Blur's Greatest hits

[Jiles]

Blur is outstanding. way cool stuff.
"Tommorow", "BeetleBum", and many others. Blur is the shiznit!

[Usul]

Hey Jiles,

I`m a fellow Blur fan. I think their Parklife cd is pretty hard to top.

Sad that so many people only think of Song 2 when
you mention Blur. Thanks Intel.

[yawnsie]

Blur were a decent band before they turned into a poor man's Pavement. Their bassist is pretty good, too - it's just a shame that he decided to unleash Fat Les upon the world. (Imagine a more smug, middle class Fieldy's Dreams)

[Usul]

When did they change yawnsie?I had always heard that there was this kind of competition between Blur and Oasis in the UK i.e.popularity,etc.

The only Blur cds I have now are Parklife and Blur(w/ beetlebum).Which of their cds would you reccomend as being particularly good?


Thanks!

[KB]

I also like "13". A weird mix of music, but good.

-KB

[Hootz]

'Modern Life Is Rubbish' is THE definition of indie rock, at least in my opinion anyway. I LOVE the Intermission in it, and 'For Tomorrow' is my favourite Blur song. My brother is an INSANELY big Blur fan (he got the singles collection on the day it came out... £100 is a bit excessive in my opinion, but hey, it was his money...) so I know them pretty well. If you can, dig out an MP3 of their single 'Popscene', or better still 'Popscene/Song 2' recorded at Peel Acres (B-Sides to 'On Your Own').

It's good to see Americans enjoying Britpop, especially as our own music scene seems to be dominated by Yanks at the moment (The White Stripes and The Strokes are on the front of every music magazine at the moment).

Sorry, back to Blur. If you like classic Britpop, then you might want to give 'the Great Escape' a listen. It's generally derided as being the least good artistically, but it's a special art that creates instant sing-a-long-hits like 'Country House' or 'Charmless Man'.

Anyway, that's just my view. Oh, and if you like the weird sounds of '13', try Graham Coxon's first solo album 'The Sky Is Too High'- pretty weird, but pretty good too.

[yawnsie]

It's all a matter of opinion, of course, but I personally think that Parklife and The Great Escape were their best albums. Usul, in my opinion the change happened with Blur the album and 13, when they became lo-fi. Ironically, I think that the singles from the two most recent albums are better than the irrating Cockney singalongs from six or seven years ago when they were challenging Oasis at the top of the charts.

[the-lizard-king]

Blur is a great band! But dont get the Greatest Hits, of Blur or any other band, buy a full album! A greatest hits package is just a sampler, it just skims the surface, buy the original album, that is how the artist meant you to hear it.
Personally, I like 'The Great Escape'.
Jim

[Usul]

Originally posted by the-lizard-king
A greatest hits package is just a sampler, it just skims the surface, buy the original album, that is how the artist meant you to hear it.
Jim

Generally I agree with you lizard king.Two bands that I feel are prime candidates for "Greatest Hits"
status though are Talking Heads and The Cure.
To me it seems when these groups do something good it`s awesome!...but you have to wade through a lot of dreck to get to the good songs.This is just my opinion,not out to offend any diehard TH,C fans.(I`m a fan too).

I`ll check out The Great Escape!

[the-lizard-king]

.Two bands that I feel are prime candidates for "Greatest Hits"
status though are Talking Heads and The Cure.
To me it seems when these groups do something good it`s awesome!...but you have to wade through a lot of dreck to get to the good songs

Yeah, I agree with you there. Both of those bands definately have some awesome stuff, but lots of really ordinary stuff two. I guess some bands are more suited to a greatest hits package. Some bands are song oriented rather then album oriented. But generally I feel that a 'greatest hits' album is like reading a book of only excerpts from other books. I like the whole package. And usually a greatest hits is not the best stuff a band has done. Check out the Doors greatest hits, it has all of their worst songs on it.
It depends on the band I guess, a lot of other artists albums are composed of a couple of hit songs and some filler material, they would suit greatest hits albums.
Jim

[Usul]

That is true Jim.Generally the record companies tend to "dumb down" the greatest hits compilations
for the masses.They use what is most popular and/or most well known and call it "greatest hits".

I agree you get a broader musical expearience by getting the albums.Look at David Bowie,Peter Gabriel,Yes,Jethro Tull,King Crimson,Tool...

I guess we are wandering from the original thread though. Sorry.

[Jiles]

I don't know. Trying to listen to an entire Genesis (Gabriel era) album is like getting teeth pulled. Unmerciful!

And also, Oasis and Blur has some silly rivalry. Oasis boosts they were better musicians and true rock bad boys, while Blur were a bunch of no-talent wussy boys. It was dumb.

[Usul]

I find I have to be in the proper mindset to get into the older Genesis w/Gabriel.Same with Yes and other anthem type albums.

You should check out PG`s solo albums,they are much more "mainstream" but not overly so.

[Hootz]

I'll tell you what Jiles, for all that the rivalry was a bit silly (Blur not talented? That's like saying Shane McGowan can sing!) at least there was some really good music actually getting noticed and getting acclaim- Blur, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene, to some extent Ash, Suede, Pulp, the list is prettty long and bloody good! Oh for the heady Summer of '96! If I wasn't 12/13 at that time I would have been in musical heaven I think, and people wouldn't take the piss out of me for being an indie kid! Long live Britpop!

[Dave Castelo]

i got this double cd today!

its excelent!

4.5 stars out of 5

[Brendan]

...Blur had hits?









Sorry. Had to say it. First thing that popped into my head when I read the thread title.

[Dave Castelo]

hits?

maybe not in US (except Song 2 and few others) but in Europe they got huge and shared the lists with Oasis back in the nineties

[Usul]

Originally posted by Dave Castelo
i got this double cd today!

its excelent!

4.5 stars out of 5

Which double cd Dave? Blur`s greatest hits or...?

Blur is definately not mainstream.Seems only college students and other musicians/musically inclined people know much about them.Me?I had heard the (in)famous "Song 2" but ....something about the name "blur" for a band,just so damn cool!
Downloaded a few songs online and really started to dig them!

[Dave Castelo]

oh, i got a double cds version of it:

-CD ONE: the greatest hits
-CD TWO: Live versions of some hits and some other songs.