BLUR SELF-TITLED ALBUM POLL (1997)

the band are playing in a room while all seemingly high on drugs, then they stop playing and all lie on the floor and the camera starts whirling around, flying out the window and then doing a sort of pendulum pan up into the morning sun over the coda

Then the speccy one moans about All Saints for 5 minutes.

thanks bimble, for starting this poll! so excited to be listening to this album again, no matter how bizarre it feels to love it. country ballad man is pretty fuckin awesome but i'm still listening :D

I have about seven or eight different version of singles from this album, all based around "MOR" or "On your own" with differing content: Peel Acres sessions, Other radio shows, Remixes, etc...

i voted!! beetlebum.

"Beetlebum" was sort of spoiled for me because it immediately brought the Spike Jones "horse race" skit to mind.

(the nag in it, which eventually wins, was called beetlebum, as DAlbarn well noes)

-- Mark G, Thursday, 17 July 2008 09:40 (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

this represents a plus point in my book. Thank-you music lovers was one of my favourite childhood albums.

The whole album (like 13) is magic.

It is of course way better than the disaster that was "13". But the only "magic" Blur albums were "Parklife" and "The Great Escape".

Even though they were dragged down by "Bank Holiday" and "Globe Alone" respectively. Both horrible.

I have about seven or eight different version of singles from this album, all based around "MOR" or "On your own" with differing content: Peel Acres sessions, Other radio shows, Remixes, etc...

-- Mark G, Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:41 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

The shittiest thing about the end of Blur's career was the lack of new b-sides: we still got some, but yeah - lots of Peel sessions, Buddokan stuff, etc etc.

I've got all the albums (and Bustin'+Dronin')...are the B-sides worth it? I love all the phases of their career but prefer the experimental stuff (13 is their crowning achievement IMO).

I only really collected the b-sides up to Blur so I can't comment on the (sparse number IIRC) of 13 era b-sides... but I have always found that their b-sides are just as strong and sometimes much more fun than their album tracks - they weren't afraid to be even more goofy, dramatic, etc. Their early b-sides are full of indie guitars and punky vocals, and their mid-career stuff was sort of Parklife II.

I think the b-sides from the last few albums tended toward being Radioheadesque digital jams

^^^must hear these

13 wasn't THAT Radioheadesque at all, though, it was lovely and rangy and spazzy and barely-controlled. Fucking awesome, in other words.

Off the top of my head, I can think of.. Beagle 2 and Optigan... I didn't say 13 was Radioheadesque but the b-sides (I only heard them once or twice, to be fair) were closer to that than Parklife!Blur..

LJ otm. 13 needs a lot of time to settle in, but when it does... wow.

I remember first wanting to hear 13 because I heard "Tender" somewhere and loved it. The first few times I listened to the album, I would listen to "Tender" and then avoid the rest. Then one day I gave the rest a go. Nowadays I start with "Bugman" (one of the most genuinely amazing songs released by any British band in the 90's) and play on through from there. :D

Yes! It sounds like a mess until you give about 30 spins.

They played "Woo-hoo" as soon as I walked inside my gym today. I lol'd.

Aw you make me want to go through every track extolling its delights but uh-oh I already did so once and that spawned enough memes. :(

Suffice it to say that nobody else has done anything quite like it, in terms of multi-layered, micro-managed electronic guitar-rock. More dance producers should tackle adventurous avant-indie bands, you might argue, but the chemistry here was perfect, the climate just right for awesome sonic hi-jinks that actually worked themselves into a coherent-yet-completely-varied whole. The real argument is that more bands should just let go completely.

If I remember correctly, like 95% of the b-sides from 13 were just different remixes of album tracks by the Blur boyz.

Typical of present day singles that.

Depeche Mode have almost stopped releasing actual new songs as b-sides too.

But unless the outtakes from "13" were better than what ended up on the album: no loss. "Coffee & TV" was the only good song on that album.

We know you think that. And we are cool with it. There is no need to insist.

Usually I agree with Geir so this is jarring.

I agree with Geir about the worst songs on Blur (and "Bank Holiday", ugh). Never liked the band's explorations of punk too much. B.L.U.R.E.M.I. is by far the best one fwiw.

"Beetlebum" still get my vote. love this album to death and gave me a new found respect for Blur at that time.

..Never liked the band's explorations of punk too much.

I mostly agree. As "explorations" of a style, Blur's punk diversions were as trad as it gets, and pretty boring for it. The big exception to this, for me, is "Advert," which is inexplicably one of my favorite Blur tracks. I never got why "Song 2" was trumped up as their bid for American grunge appeal, as it seemed to fit squarely into their 3-generic-punk-songs per album tradition. Marketing, I suppose.

As for the matter at hand, I'm going with the usual suspects: Slightly edging out "On Your Own" & "Death of a Party" is "Beetlebum" (Bee OK OTM). I love that, despite their "reinvention" as a lo-fi Matador band, they were unable to avoid their knack for Beatles-worthy pop gems. You can't dirty up a chorus that huge.

I like the album as whole, and still listen to it regularly, but ultimately it is a blueprint for the sound they eventually perfected on 13.

Beetlebum gets my vote.

13 felt patchy to me. For every Trimm Trabb or Coffee & TV there was a Swamp Song or Trailerpark which just seemed like a lack of good songwriting to me. Elsewhere I found "Tender" and "No Distance Left To Run" to be intensely cloying - the band had done much better ballads than that on Parklife. "Blur" was the last really solid Blur album as far as I'm concerned.

"You're So Great"!!! OMG I had completely forgotten how good this album was. Jeez.

TNG, you've conveniently omitted to mention the four best tracks on the album, the record's lifeblood. Also, "Swamp Song" is MEGA AWESOME.

So what happened about the Graham reunion? Weren't they going to get back together and give it one more go?

They had a night out, and found they weren't arsed about it.

BASTIDS!

beetlebum.

I never got why "Song 2" was trumped up as their bid for American grunge appeal, as it seemed to fit squarely into their 3-generic-punk-songs per album tradition.

"Song 2" had some typical grunge elements that are not found in their other "punk" songs. It had the contrast between a stripped down verse and a noisy chorus with these really dirty guitars, that also had a very "grunge" sound to them.

Might have been fine. I mean, I liked "Creep" and "Inside" - both other examples of Brits attempting a grunge-ey style. But "Song 2" is repetitive and tuneless. It's just the same 4-chord sequence repeated all through the song. Which becomes annoying in the end. I despise music that is built in a repetitive/cyclic/minimalist way.

I hang with some of what you say, Geir, with regard complexity, but sometimes for a song to progress most excitingly it must employ a certain tension through repetition, perhaps with subtly altering dynamics/resonances, not just melodic transformation. There has been very great minimal music that sustains interest through the shifting of focus within its own sound-world. I weep that you cannot open your ears to the possibilities afforded to great songwriting by non-melodic means.

That said, there's a band I like that I think you'd absolutely do your nut over. They are probably the most melodically complex act in the entire history of music. Blur are great fans. Here's a flavour: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=2600990 (Don't listen to "Eat it..", you'll dislike)

"Song 2" - yeah I agree with Geir, it's a grunge anthem that came out too late. It's catchy and fun to dance to but also very obvious, but hey if the kids like it then I'm not going to piss on their parade. It's fun and you can see why it's popular, but even in its name, I think Blur always intended it as a throwaway until some company exec said "hey, you could make a killing from this". Louis's also right - Geir, you should try opening your ears a bit (/obvious).

Louis, I know you came to 13 in the same way I came to Parklife (which was the first "proper" album I bought and a total gateway to what I like now). I'm not going to challenge that. From my point of view, 13 was the sound of a brilliant band on their way out. It's got great songs, it also has dirges and retreads of old things AFAIC. I'd say 50% great 50% a bit rub. I love "Coffee & TV", "Trimm Trabb", "Mellow Song", "Battle" and "Caramel" but the rest just sounds like jamwash to me.

Actually, I'm listening back to 13 now after a long break. It never struck me how weird a record it is. There are loads of little sections that stick out and wash through, 30 second jams and stuff. I like this. It's not the solid pop performance of Parklife or Great Escape, but it fits together in a jarring, jam band kind of way.

I adore 13, but I'm more fascinated with Blur right now because I've played it less.

I think "Coffee & TV" is pretty weak...and "Tender" took me several plays before I came to terms with it.

Blur were on those duke boxes things a lot

Could someone (Britshes??) please explain what this means. Thanks.

"Death of A Party" particularly stunned me at work today. I almost wanted to change my vote...that shit is stunning. I remember wanting to play that one several times in a row by itself. It summed up everything I felt in the post-cocaine depression etc.

Don't understand what makes Essex Dogs so great yet except that it makes me smile to realize how much it sounds like The Fall. Way to go, the ever-versatile Blur! Oasis weren't a patch on ye! In any case, "Essex Dogs" is a great way to pave the way for 13, that's for sure. I'm playing this song now and I gotta say it sounds pretty good. It's a grower.

I'm glad to see so much love for On Your Own, though. Here's why: I always kindof thought of M.O.R., On Your Own & Moving On in the same category and I think it kindof says something that in the end M.O.R. doesn't sound as good now as On Your Own does, though in 1997 I might have said I loved them equally. M.O.R. comes off a bit contrived in comparison. OTM about the great guitar sound/riff in On Your Own. Moving On also does get tiresome after awhile, but the first half of the song or so is stellar.

Another song that hit me hard at work today was "I'm Just A Killer For Your Love". Here's another stab at Americana from them. I adore it!!

As for Beetlebum, I don't hold it against anyone at all for choosing it as their fave, I just have to admit I've grown tired of it now. The delicious Beatles-y bubblegum has long since been chewed. :)

Dancehall is bravely sludgy and sleazy and even more Fall-like than Essex Dogs.

Strange News is especially lovely. I'd probably take that over "M.O.R." & "Moving On".

Chinese Bombs makes me smile because EVERY SINGLE PUNK PISS-TAKE THEY DID MAKES ME SMILE. Bless their hearts for it! Just one or two punk songs per album. I love it. It's like the little prize you get in the cracker jack box!

Still, I wonder if the real answer to the universe isn't "Country Sad Ballad Man". But *sniff* I already voted for "Look Inside America". :(

This is a near perfect album. I don't think I knew how lucky I was in 1997 even though by then the whole current British/indie/whatever scene had mostly dried up for me. Blur! A realiable, versatile, talented pop band! Name one band who matches them nowadays!

Coldplay can lick their dicks, I mean really. Can't they?

Next step: add my two CD-R's of Blur b-sides to my iPod and drift away.

Just Got Offed ^^ I realise it's a Blur thread and all, but you just reminded of something.

To once and for all check out the Cardiacs properly since I saw them for the first and only time in the late '80s!
They were supporting someone I can't recall(it may have been Robyn Hitchcock, who I saw there?) at The Town and Country Club in Kentish Town.

They blew me away that night and I haven't checked them since! Care to advise where to start? I seem to remember them making me smile. Musically they were all over the place but melodic, as you say.

Perhaps I should check out any Cardiacs threads on here?

Bimble

I was been a bit silly. I simply meant duke box. I'm a tosser.As in ,' put another dime in.... 'and yeah i'm a britishes

juke box even

Ha! You know it occured to me later that might have been what you meant! Good enough, you're not a tosser. Unless...ah never mind. :)

Sometimes I get Robyn Hitchcock songs in my head out of absolutely nowhere when I haven't heard them in ten years and shit. Happened to me this week, actually.

Hey, Fer Ark. I heard on the chatz that you are a punk guy over 50. Is this so? If so, I think that's way cool. Someone asked if you knew Noodle Vague, the reply was "probably".

Cheers Bimble - FFS!

I look about 67
Am 40.
Noodle Vague has Hull connections, yes? Not sure I know him. We probably 'hung' at the same places. I avoid cliques and scenes though - prefer being a solitary, 'fuck you' punk rocker ;-)
Where you from out of interest> somewhere in Da States? Dallas gets a mention? Austin is one of my favourite places over there

What the fucks 'the chatz' - is it another ILX secret;-)

Fer Ark - Cardiacs: Classic or Dud?

They're my absolute favourite band of all time and I recommend the lot. Start with the early stuff, cos that's the best way to do it AND you'll reconnect with what you saw. On Land And In The Sea is IMO their best early-period record, by a nose from A Little Man... . Let me know how you get on with them!

Aw, you're a nice guy, Fer Ark. I'm in Seattle as of the last ten years. Don't really want to be anywhere else, even lovely California! I lived in Dallas, Texas for two miserable years. I regret I never visited Austin while I was there, a town I had much respect for without ever being there. Houston was okay cause there's the beach & palm trees.

Re: "the chatz" it's not an ILX secret you just have to sign up with stupid ass AOL messenger in some form (known as AIM) and then you can chat with people in real time from all over the world if you want, etc. It's an instant messenger program. But I don't mean to intrude, I know a lot of folks don't really understand what any of that means, or even like to chat online. There are other IM programs, too. Herman Neuname from Scotland told me that mostly only Americans use AIM for it, but ya know...whatever chat mechanism works is my philosophy.

so this was a Blur thread then??? Oh my goodness. How have we drifted away.

Not much of a fan, but I love "You're So Great."

country sad ballad man deserved a vote!!

I haven't really listened to this album in the last 20 years, but I still often come back to All Your Life and Dancehall, both much better than anything on the LP imo.

my favorite part of the album is probably the outro to “beetlebum”... the way Graham bends the third note of his guitar part and how it meshes with each chord in the progression.. really sets my heart a flutter

Polished Stone is also a fantastic B-side from this time

“uh oh what’s that device right there”