Poll: Best Blur album

parklife it isn't. that pedestrian album was such a disappointment for me after the first two great releases. i'd say gold for rubbish, silver for 13 and bronze for leisure.

I can't wait for Geir to tell us how much he doesn't like 13.

I'm voting for the self-titled meself.

THINK TANK FTW

Blur

Think Tank rules! But it's not the best. Parklife certainly isn't.

"13" has lots of haters on ILM, so it isn't going to win this anyway.

The true answer is between "Parklife" and "The Great Escape", with "Modern Life..." number three.

have a goddamn guess what i voted for

and geir is right, it isn't going to win. unfortunately.

The Great Escape will get less that "Leisure" I reckons.

13 or Blur.

It'll be MLIR with Blur second and Parklife third.

kerr, VOTE 13

although 'blur' contains their best song, so I won't mind if you vote for it.

their best song being 'essex dogs'.

i bet nobody else thinks 'essex dogs' is their best song.

"Blur" is kind patchy, and was a disappointment at the time. However there are several great tracks on it. Pity about the awful "Song 2", "No Distance Left To Run" and "Chinese Bombs" though.

no distance left to run was on 13, geir, getcha facts right!

agree that chinese bombs is rubbish though

woo hooo!

Pity about the awful "Song 2"

WhatwhatWHAT?!

"Essex Dogs" is why I love "Blur" best, so yes!

"Essex Dogs" isn't my favorite Blur song, but I love the fuck out of it anyhow. My faves from the S/T are "Beetlebum" and "I'm Just A Kill For Your Love."

God I love that album.

xpost: hooray!

most people dismiss it as a sonic youth rip-off, but they're WRONG. it's a great, wonderfully atmospheric and beautifully played soundscape, filled to the brim with sonic goodies. thurston moore clearly liked it quite a lot though; he ended up remixing it for blur's 'bustin' and dronin'' record. i really have to hear that remix.

The remix, she is tasty.

bear in mind that for over two years the original was my favourite song!

I was going to offer to get it to you

But then I thought "I have no idea where it is or when I saw it last"

soz.

it will find me eventually

i read somewhere that thurston's remix was a piss take, a take the money and run thing...

? :(

it doesn't matter thou does it? if you think it's good it's good!

i don't know if it's good! if thurston moore spent half an hour fuzzing everything out then it's probably not very good, although i've heard reports that it is in fact awesome. who to believe?

The Great Escape is my favourite. As silly as it is to admit it, "Best Days" has me bawling all the time. But I love "Blur" just as much.

i've heard it! it's pretty ok as i remember but damon sounds like an arse on it.

It's Parklife because of Badhead (which is my favourite of theirs). Also for Tracey Jacks, End of a Century, To The End, Clover Over Dover, This Is A Low. It's a perfect pop album.

Ha! So the answer really was Parklife.

big shock, 13 being up so high.

Cue complainygeir!

god damn, not fair you did this poll when I was out, Leisure would have got at least one vote if i'd been here. :-(

I am so happy to see all the "13" love up in here. By far my fave/the best.

Nice to see "The Great Escape" performing so well. I thought I was the only one who had it as a favourite.

how can the shitty parklife get 13 votes and win and the phantastic leisure zero. you are all crazy, except kate.

Yay 13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just Got Offed, do you still want that Essex Dogs remix? I can do so. . .

what, no "Blur are shite" option?

Essex Dogs remix? Excellent! If it could be hurled my way I'd be very grateful.

Yay for 13! I'm thrilled.

alex james' fave is MLIR he says in the new bigo.

Think Tank should have won this

parklife is the best by miles

Was probably a just winner. Even if I would say "The Great Escape" is perhaps slightly better. "Parklife" has the advantage of actually inventing the style though, while "The Great Escape" was just following it in the same vein, only IMO with even better songs.

Not in the case of Country House

"Country House" is the best song Blur ever wrote and in fact the best song of the entire Britpop era. It has everything one wants from a song.

apart from being good

Who is this one of which you speak?

xpost

Think Tank is arse

13 < Think Tank <<<<< Everything Else

rong

think tank is shit

Modern Life Is Rubbish was robbed.

ladies, ladies

13 > The Great Escape >>> everything else >> Parklife >>> Think Tank

work that one out fools

"Think Tank" was better than 13, but it sounds too much like The Good, The Bad & The Queen and Gorillaz. Damon Albarn needs to get his ass out of Notting Hill and visit North London more often to get a dose of typically English music again.

or eat jellied eels and listen to Chas and Dave and Rockney...

Tickets still available, apparently.

i think they should all come to south east london where the real shit goes down

"The Great Escape", and "Country House" in particular, was influenced by the cockney area. It was their best song ever, and they should have stayed with that style forever.

"Battery in your Leg" >>>>>>>>>>>x1000 better than "Country House"

Hardly nothing from the past 15 years is better than "Country House".

GEIR

fuck 13

lucky you!

If only Blur had stayed in cockney North London.

dahn the apples and pairs of the Good Mixer....

(I know, I know)

Think Tank is fantastic- or 85%ish of it, and I've deleted the few songs I didn't like from my library. So that album would probably get my vote, although I really love all their albums except The Great Escape. Sorry, but that album is mostly crap. According to my itunes playcount my listing is: Think Tank, then Blur, then Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, Leisure, 13.

AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH

^otm

                               
 |                                                                   13
 |                                                                  /  \
q|                                                                 /    \
u|                                          The Great Escape      /      \
a|                                         /                \    /        \   
l|                                        /                  Blur          \
i|                                       /                                  \ 
t|             Modern Life              /                                    \
y|            /           \            /                                      \
 |           /             \          /                                        \
o|    Leisure               \        /                                          \
f|                           Parklife                                            \
 |                                                                                \
a|                                                                                 \
l|                                                                                  \
b|                                                                                   \
u|                                                                                    Think Tank
m|
 |
 |
 |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              time
                                                                                         

seriously though, why is parklife so low there when it's obviously the best thing they've ever done?

Correct best to worst:

Parklife
13
Modern Life
Blur
Great Escape
Leisure
Poo
Think Tank

Damn, real Think Tank hate. I can't see how anyone can not see "Out of Time" and "Battery in Your Leg" as two of their best songs. Ya'll is just wrong.

SONGS, not ALBUM

yeah, but there's enough decent songs on that album that, when combined with those two songs, elevates it pretty high. Especially considering how mediocre their albums are.

in bizarro world

load of songs != cohesive album

actually

1.) Ambulance - Great
2.) Out of Time - AMAZING
3.) Crazy Beat - kinda shit
4.) Good Song - Great
5.) On the Way to the Club - Very Good
6.) Brothers and Sisters - OK
7.) Caravan - Kinda shit
8.) We've Got a File On You - Very Good (in context)
9.) Moroccan People's Bowling Club - Very Good
10.) Sweet Song - Very Good
11.) Jets - Very Good
12.) Gene By Gene - Quite Good
13.) Battery In Your Leg - AMAZING

So yeah, pretty solid in my mind.

not saying everyone should see it as their best, just that rating it below "poo" is excessive.

Not an album, though. Don't make me go all Geir on your arse.

I guess I hear duds on all their albums, but Think Tank was much more interesting to listen to than the Great Escape or Leisure, whilst being far less frustrating than 13, which has some of their best but the lows are quite low indeed.

Best to worst:
The Great Escape
Parklife
Modern Life Is Rubbish
Blur
Leisure
Think Tank
13
Gorillaz in general
Poo
Gorillaz', The Good The Bad & The Queen and "Think Tank"'s musical influences in general

at least you rated think tank above poo, geir.

STOP DORK

tell me more about this poo album

Some okay songs don't make an album. Think Tank is just some songs jammed together. Parklife is probably more varied and eclectic and pastichy but it makes sense as a whole. 13 is clearly one piece, whether you like it or not.

The Good, the Bad and the Queen is simple but very very great, and once again it works as an album.

Of course some people will always regard any old shit on a record as an album.

I actually think that Think Tank works really well as an album as just a bunch of records. Also, the lyrics aren't really at the forefront, which is for the best.

as opposed to* just a bunch of records

Nice, rockism strikes on the Blur thread.

Of course some people will always regard any old shit on a record as an album.

Who the hell listens to albums all the way through anymore?

hahahahahahahahahahaha awesome challopry, rockism accusation set-up, beautiful put-away

Me White Noise (live version I got on a free CD) = awesome, Ambulance = great, Time = good, Club = good, Caravan = good, Jets = good

rest = :-/

imo

Who the hell listens to albums all the way through anymore?

(Raises hand)

Haven't stomached to listen all the way through "13" in ages though.

ya same i can rarely be bothered with "tender"

If tender had been left off i'd prob think of that album very differently. Then again I don't like many of the lead off tracks from any of the Blur albums. Really don't like Girls and Boys or Stereotypes anyway. Beetlebum and For Tomorrow and Ambulance and Shes So High are okay I suppose.

Best Blur album = first 8 tracks off "Blur" plus the last 8 tracks off "Parklife".

I would have liked "13" a lot if the entire album had sounded like "Coffee & TV". A great track on an otherwise not very great album.

AAAAAAAGHHHH GOD

Nice, rockism strikes on the Blur thread.

Of course some people will always regard any old shit on a record as an album.

Who the hell listens to albums all the way through anymore?

― lyra, Thursday, January 15, 2009 1:34 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hmmm this made me think about the implications of the ipod and downloading....call me crazy but i think we could be seeing a return to the age of the single....food for thought

http://www.rentertainment.com/images/fallen_idol.jpg

xp

Listening to "Parklife" at the moment and in the words of Albarn himself, it's nothing special. At all. I know it really picks up at "Trouble In The Message Centre" but cmon that's 10 tracks in. The best track on (what would be) Side A is probably "The Debt Collector" and I'm not even joking.

It's just such a trite record until the last few tracks

mods pls lock thread

You think I'm insane dude? Argh, "Far Out" just started which means only one thing...that "To The End" is near. *grits teeth*

I mean the tracks on Side A are all NICE I guess, they all WORK, none of them are BAD SONGS, but...they're nothing special. They're perfunctory, and thoroughly one-dimensional both sonically and emotionally.

The first two tracks on Side B are actually verging on BAD.

mate I am professionally trained in shouting so watch it

You know what this is?

This is the sound of me skipping "London Loves"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGFFKYVGGXKKDXJSJCKKXJDMC

btw I never liked XTC, I just said I did to fit in

dead to me

also Ponting is a cheat who bribes umpires

and i real hate adverbs

ponting may be an asshole and not an especially great captain, but he is undisputedly one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

tubby on the other hand seems like a nice bloke, and he was a fairly successful captain. no steve waugh of course, but effective nonetheless.

Blur?

Badhead starts great, words and all.

But verse two, a lazy reshuffle of verse 1, and when he goes into "having a dose of the flu" i go NO! ALBARN! GO BACK AND FINISH SONG PROPERLY!!!

I mean the tracks on Side A are all NICE I guess, they all WORK, none of them are BAD SONGS, but...they're nothing special. They're perfunctory, and thoroughly one-dimensional both sonically and emotionally.

The first two tracks on Side B are actually verging on BAD.

― single-issue white nonhipster (country matters), Friday, 16 January 2009 04:10 (5 hours ago) Permalink

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7227/lolwhuttranslated384267dn3.jpg

Girls & Boys and London Loves are the only kinda shit songs on Parklife, other than that it's brilliant all the way through.

Okay. Look. Girls & Boys is okay, Clover Over Dover is above average, the rest of the album is perfect. I will not hear another word on the matter.

i like the harpsichord on clover over dover, and the fact he's quite royally taking the piss out of his own lazy rhymes that he invariably relied on in his early career. girls and boys is alright really, just don't generally listen to it when i put on pl.

I think "Blur" the album might be one of my all time favs. And I don't even like Beetlebum that much...

"blur" is great, it's just not the best one. i guess it's because it's an experiment gone right, rather than a typical blur album.

Clover Over Dover feels like Dover, which is just effing weird.

lol i feel a bit guilty now :(

altho yeah ponting is a rubbish captain

XTC, Madness, Kinks, Bowie, Beatles and Specials were all geniuses. And so are all albums that are mainly influenced by those.

Modern Life Is Rubbish for me, Parklife is great too but there's a handful of really poor songs on there (title track, Debt Collector, London Loves, Bank Holiday). Blur's main weakness is the crap shouty punk stuff they do every so often. Nothing wrong with shouty punk rock per se, Blur just aren't very good at it (notable exception: 'Popscene').

Modern Life Is Rubbish for me, Parklife is great too but there's a handful of really poor songs on there (title track, Debt Collector, London Loves, Bank Holiday). Blur's main weakness is the crap shouty punk stuff they do every so often. Nothing wrong with shouty punk rock per se, Blur just aren't very good at it (notable exception: 'Popscene').

Indeed. I love shouty punk and I love Blur, but they're really bad at it. I still adore their non-shouty songs, though. They're easily the only band I've loved so deeply for such a long time, and I never really get tired of their songs.

OK, so did anyone besides Geir say that they normally listen to the albums all the way through? I stand by my assessment of the albums based on how often I end up playing the songs on each.

I still listen to albums as albums generally - not so much with Blur though. MLIR is good all the way through, Parklife and Think Tank have a few songs I skip and the albums in between those two are pretty patchy. (I've never heard Leisure). My own Best of Blur would lean towards the slow ones - I think 'The Universal' is the best thing they've written, shame it ended up on the same record as crap like 'Mr. Robinson's Quango'...

Bang, from Leisure, is fantastic. Whenever I have a loooong red eye flight I make sure that I listen to that song when I land, as it's so perfect for "omg so unawake where the hell am i" feeling. "There's no Other Way" and "She's so High" are both pretty decent. I enjoy the rest of it, but I listen to the rest of it way less than those songs.

I love "Bang" too, which was very much the blueprint for what they would become later in the 90s, only without the Madchester beat at the bottom. For me, very obviously the best track on "Leisure" even though the other two singles were nice too.

Hello, I listen to albums all the way through.

I rarely skip tracks, it's only if I think people in the car other than me might dislike a track...