Our Gun is the one that sticks out in my mind the most. Maybe a few things from Liquid Skin, Machismo and that Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline compilation, too.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:41 (seven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 31 March 2017 00:01 (seven years ago) link
Well, I guess if it wasn't Blur then it had to be Modern Life is Rubbish. I wonder how many of those 18 people who voted for Parklife have actually listened to it recently.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 00:04 (seven years ago) link
The Magic Whip over The Great Escape is foolishness
― Wimmels, Friday, 31 March 2017 00:11 (seven years ago) link
Eight of you. My fucking god. Although presumably 7 of them are NV socks
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Friday, 31 March 2017 00:16 (seven years ago) link
The Magic Whip over fucking Think Tank is foolishness!
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 00:23 (seven years ago) link
Well, those results seems about right to me! In fact, the results are pretty close to my own ranking, except for the self-titled one being lower and 13 being higher on the list (the latter of which I'd expected).
Inspired by this thread I listened to the Great Escape again last week, and I wasn't half as annoyed by it as I expected to be. I don't think it'll go up in my ranking, but I can still enjoy it. And the Universal is really really gorgeous.'Dan Abnormal' might still be my least favourite Blur album track. And while 'Entertain Me' starts out great, I dislike the chorus.
― Valentijn, Friday, 31 March 2017 07:52 (seven years ago) link
Remembered my password too late to vote but I would've gone for 13
― bunny slopes, Friday, 31 March 2017 08:20 (seven years ago) link
the good half of TGE would've been my vote if I voted, the one track I remember hearing off Magic Whip has probably stopped me from ever listening to Blur ever again
which I'm fine with
so yeah obv I wd've spammed the vote for that tragedy, If I Did It
― Django Chutney (Noodle Vague), Friday, 31 March 2017 08:43 (seven years ago) link
I never realised 13 was so popular - not just on here, I've found a few other 'rank the albums' things online where it's placed 2nd to Parklife. It's an album I admire and like in parts but I can see why people love it. The little instrumental bits between songs are good.
― Gavin, Leeds, Friday, 31 March 2017 09:06 (seven years ago) link
It's interesting to see this re-evaluation of 13. When it came out it was seen as a bit of a patchy mess of a record with very little through-line. It's still not a perfect record. Lots of nothingy tracks (don't like Trailerpark or 1992 very much), but it's also got some of their best songs. In retrospect it's maybe one of their most enjoyable records.
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 31 March 2017 10:23 (seven years ago) link
I think Trailerpark is great, fwiw
― Warren's Treat (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Friday, 31 March 2017 11:52 (seven years ago) link
and 1992. Where now for dog latin
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Friday, 31 March 2017 12:08 (seven years ago) link
Really surprised Great Escape is so low
Guess I have to give Magic Whip another shot
― LimbsKing, Friday, 31 March 2017 12:46 (seven years ago) link
I still see 13 as a patchy mess, just it's a patchy mess that I like more now than I did in the late '90s. I wrote '1992' off at the time as being a lesser version of 'Sing', but now I find its use of noise compelling.
Damon should really stay the fuck away from using falsetto.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 15:56 (seven years ago) link
I don't know how much company I'll have, but expanded 13 also includes Music Is My Radar, which is actually one of my favorite non-album singles. Kind of Can, I guess. I was really excited when it came out, and then somewhat let down by Think Tank. The b-sides were pretty great as well.
― dlp9001, Friday, 31 March 2017 16:02 (seven years ago) link
I hated 'Music Is My Radar' when it first came out, but now I prefer it to about half of 13.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 16:11 (seven years ago) link
I always hated how the British Leisure didn't have "I Know," and the US one didn't have "Sing."
― LimbsKing, Saturday, 1 April 2017 05:44 (seven years ago) link
I bought 13 when I was 13. It was probably the turning point in my music listening habits. Prior to that purchase, my favorite album was Saturday Teenage Kick by Junkie XL. 13 will always be my favorite Blur album, warts and all.
― afriendlypioneer, Saturday, 1 April 2017 14:00 (seven years ago) link
xp the US version didn't have Sing?? that's like the main reason for owning it
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Saturday, 1 April 2017 20:53 (seven years ago) link
'I Know' is fucking garbage.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Saturday, 1 April 2017 23:14 (seven years ago) link
13 belongs in the bracket of post-britpop millennial ambition with idk OK Computer, Six and other things I probably like too much― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Thursday, 30 March 2017 20:41 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Thursday, 30 March 2017 20:41 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I'm interested in expanding on this because I think there are probably some more really good examples of late-'90s psychedelic/proggy indie (the Gorky's thread revive got me thinking, as did listening to bands I'd previously ignored this past week like The Soundtrack of Our Lives and pre-Mobile Disco Simian). I think Clinic might fit in somewhere? Also I'm just fascinated by those between-scene eras that are often talked about as creative wastelands but never really are.
― Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, 12 April 2017 10:55 (seven years ago) link
This poll is almost right.
― You like queer? I like queer. Still like queer. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 October 2018 02:31 (five years ago) link
think tank deserves better
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 October 2018 02:41 (five years ago) link
Watching a dance floor clear in summer '03 when the duck call in "Crazy Beat" started has sullied my memory.
― You like queer? I like queer. Still like queer. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 October 2018 02:43 (five years ago) link
Think Tank is pretty great if you drop Crazy Beat, definitely top 3 for me
― ufo, Thursday, 11 October 2018 03:16 (five years ago) link
^^
― niels, Thursday, 11 October 2018 07:00 (five years ago) link
and with modern technology, you can drop crazy beat!
― niels, Thursday, 11 October 2018 07:01 (five years ago) link
Although I choose not to, because I enjoy the track and find it odd how it's always been singled out for criticism as if it's one of the worst things the band have done, which of course it isn't.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 11 October 2018 18:09 (five years ago) link
They did worse earlier.
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 October 2018 18:17 (five years ago) link
Yeah, there's a couple of things on Leisure that are worse, and some real stinkers among the b-sides.
Although, Blur were a far better b-sides band that they're generally given credit for.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 11 October 2018 18:26 (five years ago) link
*than
Hmm, I'd go MLIR > Parklife > Blur > TGE > Leisure > TT > 13. I struggle to recall anything from the last two, and 13 in particular has so much flab, and really only three good songs.
― dorsalstop, Thursday, 11 October 2018 19:27 (five years ago) link
13 is the least dated
― Ross, Thursday, 11 October 2018 21:44 (five years ago) link
Blur and Modern Life is Rubbish are the two I find myself returning to the most. I like 13 more now than I did almost 20 years ago.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Friday, 12 October 2018 06:27 (five years ago) link
I liked it better then, I think - it was my #17 album of the year. I imagine it would struggle to make the top 40 now, although the thought of having to listen to tons of 1999 music to find out is depressing. Maybe next year, after the inevitable Pitchfork article about how it was a pivotal year in popular music, uncoincidentally written by someone born in 1982.
― dorsalstop, Friday, 12 October 2018 16:19 (five years ago) link
Almost every album sparked the same contradictory emotions, you admired them, then you wanted to strangle them. It has to be Modern Life for Blue Jeans, don't you think? Out of Time is also damn near perfect.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 12 October 2018 20:52 (five years ago) link
Some bands I like to name check,And one of them is BLUR,Classic songs with a long historySouthern boys just like you and me.Be-El-You-AreFlashback to 1991,Leisure was their first LPLater on came Modern LifeMallard art, and titles to match: Chemical World, Starshaped, For Tomorrow, Blue Jeans,Kazoo kazoo you are mine, Oily Water was my least favourite song,Oily Water was my least favourite song.
― dorsalstop, Friday, 12 October 2018 23:16 (five years ago) link
Taken from the Blur tracks poll I did in 2011 - not votes for albums, but aggregating the votes for tracks to the albums they came from:
1. Parklife (2,786)2. Modern Life Is Rubbish (1,808)3. Non-album tracks (1,535)4. Blur (1,491)5. Great Escape (1,341)6. Thinktank (1,221)7. Thirteen (1,174)8. Leisure (738)
― the salacious inaudible (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Friday, 12 October 2018 23:39 (five years ago) link
If you swap #1 and #7 the results of the poll may be just about right. As an album Modern Life Is Rubbish is the most cohesive though.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Saturday, 13 October 2018 17:40 (five years ago) link
Of course I refer to the aggregated tracks results.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Saturday, 13 October 2018 17:42 (five years ago) link
Parklife was always a stronger end-to-end listen compared to Modern Life is Rubbish, which I always felt outstayed its welcome by a few tracks (it seems to fall off a little after 'Oily Water' for me) ... Nowadays, I'm far more likely to listen to Modern Life is Rubbish over Parklife, which feels like it's aged quite badly.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 14 October 2018 09:29 (five years ago) link
I mean, I don't want to say Parklife sounds dated, but it is strongly evocative of a very specific time which is at odds with now.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 14 October 2018 09:30 (five years ago) link
I always found Parklife a big drop-off after Modern Life Is Rubbish. Girls & Boys is such a crap song, I found it ridiculous the first time I heard it just when it had come out and the whole album was such a mixed bag and not really holding together.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Sunday, 14 October 2018 11:47 (five years ago) link
This is crazy talk afaic - "Girls & Boys" is one of their standout tracks, and Parklife is pretty much their most cohesive album. I do agree with Turrican that it is too much of its time for it to resonate with current tastes, and I doubt I'll have the desire to listen to it again some time soon. (I do in fact think it also sounds "dated", but I've never understood why that's such a pejorative. Revolver sounds dated, Thriller and Bandwagonesque sound dated, "In da Club" sounds dated. So what?)
― dorsalstop, Sunday, 14 October 2018 12:56 (five years ago) link
I'm listening to Think Tank for the first time in years. It could definitely do with editing and there are tracks here that do absolutely nothing ('Jets'?) but also it hold up a lot better than I expected
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Monday, 14 November 2022 17:09 (one year ago) link
I'd say Out Of Time is up there with the best of their stuff. Actually, I probably did say that (in that poll more than a decade ago).
― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Monday, 14 November 2022 18:52 (one year ago) link
Is this the current Blur thread? They have just had a disastrous set at Coachella.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 14 April 2024 21:22 (one week ago) link