Best of Blur [2CD]

( 3 )

Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - Kurt B. Reighley
Over the past decade, Blur have evolved from a run-of-the-mill indie-dance act to bastions of Brit pop and, ultimately, to that rare band whose best songs owe more to art than to the hit parade. Eschewing chronological presentation, and wisely shortchanging the early years, this well-sequenced program will hammer home to casual fans what diehards have known for years: Damon Albarn and company craft concise gems that are thought-provoking without inducing head-scratching. In this context, cuts that were never obvious chart fare -- the sweeping ballad "To the End," the gospel-inflected "Tender," and the desolate "No Distance Left to Run" -- sound better than ever. The...
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Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - Kurt B. Reighley
Over the past decade, Blur have evolved from a run-of-the-mill indie-dance act to bastions of Brit pop and, ultimately, to that rare band whose best songs owe more to art than to the hit parade. Eschewing chronological presentation, and wisely shortchanging the early years, this well-sequenced program will hammer home to casual fans what diehards have known for years: Damon Albarn and company craft concise gems that are thought-provoking without inducing head-scratching. In this context, cuts that were never obvious chart fare -- the sweeping ballad "To the End," the gospel-inflected "Tender," and the desolate "No Distance Left to Run" -- sound better than ever. The new song, "Music Is My Radar," a clutch of quirky, disparate sounds (harmonium, rickety percussion, fuzz guitar) in need of a melodic hook to anchor them, can't match the polish of the band's best, but otherwise, this is a greatest-hits package with an emphasis on the greatest.
All Music Guide - Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It's boring to point out omissions on hits compilations, especially when a collection is as generous as the 18-track The Best of Blur, but let's do it anyway. The Best of Blur largely bypasses the group's key album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, the record that invented Brit-pop, skewing in favor of the self-consciously "experimental" 13, which, for all of its attributes, wasn't a singles album. Plus, the group continues to punish the British record-buying public by not including the brilliant "Popscene" (to beat a dead horse, the single that invented Brit-pop), since nobody bought it at the time. So, without "Popscene," "Chemical World" or "Sunday Sunday," a crucial chapter of Blur's history is missing from The Best of Blur -- the chapter where they essentially became Blur. It's to their immense credit that the album doesn't feel like it's missing anything, since these singles (plus one album track) are dazzling on their own. Of course, the trick is that the record isn't assembled chronologically. Instead, it flows like a set list, complete with the set closer "This Is a Low" followed by a two-song encore that ends with the new song (the good, not great, "Music Is My Radar"), which not only gives it a momentum of its own, but draws attention to the songs themselves. And "dazzling" isn't really hyperbole -- based on these 18 songs, Blur isn't just the best pop band of the '90s, with greater range and depth than their peers, they rank among the best pop bands of all time. The Best of Blur illustrates that, even as it misses some of their best moments -- omissions that prevent it from being the flat-out classic it should be. Even so, it's pretty damn terrific, particularly for the unconverted. [And, for the hardcore, there's not just "Music Is My Radar," there's a special limited-edition double-disc version of The Best of Blur, containing a bonus ten-track, 45-minute live album, recorded at Wembley Arena in December of 1999. Lots of track duplication between this disc and the first, but "Stereotypes" and "M.O.R." are present, and the entire thing is a lot of fun -- they are a terrific live band, after all -- even if it doesn't hold any particular revelations.]
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 11/21/2000
  • Label: Virgin Records Us
  • UPC: 724385045721
  • Catalog Number: 50457
  • Sales rank: 12,485

Tracks

Disc 1
  1. 1 Beetlebum (5:05)
  2. 2 Song 2 (2:02)
  3. 3 There's No Other Way (3:13)
  4. 4 The Universal (4:00)
  5. 5 Coffee and TV (5:18)
  6. 6 Parklife (3:07)
  7. 7 End of a Century (2:46)
  8. 8 No Distance Left to Run (3:26)
  9. 9 Tender (7:41)
  10. 10 Girls and Boys (4:18)
  11. 11 Charmless Man (3:33)
  12. 12 She's So High (3:49)
  13. 13 Country House (3:57)
  14. 14 To the End (3:51)
  15. 15 On Your Own (4:27)
  16. 16 This Is a Low (5:02)
  17. 17 For Tomorrow (6:02)
  18. 18 Music Is My Radar (5:29)
Disc 2
  1. 1 She's So High (5:24)
  2. 2 Girls and Boys (4:21)
  3. 3 To the End (4:08)
  4. 4 End of a Century (3:00)
  5. 5 Stereotypes (3:27)
  6. 6 Charmless Man (3:31)
  7. 7 Beetlebum (6:09)
  8. 8 M.O.R. (3:09)
  9. 9 Tender (6:20)
  10. 10 No Distance Left to Run (4:08)
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Album Credits

Performance Credits
Blur Primary Artist
Damon Albarn Vocals
Graham Coxon Guitar
Alex James Bass
Dave Rowntree Drums
Technical Credits
David Bowie Composer
Blur Producer
William Orbit Producer, Engineer
Steve Power Producer
Damon Albarn Composer
Graham Coxon Composer
Brian Eno Composer
Stephen Hague Producer, Engineer
Alex James Composer
Steve Lovell Producer
Andy Ross Engineer
Dave Rowntree Composer
John Smith Producer, Engineer
Stephen Street Producer, Engineer
Damian leGassick Programming
Ben Hillier Producer
Sean Spuehler Programming
Jeremy Plumb Art Direction
Jason Cox Engineer
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 3 )
Rating Distribution

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Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    A Milestone of British Music

    A recipe for a great record: 1.) Take a few irresistable musichall sing-alongs, an ironic nod to disco, a flirtation with folk, an admiration for the infectious pop of the Who, the Stone Roses and the Jam, a fearless desire to experiment, and a penchant for social observation that sounds uncannily like Ray Davis. 2.) Take and mix using four bored, but talented Brits living at "The End of the Century" 3.) Sit back and be amazed. Blur wasn't the most original of bands, but that would be missing the point. They were the peerless imitators who excelled at every genre that even remotely became big in Britain. They possessed an intuitive knack in understanding the tricks to each genre and they made some of the most seamless music of the 1990s. They were the best of the Britpop bands and listening to their music is listening to an audio primer for the best in 20th century British music. Plus, only Blur could have you singing along to the lyrics, "Girls want boys who want their boys to be girls". . .

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Bodacious!!

    I think 'Blur's best of' is realy good and fabtastic. My favourite song has to be the awsome " Girl's and Boy's ". I look foward to any future work from them.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 1, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews