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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
It is likely that the majority of Blur fans who purchased this album as soon as it was released were, like me, expecting more of the fun, catchy tunes that featured on Parklife and The Great Escape. However, what we got was something entirely different. This album on first listen seems to feature a much darker sound, which was hinted at in the later tracks of The Great Escape. But to simply label this sound 'dark' is not to do it credit. The more you listen to the album, the less dense and 'pretentious' (as it has been labelled) it will seem. Aside from Song 2, the majority of this album has an almost acoustic feel, and yet this seems to actually increase the impact of the songs: For, without a doubt, the standard of songwriting on this album is as high if not higher than it has ever been. Songs such as 'Country Sad Ballad Man' and the heart-renderingly beautiful 'On Your Own' highlight Damon Albarn's ability to write tracks that really stand up over time. This is the point of this album. On first listen it doesn't immediately impress. However, after a few listens, the quality becomes clearer and clearer. For me, this is Blur's finest album to date, because it manages to avoid all the 'brit-pop' and rock clichés which they used to good effect in their previous albums. If 'Song 2' is all you have heard of this album, you may be surprised when you hear the album for the first time, but it is well worth the effort of a few more listens instead of discarding it immediately. All in all, I would thoroughly recommend this album to any music lover, and although some might disagree with a rating of 5 stars, no album is perfect, and to give it 4 stars doesn't do this beaufiful record justice. Listen...and enjoy.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album is stunning.
End of.
Where most would assume that after their admittedly somewhat commercial 'The Great Escape' Blur would return with yet more indiepop, but they infact came back with a harder, almost haunting sound that one associates with their later releases.
The fact is that although songs such as 'Parklife' and 'There's No Other Way' may be accesible to the masses, songs such as 'Beetlebum' and 'I'm Just A Killer...' must be regarded as far more representative of Blur's talent.
Of course, many people look no further than 'Song 2' when listening to this work, even the no1 hit 'Beetlebum' is rarely mentioned these days. In fact all the tracks here are great; the other two singles, 'MOR' and 'On Your Own' are fantastically worked and deserve higher praise, but the real gems are harder to find in the form of 'Strange News From Another Star', 'Death Of A Party' and 'Country Sad Ballad Man'. These tracks all exist on a lower ebb complimentary to the feeling of the times and shows blur in an all new light, adding depth and diversity to their already critically acclaimed back catalogue.
Overall this album is, for me, not only Blur's most accomplshed work but also a greater addition to a record collection than 'What's The Story' by Oasis (the other great album of the time).
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
I would say this this is Blur's Revolver, but to imply that 'Blur' is anything but a unique offering from a great band and that it cannot stand on it's own merits would be to do it a great disservice. Adroitly slipping the bonds of their Brit-pop past, here is an album of extraordinary creativity. Few bands have the genius to completely reinvent themselves in the way Blur do here, with songs of such beauty ('Essex Dogs', 'Beetlebum'), power ('Chinese Bombs', 'Song 2'), and spirit ('On Your Own', 'Movin' On') that you can't help but be completely affected by what's on offer, and get the feeling this was a special time creatively for Blur as a band. Each song is so much an onion, layer upon layer, that there's enough to keep you enthralled for years, and even then you'll never forget these wonderful tracks. The very best Blur.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
WOO-HOO!
An excellent album from Blur. Its the first part of their move away from the stupid 'Britpop' and in to more experimental territory. Read more
Published 9 months ago by C22man
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extraordinary.
The Britpop bubble was about to burst by 1997. Blur's previous album, The Great Escape, was a slightly watered-down but still impressive rehash of their previous two; the bona-fide... Read more
Published on 17 April 2009 by dynamitekid156
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
From the opening chug of Beetlebum to the final weirdness of Essex Dogs this is the most accomplished blur album of all time making it possibly the best album ever committed to... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2007 by Matthew Porter
4.0 out of 5 stars
just for that track
I've never heard anyone say this is a great album. I've heard people say I thought it was going to be good, but thought it was not worth the money when I bought it. Read more
Published on 21 July 2006 by Paul Smithson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
This album brings out the best in Coxon. Songs like the singles M.O.R, On Your Own, Beetlebum and Song 2 show his unique guitar playing style. Read more
Published on 21 May 2006 by RH
3.0 out of 5 stars
A slow-burner, and shame some of the songs aren't good.
Blur were a great band. They released fantastic albums in the 90s, and are still doing it now. At first listen, "Blur" seems like a great record. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2006 by Mojo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best blur album
I have recently become a real diehard blur fan. After buying all of the albums it was easy to say that this one was the best one of them all. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2005 by Stephen Freed
3.0 out of 5 stars
Average
To me this album, as with most Blur albums, has 3 quite brilliant songs then another 11 average numbers. Song 2, You're So Great and Beetlebum are the three. The rest are the 11. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2005 by Fugsy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wahoo!
Blur's 1997 self-titled classic is a forgotten masterpiece. Cruelly overshadowed by the infinetly more commercial "Parklife", "Blur" is consistently more entertaining, beautiful... Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2004 by Chris Rigby
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lo-fi, Experimentalism and the Remnants of Britpop
If lead singer Damon Albarn’s claim that Blur’s highly acclaimed Parklife belongs ‘next to Monty Python’ rather than in a list of modern masterpieces is to... Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2003 by D. Winchester
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