Does exactly what it says on the tin. (The Best Of Blur - Blur)

Member Name: pooky

Product:	The Best Of Blur - Blur
Date:	26/01/01 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great bands great songs

Disadvantages: Not enough album tracks.

I loved my college years. The work was inconsequential compared to the parties, the clubs and the friends I spent that time with. Music moves ever onward, but back then boy and girl bands were in their infancy. There was a new group in town called the 'Spice girls' but they would never amount to anything, they didn't own guitars. The charts meant something with songs moving up as well as down and big news was the showdown between Blur and Oasis. Two singles released in the same week by two of the biggest bands around. The rest is, as they say, history.

In the mid nineties britpop ruled the music scene and if britpop itself had a ruler then it was Blur. They were there at the start, they're still around after the end and were more important to the scene in its heyday than almost all the imitators. Now, that musical journey, though by no means over, can be re-lived with a full eighteen track CD 'The Best of Blur'

Describing the sound of Blur is almost as pointless as it is impossible. Virtually everyone has heard their songs, whether it be 'Country House' the famed single that beat Oasis' 'Roll with it' to the top spot, 'Song 2' with its screaming Woohoo chorus or 'Boys and girls' the Blur boys tribute to free love and 18-30 holidays. The impossibility comes from the endless variety of styles they encompass. With every album they have evolved and taken their sound in new directions, particularly in recent years. The upshot of this variety is that if you like music then chances are at one stage or another of their career Blur will have made music you'll like.

This album contains seventeen singles and one album track picked from the entire blur catalogue. It starts with 'Beetlebum', the first single from their eponymous fifth album, and a song which at the time was a statement of the new direction their material would take. It is also one of their finest songs to date, th
ough lacking the immediacy of some earlier hits. Before moving on through the rest of a barrage of great songs. The wonderful imagery conjured up by 'Parklife', the heartfelt lyrics of 'No Distance Left to Run' and most importantly some great tunes. Not least the only album track present, 'This is a Low'. A song whose sound embodies the paranoia surrounding the end of the 20th century.

The album is varied enough to be listenable from start to finish, though not as cohesive as a proper studio album. It has a couple of worrying moments, the inclusion of 'Charmless Man' is a mistake and the most recent single 'Music is my Radar' is also a low point to end on, though not actually bad. But for the most part this is a great collection of songs from arguably the most important band of the nineties.

The only real downer is the fact that apart from one track the contents are all singles. Though they are fine songs, Blur's six albums contain far too many highlights to fit on a single CD and many are ignored here. If you don't own any Blur records then my advice is to start here. But if you like it then don't hesitate to go out and buy the others as all except their first album 'Leisure' are near essential, as is this one.

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