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User
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Last Active 05-15-20 12:19 am
Joined 05-11-18
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| Blur albums ranked (2022)
With a new tour rumoured to be in the works, I figured I’d look back at Blur’s output and rank ‘em. | | 8 |  | Blur
Leisure
Blur’s first album is a bit of an oddball. Lacking the distinct and unique sound that basically all their other albums hold and focusing mainly on Shoegaze and baggy sounds (at the behest of their record label), ‘Leisure’ is definitely the sound of a band trying to find… well, their own sound. There’s some good songs here, mainly in the singles and the chilling noisy soundscapes of ‘Sing’ and ‘Wear Me Down’, but it’s too formulaic and un-Blur to really stand out amidst the then contemporaries.
Standouts: She’s So High, Slow Down, Sing, There’s No Other Way, Wear Me Down
Skips: Bad Day, Fool | | 7 |  | Blur
Think Tank
With the outbreak of the Iraq war and the departure of guitarist Graham Coxon, Blur were left to go at it as a three piece in a rapidly changing world. With the success of the first Gorillaz album under his belt, Damon pushed the band in a dubbier, more exotic sound, influenced by the musical landscape of Morocco. What resulted was ‘Think Tank’, a moody little record decked out in drum loops, twitchy electronics and a general sense of tension and worry. Graham’s absence is felt and the album starts to fall apart in its second half, though there’s no denying that songs like ‘Out of Time’, ‘On the Way to the Club’ and ‘Caravan’ are some of their finest moments
Standouts: Out of Time, Good Song, On the Way to the Club, Caravan, Battery in Your Leg
Skips: Gene by Gene | | 6 |  | Blur
The Magic Whip
Brought into existence purely by happenstance, ‘The Magic Whip’ was the band’s first LP in over a decade and saw the triumphant return of Graham to the band. Inspired mainly by the group’s experiences in Hong Kong, it feels (fittingly) like an accumulation of their previous albums, mixing the catchy pop of ‘Parklife’, the electronics of ‘Think Tank’ and the art rock stylings of ‘13’. It’s not perfect, of course, but it stands testament to the band’s strengths of writing smart, catchy music that effortlessly mixes a wide range of different sounds and styles
Standouts: Lonesome Street, New World Towers, I Broadcast, My Terracotta Heart, Ghost Ship, Pyongyang
Skips: Thought I Was a Spaceman | | 5 |  | Blur
Blur
Less a stylistic change and more of a complete musical reinvention, Blur’s self titled album turned a lot of heads upon release, mainly owing to their sudden shift into noisy, lo-fi alt rock that was less indebted to the Kinks and XTC and more Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. It payed off however, and the new sound gained them a sizeable fanbase in the states. While still a little rough around the edges, Self Titled shows a kind of energy and passion that hadn’t been felt since ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’ and that Blur were more than just artsy, cockney pop boys.
Standouts: Beetlebum, Song 2, Country Sad Ballad Man, On Your Own, You’re So Great, Death of a Party, Look Inside America
Skips: Theme from Retro | | 4 |  | Blur
13
A bit of a controversial ranking for sure, but 13 is by no means a bad album. Heralded as their best by many, ‘13’ is the sound of a band falling apart and trying to put themselves back together. It’s loud, atonal, unflinchingly dark and very bizarre at times. Stadium sized tunes like ‘Tender’ sit next to bittersweet noise rock (‘Coffee and TV’), stabs at trip hop (‘Trailerpark’), blues (‘No Distance Left to Run’) and avant garde electronica tinged freakouts (‘Battle’), and somehow the album never feels incoherent or needlessly difficult. True, the album’s lengthy songs and punishing soundscapes can be a turn off for a lot of people, but amidst the fuzz and distortion is a battered and bruised soul that is bound to win you over if given the chance.
Standouts: Tender, Bugman, Coffee and TV, 1992, Caramel, Trimm Trabb, No Distance Left to Run
Skips: Mellow Song | | 3 |  | Blur
Parklife
PARKLOIFE! Blur’s big break and one of the most beloved albums of the 1990s, it’s easy to see why Parklife became such a huge hit with the British public. Gathering influences from basically every genre imaginable, it’s an album that not only showcases the band’s versatility in different sounds but it also serves as a snapshot of different periods of British music as well as the country as a whole. Sure, the odd naff interlude brings it down a little but when the main bulk of your album is as graceful, catchy and just plain fun as this, I’m certainly not complaining.
Standouts: Girls and Boys, Tracy Jacks, End of a Century, Parklife, Badhead, To the End, Trouble in the Message Centre, Clover Over Dover, This is a Low
Skips: The Debt Collector | | 2 |  | Blur
The Great Escape
Another controversial pick. While The Great Escape has been dismissed by the band and critics over the years, it still stands as perhaps the accumulation of everything Blur had done up to that point and everything they planned to do next. While the overtly cyclical sound of the album can be a turn off, and the over the top Britishness of the whole thing can alienate some, The Great Escape still features some of their finest pop songs (‘Charmless Man’, ‘The Universal’), weirdest rock outs (‘Mr Robinson’s Quango’, ‘Globe Alone’) and some of their most emotionally resonating material (‘Best Days’, ‘He Thought of Cars’).
Standouts: Stereotypes, Country House, Best Days, Charmless Man, The Universal, Mr. Robinson’s Quango, He Thought of Cars, Dan Abnormal
Skips: Ernold Same | | 1 |  | Blur
Modern Life Is Rubbish
Born from the group’s growing hatred of American music as well as their anger at being dismissed by the record buying public and the press after their debut, ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’ represents Blur in a microcosm. It’s both catchy, beautiful, funny, charming, angry, mellow, noisy and heartbreaking all at the same time. Perfectly produced, perfectly performed and perfectly sequenced, it’s just perfect. Modern Life stands not just as Blur’s best, but one of the finest British albums of the past… well, ever.
Standouts: For Tomorrow, Advert, Colin Zeal, Blue Jeans, Chemical World, Miss America, Coping, Resigned
Skips: Sunday Sunday | |
zakalwe
08.27.22 | Sunday Sunday Skipped?
Outrageous. |
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